By IANS,
Mumbai: The Maharashtra government plans to carry out tests to verify claims made by major energy drinks manufacturers about the caffeine content in their beverages, an official Monday assured the Bharatiya Janata Party’s youth wing.
This assurance was given by state Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Seema Vyas to a delegation of Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha (BJYM) which brought to her notice the adverse effects of caffeine quantities in energy boosters like Red Bull, Cloud Nine, Monster, Burn, XXX and others.
“We submitted a report by a New Delh-based NGO which has made some startling findings on these energy drinks available without any checks or restrictions in the market all over India,” BJYM president Ameet Satam told IANS.
Among the findings by the NGO are that many energy drinks manufactures do not mention the caffeine content and others give misleading caffeine content figures on the cans, which violates the rules, he said.
Satam said there are many studies worldwide which reveal that caffeine poses adverse effect on the human body, leading to high blood pressures, strokes, paralysis or even death.
“The manner in which these energy drinks are consumed by the youngsters is shocking. You can even see schoolchildren consuming several cans daily, besides the youth working in call centres, sports enthusiasts, and so on,” he added.
Expressing concern, Vyas assured that she would initiate laboratory tests of energy drinks samples available in Mumbai and Maharashtra and then plan out further action.
Earlier, the BJYM protested against the energy drinks manufacturers and burnt several cans of energy drinks outside the FDA office in Bandra-Kurla Complex and threatend to drag the manufacturers to court if the state government fails to take appropriate action.