“Soda and other sugary drinks are popping up on city and state dockets across the nation, as lawmakers attempt to curb America’s consumption of certain beverages,” writes Time reporter Katy Steinmetz in this February 20, 2014, article summarizing recent campaigns to limit sales of sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) and energy drinks while raising revenue for government-backed health initiatives. In addition to San Francisco’s efforts to impose a SSB tax, Steinmetz notes similar proposals under consideration in Illinois and Berkeley, California, as well as attempts by Maryland and Los Angeles legislators to impose age restrictions on energy drink purchases. According to the article, San Francisco’s latest measure has garnered broad support from the city’s board of supervisors, “effectively guaranteeing that it will be on the ballot,” where it will need to gain approval from two-thirds of voters. But opponents of SSB taxation and the age restrictions on energy drinks have claimed that…
Tag Archives energy drinks
Contributors to a recent New York Times “Room for Debate” column have urged CVS Caremark Corp. to stop selling soda, energy drinks and high-calorie snacks in the wake of its decision to discontinue the sale of tobacco products. Noting in her debate response that “food is not tobacco,” New York University Nutrition Professor Marion Nestle nevertheless encourages the retailer to increase its sales of fruits, vegetables and healthy snacks while decreasing the availability of items like soda, ice cream and chips. “If CVS wants to counter obesity,” she opines, “dropping soft drinks is a good place to start. They have scads of sugars, and kids who drink them regularly take in more calories, are fatter and have worse diets than kids who do not.” In addition, a senior scientist at the University at Buffalo Research Institute on Addictions calls on CVS pharmacies to prohibit the sale of caffeinated energy drinks…
According to news sources, San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera and New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman have entered an agreement to share documents and otherwise coordinate efforts in their ongoing investigations of Monster Beverage Corp., which, they allege, illegally markets highly caffeinated beverages to children. Herrera reportedly said, “Up until now, we have been working in parallel fashion, but now you will see greater cooperation. I have enormous respect for Attorney General Schneiderman and am glad to be working with his office in this major consumer protection issue.” Herrera further claimed that the company continues “to market its potentially dangerous products to children, despite the known risks it poses to young people. Hopefully, our efforts can lead to a reform of those practices.” The agreement was apparently struck about the same time that a court dismissed Monster Beverage’s attempt to stop Herrera’s investigation. Details about the ruling appear in…
Oregon Attorney General (AG) Ellen Rosenblum has reportedly filed an action in state court against the companies that make and promote 5-hour ENERGY®, a drink purportedly linked to adverse incidents including fatalities, seeking to enforce her demand for information about the product. The lawsuit against Innovation Ventures, Living Essentials and Microdose Sales, filed in Multnomah County Court, apparently seeks enforcement of the AG’s Civil Investigative Demand for information under the state’s Unlawful Trade Practices Act (UTPA). According to a news source, the AG says she has “reason to believe that respondents have made misleading statements regarding 5-hour Energy in three issue areas: (1) whether users experience ‘no crash’ when using the product; (2) a ‘Doctors Recommend’ advertising campaign; and (3) the product’s suitability for children, all potentially in violation of . . . the UTPA.” She seeks an order requiring the respondents to respond to her demand with unredacted documents,…
A federal court in California has dismissed, without prejudice, the action for declaratory and injunctive relief brought against the San Francisco city attorney, seeking to halt his investigation of Monster Beverage’s energy drinks and efforts to regulate their formulation, labeling and promotion. Monster Beverage Corp. v. Herrera, No. 13-0786 (C.D. Cal., decided December 16, 2013). Additional information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 482 of this Update. The matter was before the court on the city attorney’s renewed motion to dismiss. Essentially, the court determined that the Younger abstention doctrine, which “counsels federal-court abstention when there is a pending state proceeding,” applied because a state action brought by the city attorney is pending, the action implicates important state interests, not all of the city attorney’s claims are preempted under federal food-labeling laws, and the state proceedings will be adequate for the consideration of Monster’s constitutional claims. Details about the city…
