14 DAY TRIAL // This Thursday, Chicago alderman Edward M. Burke made a rather shocking statement. Thus, he argued that, from his standpoint, this city should ban shops and supermarkets from marketing highly caffeinated energy drinks.
In all fairness, it was only yesterday when the news broke that, according to a new DAWN report, the number of people in the United States who required emergency medical attention following their consuming such beverages more than doubled between the years 2007 and 2011.
“The issue is not the doubling of emergency department visits. That is the symptom. The ‘disease’ is the failure of the federal government to regulate energy drinks as beverages,” Dr. Mary Claire O’Brien from the Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston Salem, N.C argued with respect to these findings.
Therefore, it need not come as a surprise that Edward M. Burke, who also happens to be the chairman of the City Council’s Finance Committee, decided that it might not be such a bad idea to limit the general public's access to them. Sources report that Ed Burke explained his decision to propose a ban on the selling of energy drinks in Chicago as follows:
“These energy drinks, if they’re consumed in large amounts, especially by kids, can have serious health implications.”
The health implications this council member is talking about include symptoms such as insomnia, nervousness and headaches. Furthermore, some people might experience irregular heartbeats and even seizures.
Apparently, Ed Burke wishes to ban whatever cans and bottles of Red Bull, Monster, Full Throttle, 5 Hour Energy and the like are found to contain a tad too much caffeine.
Thus, his goal is not that of outlawing such beverages altogether, but that of keeping people from abusing them.
If this alderman were to eventually have his way, those people selling oversized cans of highly caffeinated energy drinks would face fines of $100-$500 (roughly €75 - €375). As well as this, their business licenses might be revoked.