NYC Medical Examiner Says Muscle Cream Killed Teen Runner

NEW YORK (AP) _ A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star's death on the use of too much anti-inflammatory muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise. <br/><br/>Arielle

Saturday, June 9th 2007, 3:44 pm

By: News On 6

NEW YORK (AP) _ A medical examiner blamed a 17-year-old track star's death on the use of too much anti-inflammatory muscle cream, the kind used to soothe aching legs after exercise.

Arielle Newman, a cross-country runner at Notre Dame Academy on Staten Island, died after her body absorbed high levels of methyl salicylate, an anti-inflammatory found in sports creams such as Bengay and Icy Hot, the New York City medical examiner said Friday.

The medical examiner's spokeswoman, Ellen Borakove, said the teen used ``topical medication to excess.'' She said it was the first time that her office had reported a death from using a sports cream.

In addition to spreading the muscle cream on her legs between track meets, Newman was using adhesive pads containing the anti-inflammatory, plus an unspecified third product containing the chemical, Borakove said. The products were used and the chemical absorbed over time, rather than from a single instance of overuse, she said.

Newman, who garnered numerous track awards, died April 3. She had gone to a party the night before, then returned home and spent hours talking with her mother.

Methyl salicylate poisoning is unusual, and deaths from high levels of the chemical are rare.

``Chronic use is more dangerous than one-time use,'' Edward Arsura, chairman of medicine at Richmond University Medical Center, told the Staten Island Advance on Friday. ``Exercise and heat can accentuate absorption.''

Dr. Ronald Grelsamer, of Mount Sinai Medical Center, said Newman had a very abnormal amount of methyl salicylate in her body.

``She either lathered herself with it, or used way too much, or she used a normal amount and an abnormal percentage was absorbed into her body,'' he said.

Her mother, Alice Newman, said she still couldn't believe her daughter's death was caused by a sports cream.

``I am scrupulous about my children's health,'' she told the Advance. ``I did not think an over-the-counter product could be unsafe