The negative symptoms of those affected aren’t enough incentive, so those who aren’t affected must be denied:
A high school banned a caffeine-packed energy drink after students complained that it made them sick and shaky and caused their hearts to race.
…About a half-dozen students reported symptoms including shortness of breath, heart palpitations and nausea, school officials said.
The energy drink is SPIKE Shooter. Based on my personal preference, I’d never drink the stuff, but I don’t drink coffee or soda, either. My reason? Caffeine makes me sick and shaky and causes my heart to race. Beets do the same thing to me. Should we ban beets? Perhaps some other standard makes sense.
In the CNN article, this:
The drink Web site says an 8.4-ounce can has 300 milligrams of caffeine. By comparison, the average 5-ounce cup of coffee has 80 to 115 milligrams of caffeine, according to the London-based International Coffee Organization.
Ounce for ounce would be a better comparison. In that scenario, the average cup of coffee contains 134.4 to 193.2 milligrams of caffeine. That’s a slightly different story. To its credit, the drink’s maker, Biotest Laboratories, puts a warning on the can to “begin use with one-half can to determine tolerance.” If that warning is insufficient, then what’s the point of mandatory labels?
For what it’s worth, it would take 31.85 cans of SPIKE Shooter to kill me.
mmmmmmmm…caffeine…