A story on NBC 5 out of Chicago says the city council plans to hear testimony about a possible blanket ban on energy drinks within the city limits.
According to the story, Alderman Ed Burke has proposed prohibiting the sale and distribution of some of the highly caffeinated drinks over health concerns, citing FDA data that links at least five deaths since 2009 to Monster Energy drinks.
The report quotes Burke as saying: “Kids are drinking more and more of them. And so Chicago ought to be on the forefront of public awareness and education about the potential dangers of these products.”
The parents of 14-year-old Anais Fournier, who died of a cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity after drinking two 24-ounce Monster drinks in 24 hours, have filed a wrongful death lawsuit. Last year, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced the investigation of a another energy drink called 5-hour Energy, after it was linked to 92 side effect reports including 33 hospitalizations and 13 deaths.
Another federal agency, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration, has released a report stating that the number of emergency room visits related to energy drinks doubled from 2007 through 2011 – rising from about 10,000 to more than 20,000.
That report, based on numbers released as part of a survey of hospitals throughout the United States, called energy drink consumption a “rising public health problem.”
NBC 5 notes that the New York state attorney general’s office subpoenaed Monster as part of an investigation into how energy drinks are made and marketed. As a result of that investigation, subpoenas were also sent to Living Essentials, which makes 5-Hour Energy shots; and PepsiCo Inc., which makes AMP.
See the story here:
