Eyedrops in a drink
#11
07-22-2005, 04:38 AM
RE: Eyedrops in a drink
yes i saw it in wedding crashers saw it for the 2nd time tonight and i wondered if it was true. And eyedrops are easier to get ppl to drink than laxatives (i have tried a few times an donly worked once). I also saw it in another show and waitresses were doing it to bad customers.
#14
07-22-2005, 04:58 AM
RE: Eyedrops in a drink
i found the answer, Thank god for the internet
Claim: A few drops of Visine brand eye drops taken internally will cause diarrhea.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]
Origins: The desire for revenge runs deep in all of us. Everyone who has ever been wronged has at one time or another felt the urge to strike a counterblow. Most of us don't indulge in this pursuit because we've deemed the cost of getting even too high to justify the benefits gained, yet we revel in thoughts of comeuppances doled out by others. Such imaginings give us the chance to vicariously experience the joys of retribution, joys we're not likely to sample in real life.
The "Visine slipped into the drink" pay back carries additional appeal because it seems to offer an effective yet harmless form of retaliation that could be easily and furtively administered even by the wimpiest of revenge seekers. Also, the mental image of an enemy sent hotfooting for the toilet is a hugely satisfying one, especially in a society that views fecal output as something to be ashamed of. An act of spite that forces the victim into making repeated visits to the john is regarded as not only extremely inconveniencing to him, but degrading as well.
Yet all is not well in revenge land. While it is true that Visine is readily obtainable (it's an non-prescription eye drop manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer), a drink spiked with it not only won't produce diarrhea in the one unfortunate enough to drink the concoction, but ingestion of the product is downright dangerous, making this "harmless" form of retaliation fraught with hazard.
The active ingredient in Visine eye drops is Tetrahydrozoline HCl 0.05%. Swallowing this substance can result in a number of nasty effects, including:
Lowering body temperature to dangerous levels
Making breathing difficult, or even halting it entirely
Blurring vision
Causing nausea and vomiting
Elevating and then dropping blood pressure
Causing seizures or tremors
Sending the ingester into a coma
Pfizer's cautions to users of Visine include, "If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away." In view of the above list, that advice should not be taken lightly.
One thing tetrahydrozoline has not been known to do is to cause sudden onset bouts of severe diarrhea. Although this belief has been around for decades, and everyone knows someone who knows someone who really did administer a Visine mickey to a deserving miscreant and thereby caused him an immediate serious case of the trots, there's no documented evidence the product would have that effect. Of the Visine poisoning cases studied by medical observers, we found none that mentioned diarrheal output brought about by the drug.
Yet if Visine doesn't cause diarrhea, it has done things far more terrible. Drinking it can (and has) caused severe depression of the central nervous system. In 1996, a two-year-old child who ingested at most 2 to 3 mL of Visine eye drops became dangerously lethargic and unresponsive to every stimulus except deep pain. Thanks to prompt medical attention the child recovered, but not before enduring intubation and two days' worth of mechanically-assisted breathing.
Medical literature reports other cases of small children brought to the brink of crisis by ingestion of tiny amounts of over-the-counter eye drops. The danger is real, and parents are well advised to keep eye drops away from children.
Yet it is not only toddlers who risk central nervous system shutdown or other dire results if they swallow Visine. In 1995 an adult customer at a Whole Foods Market (a retail chain of natural and organic foods) had his wheat-grass smoothie spiked with a bottle of Visine by a clerk intent upon playing a practical joke. The victim, Rudy Trabanino of Houston, became violently ill and had to be hospitalized for several days with acute pain and a variety of serious medical problems. The clerk responsible for the act was dismissed, and Whole Foods Market settled out of court with Trabanino for an undisclosed sum after he brought a $1 million suit against the store.
Visine poisoning has also featured in a murder. In 2001, Damien Kawai, a member of the U.S. Air Force, killed his roommate and fellow airman by strangling the young man, then attempted to conceal the crime by slitting the wrists of the corpse to make the death appear to be suicide. Kawai admitted to earlier spiking the roommate's beer with Visine, under the belief this would render the doomed man unconscious. (It actually caused him to vomit and suffer labored breathing).
In May 2002 19-year-old Damien Kawai was sentenced to life in prison for the 17 November 2001 murder of Charles Eskew.
