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Four US daycare workers charged with spiking children’s food with melatonin
(www.theguardian.com)
this post was submitted on 18 May 2024
274 points (97.9% liked)
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Yes... they were arrested for giving it to children without their parents' permission.
It is legal for a parent to give their child melatonin. Are you really not aware of that?
I mean read the damn article-
and why would they need their parents permission? I dont think you took in what you were responding to, melatonin isnt harmful.
Sorry... why would daycare workers need parents' permission to add melatonin to a child's food? Are you serious?
Harmful has nothing to do with it. You don't seem to understand about what daycare workers have the legal right to do.
I sincerely hope you do not work around children.
There's no specific laws against this, they're charged with endangering children. Which means risking harm. You've encountered the reality that there's no real risk of harm so you try to justify it with risk of allergic reaction.
..... providing psychotropic chemicals to children, en masse, and without the knowledge or permission of their parents.
Yeah, you're right, definitely no laws against that and clearly there's no possible risk of harm.
The FDA considers melatonin supplements as a food additive, not a drug. Again, why exactly would it be considered illegal?
No, they don't. It's considered a dietary supplement, which thanks to the Supplement lobby is notoriously unregulated.
And FWIW I don't think that you pointing out how special interests lobbies have created any entire industry built on the manufacturering and mass marketing of unregulated supplements and chemicals somehow supports the idea that their safe for kids to consume, or to be dosed with by unlicensed daycare workers.
Never said anything about this was safe. I was making the point that it's probably not illegal.
A point you supported by saying melatonin was considered a food, or food additive, which it's not.
It is legally considered a supplement, which are not FDA regulated, and because it's used to alter a persons mind and behavior, it is a psychotropic.
So are you saying it's not, or shouldn't be, illegal for unlicensed daycare workers to secretly dose children's food with unregulated psychotropic supplements?
Whether it should or shouldn't be illegal is irrelevant as to whether it is illegal. Should it be? Probably. Currently, it isn't.
....it absolutely is illegal to provide OTC substances to children in your daycare without a signed release from each parent.
As it's so clearly illegal, I was genuinely curious if your comment crusade was because you had a moral objection to it being illegal.....hence my asking for clarification.
Additionally, this was an unlicensed daycare, and there might be additional restrictions in place regulating the dispensing of any substance to children, but you can look up the relevant NH regulations if you're curious.
Curiously, they weren't charged with giving kids in their care melatonin. Hmm.
You realize that if they dosed the kids with hydromorphone they wouldn't be charged with "giving kids in their care hydromorphone", right?
If Fred commits murder by putting a bag over his victims head, he isn't charged with "placing a bag over the victim's head". He's charged with murder.
These people endangered the safety of the children in their care, by secretly dosing them with psychotropic substances, en masse, and without their parents knowledge, or permission. Their actions endangered those children's safety, which is what they were arrested for.
Why not just give the kids THC, or even LSD? Neither of those can be overdosed on, allergic reactions are extremely rare, and are generally not harmful. So by your logic, they should be A-OK to give to kids without their parents permission. Right?
Those are illegal, both for kids and their parents.
I wasn't advocating for the daycare workers here. It's not cool to give someone else's kid melatonin without permission. Fairly certain it isn't illegal though, and the fact that these daycare workers weren't charged with it supports my position.