A University Is In Trouble After Giving Students The Caffeine Equivalent Of 300 Cups Of Coffee Instead Of 3 Cups During An Experiment
BBC- A university has been fined after two students suffered “life-threatening” effects when they were given 100 times too much caffeine in an experiment. Northumbria University told Newcastle Crown Court it was “deeply, genuinely sorry” as it was fined £400,000. Sports science students Alex Rossetta and Luke Parkin were each given the equivalent of 300 cups of coffee. They were admitted to intensive care for dialysis after the calculation error led to violent side-effects. Prosecutor Adam Farrer told the court the overdose “could easily have been fatal”. Peter Smith, defending, said the university wished to “emphasise that they take the welfare of their students and staff seriously”. ‘Not experienced enough’ The students had volunteered to take part in a test in March 2015 aimed at measuring the effect of caffeine on exercise. They were given 30g of caffeine instead of 0.3g, Mr Farrer said. Death had previously been reported after consumption of just 18g, he told the court. The university had switched from using caffeine tablets to powder, he said. “The staff were not experienced or competent enough and they had never done it on their own before,” he said. “The university took no steps to make sure the staff knew how to do it.”
Sign me up. Let’s do this. I’ll drink the fuck outta that coffee or whatever it is. Will my heart probably explode? Absolutely. I’ve got a weird heart history where I’ve been told it could explode at any moment (not really but kinda). Let’s go all in. I love coffee. It’s my favorite thing in the world and it’s also the only reason I exist in the morning. I’ve said this before but the fact that people can exist on this planet and not drink coffee every morning is insane to me. It’s inconceivable to me that people pop outta bed every day and then just start doing things without being genuinely angry. Anyway. I honestly just wanna know what it’s like to be hopped up on something that’s 300x stronger than coffee. Where does cocaine fall on that measurement? I’m not a coke guy but that would give us a good idea as to just how strong the shit was that they gave to the students. Last thing is I don’t understand why they got in trouble for this. Yes, life threatening injuries are bad blah blah blah but the experiment still worked cause it showed humans can survive a SHIT TON of caffeine. The scientists should be applauded.