Actually, The Lamp Oil Looked Like Apple Juice
There's more to the story about the person who died from drinking lamp oil. One 84-year-old NJ lady died after mistaking tiki torch oil for apple juice. 4 other NJ residents were hospitalized after doing the same. One of them was an 8-year old girl, now suffering permanent lung damage. Oddly, the victims were located in separate parts of the state. NJ Poison Information and Education System executive director Steve Marcus told Gothamist, "During my 40 years in medicine, you get an occasional kid who ingests kerosene, but I have never seen this kind of cluster." (The Happening Part 2? Neurotoxins disable the part of people's brains that makes them distinguish between household cleaners and refreshing beverages?) All of them drank the same product, oil in a clear plastic bottle labeled "Tiki Torch Fuel," sold by Lamplight Farms, Inc. Amber in color, it's visually indistinguishable from apple juice. Don't forget to always keep chemicals under the sink and away from food, and always in original bottles. That some of these almost seem designed to look like tasty energy drinks doesn't help matters.
PREVIOUSLY: Don't Drink Lamp Oil Or You'll Die
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Yeah, but.. doesn't it still smell like kerosene?
In college I took an engineering safety course and we read a book called "Set phasers to stun". One of the stories involved a bartender serving highly caustic dishwashing liquid to patrons. They only scarred their insides though...
Oh New Jersey... Just oh.
What I'm wondering is just how much of this the people had to drink in order to get as sick as they did. This article states that they consumed "small amounts" of the oil, but it doesn't mention anything more specific than that.
Okay, the 8-year-old, I can understand that to a point - though when I was 8, I actually made a point of reading labels and being able to smell drinks before I ingested them. Last I remember, the oil for those tiki torches smells nothing like apple juice. Can't figure out how this kid managed to drink tiki torch oil unless there was already some sort of developmental disability in play.
But the 84-year-old lady? She's just giving people from Jersey (such as myself) a bad name. That's on par with "Oh, I forgot where the brake pedal was."
Sure, it looks like apple juice. But different varieties of Windex look like different varieties of Kool-Aid or fruit juice, especially when they come in the refill bottles and not the spray ones. I hate being all "blame the consumer", but...
I'm having a really, really hard time with sympathy in this. Regardless of color or crazy fruity scents, at one time someone had to pour this from the very obviously marked 'Tiki TORCH FUEL' bottle. Sold by Lamplight Farms. There's even a tiny flame over the 'I'.
I'm not blaming anyone outright, but... how much more obviously marked could it be? I agree with a comment in the earlier post: Mr. Yuck needs a comeback.
I wonder if the cluster is a response to pack reporting. A story hits, then accidental ingestions ride a wave of being a "news story".
It seems that, lamp oil having been around since whaling days, this happened before. Possibly shrill over-reporting?
Either that, or bathtub gin is making a comeback!
@pmathews: That'll learn 'em not to tip!
I can maybe understand the 8 year old for not realizing it tasted different, but the 84 year old? I don't have any oil burning lamps, so I don't know for sure, but wouldn't a kerosene based oil pour, smell, and taste different from apple juice? I do think that the product should be a more distinguishable color, though.
"Don't forget to always keep chemicals under the sink and away from food, and always in original bottles."
I think this is mostly good advice, except for the "under the sink" part. I had always heard that you want this stuff stored high up, away from where kids could get at it, unless you have the latches on the cupboards that make it hard for kids to open. Oh, and as pointed out yesterday, some Mr. Yuck stickers couldn't hurt.
Actually, the Tiki brand stuff has a kind of sweet, citronella-ish smell to it. It's not as bad smelling as you'd think.
If one person drank fuel, it's closer to his/her fault, once two three and four people drink fuel, then the fault starts moving to the product. What can be done to make it less appetizing?
-so i'm guessing the apple juice didn't light the tiki torch very well...
-doesn't tiki torch fuel have a different viscosity than apple juice?
-vodka is visually indistinguishable from water...
Actually, I think that looks like a urine sample.
Oh I remember walking into Home Depot now and thinking, "My that looks like tasty juice they're selling now. Wait, no, that's lamp oil."
Where are the Mr. Yuk stickers when you need them?
@MayorBee: 8 year old for not realizing it tasted different, but the 84 year old?
These two age groups have a lot more in common than you think. For starters, there's just a single digit between them.
Doesn't oil have a different viscosity and (once it's in your mouth) a different flavour than apple juice?
If you're not sure whether the beverage you're about to consume is apple juice, you could always try dropping a lit match into it. If it's apple juice it'll go out harmlessly; if it's oil, well, then you should have read the label on the bottle before conducting that experiment.
With the name "Feul" in it, I can see how one might confuse it for the plethora of over-caffeinated beverages out there. Doesn't "Tiki Torch Fuel" sound like a kick-ass energy drink name?
Substances like this shouldn't be in clear bottles where the young and elderly might confuse it for a beverage. For the children, those substances should have been out of reach. For the elderly, it's just sad... how can you blame them, it does resemble apple juice quite a bit (with the overly ornate ridged-plastic bottles and everything.
@pine22: vodka is visually indistinguishable from water...
Which is why it sometimes gets mixed into baby formula.
Natural selection, Darwinism, whatever you want to call it, I'm for it.
Then again I am also the one rooting for the warning labels to be taken off meds. Maybe after we cull the herd a little we will be smarter as a whole.
@edicius: Often people lose their sense of smell and concurrently their sense of taste as they age.
Why doesn't this company just put child proof lids on their products?
Since taste and smell tend to have correlation it's not surprising they wouldn't add a foul taste to this product. It's a chemical product that should be packaged like a chemical product. It should be in an opaque bottle with the proper warnings, and a locked cap. It shouldn't be packaged like something cute, like say apple juice would be.
