Four New Hampshire daycare employees allegedly spiked children’s food with the sleep supplement melatonin and were arrested on Thursday.

After a six-month investigation, police discovered that children had been furtively dosed with melatonin. Officers arrested the daycare owner, 52-year-old Sally Dreckmann, along with three of her employees: Traci Innie, 51; Kaitlin Filardo and Jessica Foster, who are both 23.

Melatonin is a sleep aid supplement that is sold over the counter. But the long-term impacts of melatonin on children are not widely known.

Furthermore, there have been several reports of children being overdosed with melatonin in recent years. About 7% of emergency department visits between 2012 and 2021 were for children who had accidentally ingested melatonin, the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) has reported.

The American Academy of Sleep Medicine issued a health warning for melatonin use around kids and adolescents, warning against the lack of US Food and Drug Administration oversight for the sleep aid.

    • blazera@lemmy.world
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      6 months ago

      Should daycare workers be jailed for feeding kids foods containing soy?

      • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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        6 months ago

        Sorry… you’re comparing soy to melatonin? Also, this was about why kids would be hospitalized, not what people should be jailed for.

        • blazera@lemmy.world
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          6 months ago

          You’re responding to an explanation on how melatonin isnt a medical emergency. How all that stuff doesnt matter because what if theyre allergic. Melatonin is a hormone naturally produced in our bodies, allergic reactions to melatonin supplements are very rare. Soy is a far more common allergy.

            • blazera@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              Im saying if someone has a melatonin allergy they’re gonna have a pretty hard time avoiding exposure to it

            • blazera@lemmy.world
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              6 months ago

              I guess i should be asking the same of you, you brought up allergies but werent trying to make any kind of point?

              • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                6 months ago

                I’m pretty sure my point was that some of the children hospitalized probably had allergic reactions.

                What that has to do with arresting people over soy is beyond me though.

                  • Flying Squid@lemmy.world
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                    6 months ago

                    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-

                    “The children’s food was being sprinkled with melatonin without their parent’s knowledge or consent,” police said they had determined after the investigation.