Ken Burt

It's a harmless little brownie with a cartoon logo. You can find it on the counter at your corner store. See it? It's right there next to the candy and gum. It's called a Lazy Cake and the cartoon character on the front is Lazy Larry. But this brownie is not for kids.

Lazy Cakes relaxation brownies have been produced in Tennessee since August of 2010. They have been available in convenience stores and head shops in Clearwater, Florida since October. They are colorfully displayed in a pop up box covered in bright purples and greens and of course Lazy Larry can be found on the wrapper of every brownie. Lazy cakes contain melatonin--a brain hormone used for sleep. Each brownie contains 8MG which is over the safe dosage for an adult. Granted the serving size is half of a brownie but who is going to eat half of a brownie?

The main problem with Lazy Cakes is they are accessible to kids both in the stores and in the home. A two year old boy in Arizona was hospitalized when he ate just a few bites of a relative’s brownie. He had fallen into a deep sleep. The child safe dosage for melatonin is .3MG. The towns of Fall River and New Bedford, Massachusetts are trying to ban these brownies stating that the packaging is too appealing to children.

The FDA is taking notice. Manufacturers can't put ingredients in food that are neither recognized as safe or have been approved for use in that food item. The manufacturers of Lazy Cakes have gotten around this rule by calling the brownies "supplements."

Should these brownies be on the market at all? If so how should they be marketed?

Photograph Credit:
Sabrina Segal