Brussels, 07/07/2016 (Agence Europe) - The health of children and teenagers, many of whom enjoy energy drinks, must under no circumstances be endangered by health claims vaunting the benefits of caffeine in these drinks they enjoy and which contain high levels of sugar, the members of the European Parliament said in Strasbourg on Thursday 7 July.
For this reason, they vetoed the controversial project of the European Commission to authorise the inclusion on the labels of energy drinks containing caffeine the reference “stimulates alertness or concentration”.
“It's not just caffeine. Energy drinks also contain a lot of sugar. And we believe that drinks of this kind should not be able to display any health claims. These allegations are not appropriate for young children”, said Christel Schaldemose (S&D, Denmark), the author of the resolution on which the MEPs voted on by show of hands. In so doing, the MEPs went along with the opinion of the committee on the environment, public health and food safety of the Parliament (EUROPE 11573).
The text points out that a 250 ml can of energy drink may contain as much as 27 g of sugar and 80 g of caffeine and that 68% of teenagers and 18% of children regularly consume them. The resolution also stresses that the consumption of energy drinks may lead to migraine, sleep issues and behavioural problems.
The MEPs take the view that the health claim under examination, which is likely to mislead young people, would run counter to the aim pursued by the European Regulation on nutritional and health claims on foodstuffs (Regulation (EC) no. 1924/2006). They note that the Commission itself takes the view that claims that caffeine promotes alertness and concentration should not be used on products aimed at children and teenagers. In their vote of objection, the MEPs call upon the Commission to give up its project and on the member states to consider introducing national rules on the sales to children and teenagers of drinks with high caffeine levels or foodstuffs with added caffeine. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)