A new product promises to make getting a caffeine boost as easy as taking a quick breath from an inhaler. According to the Associated Press, a lipstick-sized tube gives a blast of energy for just $2.99 at a convenience store.
The new product, called AeroShot, was developed by Harvard biomedical engineering professor David Edwards. Sold in Massachusetts, New York and France, AeroShot contains about 100 milligrams of caffeine power. This is equivalent to a large cup of coffee, the AP said.
AeroShot works by delivering a puff of lemon-lime powder into the user’s mouth. Each container has six puffs of caffeine available, and packaging warns people not to consume more than three AeroShots per day.
Edwards said the device is safe and doesn’t contain dangerous additives like taurine, but U.S. Senator Charles Schumer still wants the Food and Drug Administration to review the product. Schumer says AeroShot has the capability to be used as a club drug to give people energy to continue drinking.
Edwards says he is not worried about the senator’s fears.
“Even with coffee—if you look at the reaction in Europe to coffee when it first appeared—there was quite a bit of hysteria,” he told the AP. “So anything new, there’s always some knee-jerk reaction that makes us believe ‘Well, maybe it’s not safe.”
AeroShot doesn’t have the same potency as some caffeine-packed alcoholic drinks, Edwards said, and is not marketed toward people under the age of 18.
