Alcoholic Energy Drinks Under Fire
Beverage companies that sell alcoholic energy drinks were harshly criticized Tuesday by more than two dozen state attorneys general who want federal officials to examine the ingredients and marketing of the drinks they say are aimed at underage customers.
In a letter to John Manfreda, the administrator of the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the attorneys general of 28 states and Washington, D.C., and Guam say aggressive — and possibly fraudulent — marketing of energy drinks mixing alcohol and caffeine targets teenagers and young adults who buy nonalcoholic energy drinks.
"Nonalcoholic energy drinks are very popular with today's youth," Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said. "Beverage companies are unconscionably appealing to young drinkers with claims about the stimulating properties of alcoholic energy drinks."
The attorneys general singled out Miller Brewing Co. for Sparks and Sparks Plus, Anheuser-Busch for Bud Extra and Charge Beverages of Portland for its Liquid Charge and Liquid Core drinks.
Anheuser-Busch vice president Francine Katz said the attorneys general should focus on restricting youth access to alcohol, particularly hard liquor products that can have 10 times the alcohol by volume as malt beverages. The federal government already approved the Bud Extra labeling, she said.
"This product is simply a malt beverage that contains caffeine, and is clearly marked as containing alcohol," Katz said. "In fact, Bud Extra has less caffeine than a 12-ounce Starbucks coffee."
The attorneys general are not so sure about the drinks' ingredients. They requested a federal investigation into the makeup of alcoholic energy drinks and other flavored malt beverages to determine whether, based on the percentage of distilled spirits contained in the drinks, they are properly classified as malt beverages under federal law. The malt beverage classification, in many states, enables cheaper and broader sale of these drinks, making them more readily available to young people than distilled spirits.
Julian Green, spokesman for Miller Brewing Co., said Sparks was created only for customers who are of legal drinking age.
"There is no nonalcoholic version of Sparks. We work closely with the Trade and Tax Bureau to ensure that all of our products meet federal regulatory requirements," he said.
Calls were placed to Charge Beverages in Portland, Ore.
The attorneys general said several advertisements make misleading health-related claims such as increasing stamina and energy. They said the companies' marketing warrants investigation and possible enforcement action by TTB.
"Combining alcohol with caffeine hardly seems healthy and that false claim is what we seek to halt," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
Liquid Charge's Web site displays a video of a nuclear power plant's cooling tower collapsing and being replaced by a can of Liquid Charge. The ad calls the drink a "new power source for the 21st century."
A report by the San Rafael, Calif.-based Marin Institute, which describes itself as an alcohol industry watchdog group, said 500 new energy drink products were introduced worldwide last year. Michele Simon, research and policy director of the group, said about 20 brands are alcoholic drinks and have come on the market in the last 10 years.
In addition to Oregon and Connecticut, states involved in the action are Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
© 2009 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. In a letter to John Manfreda, the administrator of the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the attorneys general of 28 states and Washington, D.C., and Guam say aggressive — and possibly fraudulent — marketing of energy drinks mixing alcohol and caffeine targets teenagers and young adults who buy nonalcoholic energy drinks.
"Nonalcoholic energy drinks are very popular with today's youth," Oregon Attorney General Hardy Myers said. "Beverage companies are unconscionably appealing to young drinkers with claims about the stimulating properties of alcoholic energy drinks."
The attorneys general singled out Miller Brewing Co. for Sparks and Sparks Plus, Anheuser-Busch for Bud Extra and Charge Beverages of Portland for its Liquid Charge and Liquid Core drinks.
Anheuser-Busch vice president Francine Katz said the attorneys general should focus on restricting youth access to alcohol, particularly hard liquor products that can have 10 times the alcohol by volume as malt beverages. The federal government already approved the Bud Extra labeling, she said.
"This product is simply a malt beverage that contains caffeine, and is clearly marked as containing alcohol," Katz said. "In fact, Bud Extra has less caffeine than a 12-ounce Starbucks coffee."