An ongoing study presented at the Radiological Society of North America’s (RSNA’s) 99th Annual Scientific Assembly and Annual Meeting has reportedly claimed that energy drinks “significantly increased” heart contraction rates in healthy adults one hour after consumption. According to a December 2, 2013, RSNA press release, researchers with the University of Bonn, Germany, used cardiac magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) “to measure the effect of energy drink consumption in 18 healthy volunteers,” who apparently underwent cardiac MRI before and after consuming an energy drink containing 400 mg of taurine and 32 mg of caffeine. The results evidently showed that, compared to the baseline images, the MRI taken one hour after energy drink consumption “revealed significantly increased peak strain and peak systolic strain rates (measurements for contractility) in the left ventricle of the heart.” “Until now, we haven’t known exactly what effect these energy drinks have on the function of the heart,”…
U.S. Sens. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), John Rockefeller (D-W.V.), and Edward Markey (D-Mass.) have written a letter to Rockstar, Inc. CEO Russell Weiner, questioning the energy drink company’s relationship with Ronin Syndicate, the manufacturer of remote-controlled toys crossed-branded with the Rockstar logo. Responding to consumer complaints on social media sites, the senators pointed to a July 31, 2013, hearing held by the Commerce, Science, and Transportation Committee investigating the alleged health risks of caffeinated energy drinks. In particular, they noted that Rockstar Chief Operating and Financial Officer Janet Weiner told committee members that “Rockstar’s target demographic is persons 18 to 35 years of age and their company does not market products to children under 12 years of age.” “Despite statements from your company that Rockstar, Inc. does not market to children, examples of what appear to be targeted marketing of your products to children have come to our attention,”…
The grandmother of a 33-year-old who allegedly died from cardiac arrest after ingesting a Red Bull “energy drink” while playing basketball has filed a survival and wrongful death action against the company. Terry v. Red Bull N. Am., Inc., No. 506504/2013 (N.Y. Sup. Ct., Kings Cty., filed October 24, 2013). The complaint recites a number of adverse incidents around the world since 2000 allegedly linked to consumption of the product and cites studies indicating that its use can produce symptoms associated with cardiovascular disease. Claiming that the product proximately caused the decedent’s death, the plaintiff alleges strict liability (design defect and failure to warn); negligence (design, manufacture and sale, and failure to warn); fraud; breach of implied warranties; punitive damages for the willful, wanton and malicious production of a beverage with “dangerous levels of caffeine and other stimulants”; and wrongful death. She seeks $5 million for each cause of action…
An Illinois appeals court has reversed a trial court determination that Illinois would not be an inconvenient forum for the defendants in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by the parents of a 15-year-old boy who allegedly drank two cans of the alcohol energy drink Four Loko and was killed on a Virginia highway after becoming disoriented. Rupp v. Phusion Projects, LLC, No. 1-12-2056 (Ill. App. Ct., order entered September 27, 2013) (not precedential). Additional information about the lawsuit appears in Issue 395 of this Update. According to the appeals court, while the trial court correctly weighed most of the private-interest factors presented, it should have considered the defendant’s choice-of-law issue under the public-interest factor analysis. The appeals court also found that the trial court erred in stating that other defendants had not joined Phusion’s forum non conveniens motion, because the record showed that they had done so. And finally, the…
The French Agency for Food, Environmental and Occupational Health and Safety (ANSES) has released a report that warns of the risks associated with consumption of energy drinks, particularly for children, pregnant women and people with certain genetic predispositions, such as cardiovascular or psychiatric and neurological disorders, kidney failure or liver disease. The agency also recommends that consumers stop drinking the beverages in combination with alcohol and during physical exercise, suggesting stricter laws on advertising and prohibiting the products from sporting events and festivals. Noting that caffeine has long been consumed throughout the world, ANSES reports that its “novel and increasingly popular presentation in the form of so-called energy drinks is changing consumption patterns,” with approximately 30 percent of the French population consuming enough energy drinks “to push themselves into states of anxiety (around six espressos).” French National Assembly Social Security Budget Rapporteur Gérard Bapt reportedly intends to propose a special…
