According to NBC New York, anyone 19 or younger may soon be banned from buying non-alcoholic energy drinks under proposed legislation now before the Suffolk County Legislature. This ban would be the first of its kind in the nation.
The bill, sponsored by county legislator Lynne Nowick, would target energy drinks with more than 80 milligrams of caffeine per serving.
“These drinks can be potentially dangerous for teens,” said Nowick. “Why put foreign things in your body when you don’t know what’s going into them? The drinks are not regulated.”
However, there is already criticism for this proposed ban, especially from the American Beverage Association, who printed a statement saying, “Energy drinks contain about half the caffeine of a similar size cup of coffeehouse coffee. To be consistent, coffeehouses would have to start carding customers before serving them coffee.”