The attorneys general are not so sure about the drinks' ingredients. They requested a federal investigation into the makeup of alcoholic energy drinks and other flavored malt beverages to determine whether, based on the percentage of distilled spirits contained in the drinks, they are properly classified as malt beverages under federal law. The malt beverage classification, in many states, enables cheaper and broader sale of these drinks, making them more readily available to young people than distilled spirits.
Julian Green, spokesman for Miller Brewing Co., said Sparks was created only for customers who are of legal drinking age.
"There is no nonalcoholic version of Sparks. We work closely with the Trade and Tax Bureau to ensure that all of our products meet federal regulatory requirements," he said.
Calls were placed to Charge Beverages in Portland, Ore.
The attorneys general said several advertisements make misleading health-related claims such as increasing stamina and energy. They said the companies' marketing warrants investigation and possible enforcement action by TTB.
"Combining alcohol with caffeine hardly seems healthy and that false claim is what we seek to halt," Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said.
Liquid Charge's Web site displays a video of a nuclear power plant's cooling tower collapsing and being replaced by a can of Liquid Charge. The ad calls the drink a "new power source for the 21st century."
A report by the San Rafael, Calif.-based Marin Institute, which describes itself as an alcohol industry watchdog group, said 500 new energy drink products were introduced worldwide last year. Michele Simon, research and policy director of the group, said about 20 brands are alcoholic drinks and have come on the market in the last 10 years.
In addition to Oregon and Connecticut, states involved in the action are Alaska, Arizona, California, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Washington, West Virginia and Wyoming.
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You heard it here first, folks.
Never give a drunk a cup of coffee.
It''s unhealthy.
Give him another beer
and send him on his way
"Pot kills brain cells, but you don''''t have to worry."
Actually this is wrong. Get your facts stright.
Pot does not kill brain cells.
Posted by marcpcbs
"70% of the pot grown in this country goes not to sick people, but directly to school kids."
Do you have the facts on this?
Wrong info again bro.
Get the facts stright before you post.
Because the government has obviously failed in its control of selling drinks to the minors out there, they are now attacking the companies who make these drinks. They did this with video games and various other products.
First time I had even see one of these drinks I tried it, and quiet frankly, they just taste bad.
I understand their claims about it being unhealthy, but thats the effect of mixing uppers and downers.
With all the other problems going on in the country, why are we paying people to go and ***** at whom a company is advertising to. They are advertising to everyone.
How is this any different then some underage kid in a club ordering a vodka and red bull? Its just the government, that big body of older nay-sayers that can''t seem to actually take care of its people, is trying yet again to censor us from another product that we have a right to consume, be it video games, illegal drugs less harmful than alcohol, or alcoholic energy drinks that don''t even taste good.
...drink your fvcking brains out! Drink until the last drop, the last breath, whichever comes last!
CHUG CHUG CHUG!
Or, make a keychain hanger that''s a little over 7 feet tall, forcing people to have to reach for their keys. If a person is too drunk to drive, they would surely fall flat on their azz when they attempt to reach (and look) upward!
They left out %u201CNanny State%u201D
Oh well. Anyone have any idea where we can go hunt some other witches?
Posted by hpd4u at 12:24 AM : Aug 22, 2007
Try the DNC they keep a telephone list of them.
Pot kills brain cells, but you don''t have to worry.
- marcpbcs
Please get your facts straight. Pot is not a "poison". Tobacco is. Big tobacco pays the Attorney General, not the pot growers. Cigarettes make it into more young people''s mouths than pot. So please dont insult the majority of the fast food workers of this country that give you your McSandwich and fries every day. Without the pot for these folk, there would be a major shortage of workers . Do you really want to be responsible for destroying the fast food industry? A load of sober fat Americans would be quite upset. They would become lobbyists, politicians, and the next thing you know some idiot would be elected president.......wait thats already happened.........