The Interesting Times

I received a sample of AeroShot in the mail this week. If you aren’t on the Abominations of Modern Science mailing list, you may not have heard of this great advance in self-administered stimulants, but there it was: a canister of inhalable caffeine, the latest creation by Harvard professor David Edwards and his team of students at ArtScience Labs and Breathable Foods, Inc. When I removed it from its package, I was struck by the thought: What has science wrought? I hoped the answer was: something awesome that might make my heart explode.

Moments before a poor decision.

Of course, the AeroShot website advertises the product as safe, stating it “complies with all FDA dietary supplement regulations”. What this means, according to the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act, is that it is a company’s responsibility to determine that its products are safe and that it has no responsibility to prove this safety using any sort of science or evidence. The FDA only requires companies to apply for approval if their products contain a “new dietary ingredient”. Since AeroShot’s website lists the ingredients as caffeine, B vitamins, sweeteners, natural lime flavour, citric acid, and sodium bicarbonate (baking soda), none of which are novel, the only action Breathable Foods, Inc. needs to take to comply with the FDA regulations is to list those ingredients on the label and make sure not to accidentally spill any rat poison in the canisters. Never mind that the route of administration, rate, or quantity of any of the ingredients may differ wildly from the studies on which the FDA concluded those ingredients were safe. So, while it may be safe to consume 100mg of caffeine from drinking one cup of coffee over several minutes, if you inhale the same amount of caffeine in under second, well, don’t worry about it, I’m sure it’s fine.

The website goes on to state that “[c]affeine has been proven to offer a variety of potential benefits or health to individuals when consumed in moderation, from providing energy to enhancing attention and focus.”¹ Though that’s technically true, those aren’t so much “health benefits” as the primary effects for which people consume stimulants. By that logic, a hit off a meth pipe has similar “health benefits”. And though studies of caffeine have shown other health benefits from ingesting coffee, such as treating headaches² and reducing risk of Alzheimer’s disease³ and several cancers⁴, it isn’t clear whether those effects are partially or fully caused by the other ingredients in coffee. Conversely, caffeine also increases one’s risk of experiencing hallucinations⁵ and suffering stroke.⁶

With all these thoughts in mind, I unwrapped the plastic from the canister. I had a slight headache so I figured a hit of AeroShot might at least minimize it. I pulled the tab and took a big drag—the website states that each AeroShot provides four to six puffs, but why would you carry a canister of caffeine around if you are only going to take gentle puffs? My mouth filled with a cloud tasting like lime-flavoured chewable vitamins and I was overcome by a fit of coughing. Seconds later, my heart rate spiked to 108 beats per minute from 80, producing a vague feeling of dread. My headache remained but at least AeroShot didn’t multiply it like some energy drinks do.

The taste wasn’t too bad but it lingered. And lingered. And resisted my attempts to wash it out. Everything I drank tasted of pseudo-lime, which was a worse experience than the original taste. The only thing that managed to neutralize the taste was coffee. So if you plan to use this product make sure you have a coffee nearby to chase it with—as much sense as that makes. Alternatively, in the same way that vodka and Red Bull combine to form a cocktail that is less than the sum of its parts (but at least makes Red Bull drinkable) I expect vodka or other liquors will dramatically improve the AeroShot experience too—and increase the risk of negligent self-inflicted bodily harm.⁷

AeroShot solves a problem that doesn’t exist. The website advertises that AeroShot provides “a higher level of freedom and control that you can only get from airborne energy … such as when you study in the library, board an airplane, or get into the car for a long drive”,¹ which are all places that, in my experience, you can have a coffee. It is the caffeine addict’s answer to the TSA prohibition against taking liquids on the plane; namely, “Fuck you, it’s a gas.” And sticking it to the TSA is something I can always support. The inventor, David Edwards, described the AeroShot’s precursor, the aerosolized chocolate dispenser, Le Whaf, as “wonderfully pointless”⁸ and the AeroShot continues that fine tradition.

Interestingly, Edwards developed the underlying technology as a method for delivering insulin and other drugs to patients without requiring needles. Edwards and his team should be commended for creating a technology that can potentially improve the human condition. He sold the technology, however, to the for-profit pharmaceutical company Alkermes PLC, which limits the scope of beneficiaries of this technology to people who can afford it.

Edwards has started several companies and labs that deal with issues ranging from biotechnology to science-inspired art, though if his bio is any indication, he seems to prefer to focus on the spectacularly pointless. Hopefully, someone else will apply gaseous food technology to benefit the human condition, and Edwards will continue to invent new technologies and use them to create wonderfully absurdist food-cum-art.

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