I'll bet most of these instances happened between trips to the cottage. Where everything was thrown into a laundry basket or box, or sat one place for a period of time. Is there even a prominent "Poison" logo on that bottle?
It's also indistinguishable from urine, which makes this story even more baffling.
I don't drink either. Lamp Oil is of course dangerous. Apple Juice gives me the runs.
@MikeF74: If you are too elderly to sucessfully juggle a lamp oil vs fruit juice situation, I doubt you'd be any more sucessful when it comes to lamp oil vs match.
@MayorBee: Since the 84 year old's sense of taste and smell are likely much duller than the 8 year old's I could argue it makes more sense the other way around.
@whatdoyoucare: Exactly - why no childproof lid? While that may or may not have helped the 84-year-old, why not just put childproof lids on this?
Many cleaning fluids and other poisonous products come with childproofing. I don't think this would be too hard to do, and could help the lamp oil company avoid lawsuits.
I'm usually an advocate for personal responsibility. However in this case there are several "victims," which would suggest that there could/should be improvements made in the product or packaging to avoid this problem in the future.
@emona: I know everyone likes to be caviler and tout "they derserve what they get because they're stupid"... But if we can't protect our children and elderly from themselves, then we're all stupid.
@Rectilinear Propagation: I didn't think about it that way, but it makes sense. Of course, with so many occurrences, it could be a suicide cult.
Waiting for the lawsuits against Tiki Torch Fuel to start in 3....2....1.....
@Rectilinear Propagation: That's what I was thinking - one of the reasons a lot of older people eat a lot of sweets is because it stays stronger than any other taste sensations. 84 also is old enough to have dementia on top of everything.
Also, for the person who mentioned that a childproof cap might not have helped the 84 year old - well, for one, if she were arthritic, it would - in addition, if you try to open a bottle and suddenly notice it has a protective cap, it might hint to you that it wasn't apple juice.
...unless there was already some sort of developmental disability...
@edicius: Maybe the 84 year old is a little senile?
People die sometimes because they make mistakes. Why is there such a need to pin the blame on someone else? Yes, lamp oil looks like apple juice. Antifreeze looks like Gatorade, and I hear it even tastes sweet. Do we need legislation to change that? Or should we just acknowledge that sometimes people die?
@MikeF74:
I'd buy that. I'd of course have to remember to not try to use it in actual torches. I bet it would even have a snappy disclaimer to that effect.
"Warning - Tiki Torch Fuel Energy Drink is not actual tiki torch fuel nor should it be used as such except in a tiki emergency."
I can see it as an Axe (body spray) type commercial.
evolution at work
This is a new low in blame the consumer. It's their own damn fault for reaching for a pale, amber colored liquid, pouring it into a glass without looking, and then chug it.
Serves them right!
I'm sure you geniuses have never been talking to someone in your kitchen, and reached for something in the fridge without looking, but many have.
I imagine it would be pretty easy if you are distracted, and the substance was close enough (size, color, bottle shape) to what you wanted.
LOLOIL?
LOIL?
/looks like cooking oil to me
Anyway, after some google searching, I found this old article from 1997
a 13-month-old boy was given ipecac inappropriately by his father after ingesting up to 1/2 cup of lamp oil
Half a cup? Now do they mean an actual half of a measured cup (which is like one swallow) or half of a cup/glass?
/Either way, that's quite a bit for a 13 month old.
@emona: Little old lady 84 year olds often can't see a damn thing without their spectacles. And even with their glasses they might need a giant magnifying glass and a high powered spotlight. Maybe she didn't buy it, we have no idea her living situation. She may have been living with one of her children and found the oil and thinking it was juice took some shots. (we, still, don't know how much was ingested.)
@MayorBee: Word.@whatdoyoucare: True, I hadn't considered the loss-of-smell-and-taste factor. I'd say the viscosity of the stuff could be a giveaway failing the smell/taste test, but an elderly individual's vision may not be that sharp. Of course, were one to accept that latter excuse, this woman could have just as easily poured a bottle of ANYTHING into a glass thinking it was apple juice. It's tough to say overall, but I still have to lean toward consumer-error here as opposed to product-error.
ThinkerTDM: I'm sure you geniuses have never been talking to someone in your kitchen, and reached for something in the fridge without looking, but many have.
Why are people storing inedible things in their fridges? Do you store your bleach next to your vinegar?
"One restaurant, Star of Siam, was cited for storing an open container of vinegar next to an open container of bleach."
I object more to unnaturally colored energy drinks than I do to unnaturally colored solvents and oils.
It's kind of sad that we accept brightly colored drinks like Gatorade and Kool-Aid without much of a thought.
I'm also kind of at a loss to determine what the manufacturer could have done differently. I suppose the plastic bottle looks a bit like those newer, juice bottles with less plastic in them, but can you blame the manufacturer for cutting costs there and using less plastic?
Uh, why force them to redesign the bottles not to look like beverages? Why not force the beverages to redesign their bottles not too look like tiki lamp fuel?
@lordargent: At 13 months, I don't think kids can even distinguish tastes. They'll drink anything that is given to them.
It's definitely consumer error. But, it should still serve as a caution to others, just as the dish soap/sauce story did, be careful how you store poisonous stuff.
For the Darwin/they got what they deserved crowd, one these days when you are older and wiser, if you are lucky, you will give a damn about somebody.
I blame the product designer for making that oil look so delicious! It even has those ridges on the sides like a water bottle does. I expect lamp oil to come in a red can or an opaque bottle at least...
I don't want to blame the victims, but I do wonder about the taste. Did no one notice that it taste funny? My experience is that often they'll put terrible tasting substances in anything like this so that this doesn't happen. Or is that just for ethanol so people don't get drunk at the gas pump?