California Joins Six U.S. States Banning Beer Drinks Laced With Caffeine
California became the seventh state to ban beer drinks laced with caffeine, which gained attention last year when nine Washington college students were hospitalized after downing cans of such a malt beverage.
Governor Jerry Brown, a Democrat, signed a bill yesterday that prohibits the sale of “beer to which caffeine has been directly added as a separate ingredient.”
State Senator Alex Padilla, the Pacoima Democrat who wrote the legislation, said in a statement that the drinks often are sold in “flashy” 23.5-ounce cans and marketed to underage drinkers. Caffeine and other stimulants, such as taurine and guarana, tend to mask the effects of alcohol, Padilla said.
“Caffeinated beer beverages have been marketed to youth and are a threat to public health,” Padilla said in the July 14 statement as the bill went to Brown’s desk. “The added caffeine masks the effects of the high alcohol content, which can lead to binge drinking and dangerous behavior.”
The banned drinks had all but disappeared from stores by the time Padilla introduced his bill, said Michael Michail, chief executive officer of Los Angeles-based United Brands Co. Inc., whose Joose beverage was targeted by the law.
“I don’t know why he’s pushing for it,” Michail said by phone July 25. “There used to be a category of drinks. Today there isn’t.”
The new law is intended to keep the category from re- emerging, Padilla’s chief of staff, Bill Mabie, said in an e- mail July 26.
“The senator’s bill would codify an explicit ban on these beverages, effectively eliminating this possibility,” he said.
Other States
Massachusetts, New York, Washington, Utah, Michigan and Kansas already have prohibited malt beverages that contain caffeine, according to Padilla’s statement. The laws don’t apply to bar drinks such as Irish coffee.
Central Washington University banned the drinks in October when nine freshmen were hospitalized after drinking a fruity alcoholic beverage known as Four Loko at a party.
Four Loko, manufactured by Chicago-based Phusion Projects LLC, was one of three drinks singled out when the California Senate approved Padilla’s bill in April. The others were Joose, made by United Brands in San Diego, and Tilt, a product of Anheuser-Busch InBev NV (ABI), the world’s largest brewer.
A month after the Central Washington incident, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration threatened to seize alcohol-laced energy drinks. Phusion Products then said it would remove the caffeine from its Four Loko drinks. Chris Short, a company spokesman, said in an e-mail that Padilla’s bill won’t affect Four Loko sales in California, which he called “one of our stronger markets.”
Answering Call
Anheuser-Busch’s Tilt beverage also no longer contains caffeine, Andrew Baldonado, a company regional vice president, said in an e-mail.
“We took this action in response to state attorneys general who asked several malt beverage companies to stop selling pre-packaged caffeinated alcohol beverages,” Baldonado’s statement said. “We were pleased to be the first company to answer the call.”
Joose had from 6 percent and 12 percent alcohol and 180 parts per million of caffeine, less per ounce than carbonated colas, Michail said in a news release in November. A month later, his company removed the stimulants from its drink in response to FDA pressure, he said in a phone interview.
“Has doing that hurt our business?” he asked. “Yes, it has. A lot.”
To contact the reporter on this story: James Nash in Sacramento at jnash24@bloomberg.net
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Mark Tannenbaum at mtannen@bloomberg.net
Rate this Page