Energy Drink/Alcohol Mix Banned

While many health professionals and lawmakers are cheering the Food and Drug Administration's decision yesterday to declare caffeine an illegal and unsafe additive to manufactured alcoholic beverages, critics say the move is an infringement of consumer rights by the government.

The FDA issued warnings yesterday (Nov. 17) to four companies, including Four Loko maker Phusion Projects, after conducting a year-long review that found no scientific support for the claim that the addition of caffeine to these alcoholic beverages is generally recognized as safe. The companies have 15 days to create a plan to remove the caffeine from their products, or remove them from store shelves.

But the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a nonprofit group that supports limited government, said the FDA had gone too far.

"It's just one more example of the FDA reaching into a practice that people can, and often do, do safely and trying to eliminate it," said Gregory Conko, a senior fellow at the institute.