There's a bill floating around the Bundestag here in Germany.....pushed by the SPD Party. The wording basically says that all high-energy drinks with caffeine enhancements.....would be sold only to folks over the age of eighteen. It has yet to pass and there's some speculation that it may not have CDU/CSU support.
Over the past year, the news media in Germany have pumped up various reports (both in newspapers and network news) of kids overdosing on high-energy drinks. When you look at the caffeine content of several of these drinks.....with the amount of liquid involved, and the opportunity that some kids might consume more than just one in an afternoon....there's some potential risk.
The number of kids who've been sent off to a hospital because of consumption of such drinks? No figures have been pushed out into the public discussion.....just a couple of examples of what some kids encountered.
The typical energy drink has roughly 80 milligrams of caffeine. For an adult.....you could do around 300 milligrams a day of caffeine and be ok....beyond that, you start to have some effects. If you look at the typical can, which has twenty ounces....a twelve-year old kid could get a fair dose of caffeine with one can.
Naturally, a guy could ask about Pepsi, Mountain Dew or Coke, and find that they would be a slight problem as well. So, not to suggest that it'll happen.....but you might see a sequence here where they pass this bill and get the public into some acceptance....then turn around in four years and say that Pepsi or Coke are just as big of a threat to folks under the age of eighteen.....therefore....let's eliminate sales to them as well.
Germans often do the one-two-three step on regulation, so it wouldn't really surprise me where this goes in the future.
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