The parents of a 19-year-old town resident whose death lastNovember was linked to taking nearly two dozen No-Doz caffeinetablets are making a public appeal to have better warning labelsplaced on the product or to have it sold as a prescription medicine.
James Stone died Nov. 27 of a heart attack brought on by what thestate's Office of the Chief Medical Examiner termed "caffeinetoxicity." Now Stone's parents, James Stone Sr. and his wife, Diane,say they want to warn the public that an overdose of caffeine cancarry serious consequences.
"I don't want any other parent to go through what my wife and Ihave been through," James Stone Sr. said. "It does not say on thebottle that it will kill you. It says right on the box that it'slike a cup of coffee."
Their son's physician, Dr. Anthony Lendino, said he would askAttorney General Richard Blumenthal this week for his help ingetting some safeguard in place to protect consumers from taking toomuch of the drug.
"This was responsible for a kid who was otherwise pretty healthydying unnecessarily," the Meriden-based physician said. "We'vepulled other stuff off the market for less."
James Stone was in the process of intense job hunting and wasusing the caffeine pills to stay awake during his search, his familysaid. He collapsed at home, they said.
The drug company that sells No-Doz, Novartis, insists the productis safe and that the labeling of the tablets is entirelyappropriate.
"To our knowledge, there have not been any deaths caused by ourproduct, which has been on the market for over 50 years," said JulieMasow, a Novartis spokeswoman. "It has been proven safe andeffective by the FDA as an over-the-counter product."
Blumenthal, who has not yet spoken to Lendino but was informed ofthe doctor's intention by the Register, said Stone's death is"alarming and troubling," and he would be willing to look at thecase, including the possibility that if a direct link were foundwith potentially fatal side effects, there should be more limitedaccess to products containing very high levels of caffeine, or thatsuch products should contain "very serious warning labels."
"Regardless of its legal status, we should certainly reviewlabeling and availability," Blumenthal said.
Although Lendino said Stone's death is the first time he had everheard of a death caused by a caffeine overdose, further research hedid following Stone's death turned up a 1998 incident in which acollege student died after swallowing a whole bottle of No-Doz on adare.
"You can't tell me that they (Novartis) didn't know about this,"Lendino said.
Masow said the company recommends that "as with all over-the-counter products, consumers read the instructions on the label."
The No-Doz label warns against taking any more than one tabletevery three or for hours.
But that hasn't stopped consumers around the country fromallegedly becoming ill from the product. A search of Internet databases turned up an alleged November 2005 incident in which fourstudents at Sandburg High School in Illinois were hospitalized aftertaking too much No-Doz.
If a ban of the product in Connecticut cannot be enacted, thenLendino and the Stone family would like No-Doz to come with a moreaccurate warning.
"I think there should be some kind of warning that these kinds ofproblems can occur," Lendino said. "We (doctors) tell people who'vehad high blood pressure or a heart attack not to us too muchcaffeine. So clearly, the consequences of too much caffeine areserious."'
James Stone Sr. said he and his wife aren't looking to sueNovartis.
"I'm not looking for any money or any sympathy," Stone said. "Ijust don't think it's right that people don't know that this kind ofthing can happen."
Blumenthal said he admires the "public spiritedness" of the Stonefamily and while further investigation remains necessary, it can betrue that a "single incident or tragedy can be a wakeup call in avery serious and profound way."
Luther Turmelle can be reached at lturmelle@nhregister.com or 269-1496.
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