Revenge seekers still not quite convinced that a Visine mickey finn won't produce the diarrheal results they crave, or that the drinking of such a potion could potentially result in a life-threatening medical crisis in the object of their prank, should consider one final fact: the act of secreting noxious substances in ingestibles for the purpose of bringing harm to others is called poisoning. It matters not if actual harm results from the attempt — the act itself is enough to land one in the hoosegow.
snopes.com
Claim: A few drops of Visine brand eye drops taken internally will cause diarrhea.
Status: False.
Example: [Collected on the Internet, 2003]
Origins: The desire for revenge runs deep in all of us. Everyone who has ever been wronged has at one time or another felt the urge to strike a counterblow. Most of us don't indulge in this pursuit because we've deemed the cost of getting even too high to justify the benefits gained, yet we revel in thoughts of comeuppances doled out by others. Such imaginings give us the chance to vicariously experience the joys of retribution, joys we're not likely to sample in real life.
The "Visine slipped into the drink" pay back carries additional appeal because it seems to offer an effective yet harmless form of retaliation that could be easily and furtively administered even by the wimpiest of revenge seekers. Also, the mental image of an enemy sent hotfooting for the toilet is a hugely satisfying one, especially in a society that views fecal output as something to be ashamed of. An act of spite that forces the victim into making repeated visits to the john is regarded as not only extremely inconveniencing to him, but degrading as well.
Yet all is not well in revenge land. While it is true that Visine is readily obtainable (it's an non-prescription eye drop manufactured by pharmaceutical giant Pfizer), a drink spiked with it not only won't produce diarrhea in the one unfortunate enough to drink the concoction, but ingestion of the product is downright dangerous, making this "harmless" form of retaliation fraught with hazard.
The active ingredient in Visine eye drops is Tetrahydrozoline HCl 0.05%. Swallowing this substance can result in a number of nasty effects, including:
Lowering body temperature to dangerous levels
Making breathing difficult, or even halting it entirely
Blurring vision
Causing nausea and vomiting
Elevating and then dropping blood pressure
Causing seizures or tremors
Sending the ingester into a coma
Pfizer's cautions to users of Visine include, "If swallowed, get medical help or contact a Poison Control Center right away." In view of the above list, that advice should not be taken lightly.
One thing tetrahydrozoline has not been known to do is to cause sudden onset bouts of severe diarrhea. Although this belief has been around for decades, and everyone knows someone who knows someone who really did administer a Visine mickey to a deserving miscreant and thereby caused him an immediate serious case of the trots, there's no documented evidence the product would have that effect. Of the Visine poisoning cases studied by medical observers, we found none that mentioned diarrheal output brought about by the drug.
Yet if Visine doesn't cause diarrhea, it has done things far more terrible. Drinking it can (and has) caused severe depression of the central nervous system. In 1996, a two-year-old child who ingested at most 2 to 3 mL of Visine eye drops became dangerously lethargic and unresponsive to every stimulus except deep pain. Thanks to prompt medical attention the child recovered, but not before enduring intubation and two days' worth of mechanically-assisted breathing.
Medical literature reports other cases of small children brought to the brink of crisis by ingestion of tiny amounts of over-the-counter eye drops. The danger is real, and parents are well advised to keep eye drops away from children.
Yet it is not only toddlers who risk central nervous system shutdown or other dire results if they swallow Visine. In 1995 an adult customer at a Whole Foods Market (a retail chain of natural and organic foods) had his wheat-grass smoothie spiked with a bottle of Visine by a clerk intent upon playing a practical joke. The victim, Rudy Trabanino of Houston, became violently ill and had to be hospitalized for several days with acute pain and a variety of serious medical problems. The clerk responsible for the act was dismissed, and Whole Foods Market settled out of court with Trabanino for an undisclosed sum after he brought a $1 million suit against the store.
Visine poisoning has also featured in a murder. In 2001, Damien Kawai, a member of the U.S. Air Force, killed his roommate and fellow airman by strangling the young man, then attempted to conceal the crime by slitting the wrists of the corpse to make the death appear to be suicide. Kawai admitted to earlier spiking the roommate's beer with Visine, under the belief this would render the doomed man unconscious. (It actually caused him to vomit and suffer labored breathing).
In May 2002 19-year-old Damien Kawai was sentenced to life in prison for the 17 November 2001 murder of Charles Eskew.
Revenge seekers still not quite convinced that a Visine mickey finn won't produce the diarrheal results they crave, or that the drinking of such a potion could potentially result in a life-threatening medical crisis in the object of their prank, should consider one final fact: the act of secreting noxious substances in ingestibles for the purpose of bringing harm to others is called poisoning. It matters not if actual harm results from the attempt — the act itself is enough to land one in the hoosegow.
snopes.com
