Kiwi Coroner says Coca-Cola helped kill woman
New Zealand’s Coroner for Dunedin, David Cerar, has reportedly found excessive consumption of Coca-Cola helped to kill a woman. Natasha Harris, a 31-year old resident of the southern city Invercargill, died last year. The Coroner's report, which was sent to The Reg by the New Zealand Justice Department, says Harris’ partner told …
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I agree
Its disgusting, if I didn't know better I'd say that "Big Soda" have a secret deal with "Big Pharma" and "Big Medica" to sell expensive dental care to "victims".
Sure, put warnings on the bottle, works well for cigs.
Re: I agree
To be fair, I stopped smoking because of the warnings that they put on packs of cigs. I was only an occasional smoker and knew about the dangers since day one. I was never really that concerned until I would see all the nasty images on the front of packs of cigs. It was enough to make me give up.
9 litres of coke and 30 fags a day.
I can see the dietary deficiency in there. No alcohol.
If only she'd put some Bacardi in the coke......
Re: 9 litres of coke and 30 fags a day.
"I can see the dietary deficiency in there. No alcohol."
It is physically painfully to laugh that much. Funniest comment that I have *ever* read on this site.
Sorry State
It's a pitty that in today's litigious climate, and in today's world of the nanny state, Coca-Cola felt compelled to issue a denial. Of course a sugary drink - and with phosphoric acid, which dissolves apatite, to boot - can cause problems if not used responsibly. Does that mean people should have to be legal adults before they can buy soft drinks, or that they should only be sold from behind the counter? Extreme cases are extreme cases; should all overweight (never mind fat) people be institutionalized, so they can't overeat any more?
So, she "hardly ate, usually skipping breakfast, eating only small lunches and seldom partaking in an evening meal. She would often vomit upon waking in the morning. She was also a 30-a-day smoker.", but they're blaming 10l of Coke a day for her death? Is the Coroner on a backhander from the family for whatever undeserved payout they think they're going to get?
It was probably only the sugar content in the coke that was keeping her going at all with that diet.
Yeah, but if she hadn't have had the Coke, she'd have had to actually have eaten food. Ergo, it was the Coke.
For example, if I didn't want to sleep, I'd eventually fall asleep. If I took Amphetamine and never slept, I'd eventually drop dead. Clearly, the Coroner would rightly blame them Amphetamine.
@Psyx
It would probably be the sleep deprivation that killed you rather than the amphetamines, as long as you didn't acutely overdose. This would happen in less time than you would think. Google experiments on sleep deprivation for some interesting reading on the subject...
Re: @Psyx
"Google experiments on sleep deprivation"
You had me for a minute there, I thought 'experiments' was the verb'
Re: @Psyx
But the coroner would write it up as the Amphetamine*, still. New Scientist are also doing a special feature on sleep this week, I notice.
*The plural for Amphetamine is Amphetamine
Re: @Psyx
Actually, the generic term for molecules with the amphetamine backbone is 'amphetamines', which is the only case I can think of where you would pluralise it anyway.
For example, free base amphetamine, amphetamine sulphate (speed), methamphetamine (crystal meth) and methylenedioxymethamphetamine (MDMA, or ecstasy), along with others are collectively known as amphetamines.
My original pluralisation of the word was a typo. I am prone to them.
Yeah, but if she hadn't have had the Coke, she'd have had to actually have eaten food.
Have you never heard of eating disorders?
There's little reason to suppose that she would have started eating food had she been denied Coca-Cola as a substitute; or that if she did, it would have been nutritious food.
The Coca-Cola consumption was a symptom of the underlying problem, not its cause.
Re: @Psyx
"Re: @Psyx
Actually no the corner would not."
Really, because my understanding was that if drugs (inc beer) are found in someone's system after death the official statistics list the death as 'Heroin/Alcohol/Whatever' related?
It's why our 'drug related deaths' figures are such a massive crock of poop. According to the Home Office, if I were to be high/drunk and then died because I did something stupid or was involved in an accident, it would be 'drug related'. This is also how so many deaths are listed as being 'drug related' for drugs which have a LD50 measured in kilograms!
9 Litres a Day?
"She was also a 30-a-day smoker."
For f*ck sake, did she want to die?
Supersize vs superskinny
Anyone seen that? More often than not the killingly bad diets on both ends of the spectrum involve large amounts of branded cola beverage. Co-incidence? I don't think so.
A little more background...
From http://www.odt.co.nz/your-town/invercargill/206172/family-hopes-coke-addicts-death-will-be-lesson-others
"The family was hoping to gain compensation from Coca-Cola for the children, who were now in care. "
"Mr Hodgkinson said he had known Ms Harris since she was 16. She had always drunk Coke, but in the last seven or eight years she had increased her habit from several 1.5-litre bottles up to five bottles a day. "
"All her teeth had been removed because they were rotting out, causing a dentist to remark about drinking too much Coke. "
"Mr Crerar (the coroner) also suggested that even if Coke bottles had warnings labels on them, Ms Harris may not have heeded the advice, given she was a smoker, and cigarette packets carried health warnings. "
Re: A little more background...
When thinking about the family, the word "Scum" comes to mind...
Re: A little more background...
I fail to see why Coke should give compensation here. When your dentist says "Gee, maybe you should let up of the coke, hun?" As he's pulling rotting teeth out of your face, you should probably take that as a hint to cut down a bit.
If I ate 5 jars of peanut butter a day, and nothing else, I'd be a fucking moron to try and blame Kraft for making me a fat turd.
People need to take responsibility for their own stupidity.
Re: A little more background...
"I fail to see why Coke should give compensation here. When your dentist says "Gee, maybe you should let up of the coke, hun?" As he's pulling rotting teeth out of your face, you should probably take that as a hint to cut down a bit."
At least she'll never have to see that smug bastard of a dentist again...
2.25l /Day ?
Coke gets such a bad rap.
It's my poison of choice at work. Anywhere between 2-5 33cl cans a day.
Better than gut-rot coffee-machine coffee any day of the week.
Diet/Zero Coke? That's for pussies. You might as well put a dress on and swish around in it.
Coke didn't kill this woman. A lifetime of bad choices MAY have contributed to her early demise.
Wow, I'm impressed
Seriously. 50+ posts and not a single aspertame rant.
+1 to El Reg commenters.
We actually had an MP (Former MP?) here in NZ 'musing out loud' about Coca Cola putting something in the drinks to make them so addictive.
It was Sue Kedgley, a well known campaigner against the food and beverage industry, but still.
Switching to Diet Coke is a dumb alternative; water, tea, or coffee are safer than any fizzy.
Diet soft drinks commonly contain Aspartame aka Nutrasweet, a re-purposed anti-ulcer drug, which is a proven carcinogen, excito-toxin (excites cells to death), and makes you drunker when in a mixer; Aspartame should have stayed banned, as it had been by the US FDA until it got corporate captured! All fizzy sodas shorten your lifespan, both standard and diet; it just happened faster with this stupid women.
Diet Coke sweetener with Stevia will be better; however they are still plenty of other harmful chemicals in Coke e.g. various acids, etc.
Caffeine is addictive.
Coca Cola knew of the addictive properties of it when they sold it to this woman and they chose to bundle it with sugar to compound the problem so let's see some jail time for someone.
Too much of anything is bad for you
That's why its called "too much"
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