Potent Energy Drinks Claim A Fatality

Every day, people come to my blog to read an old post on Red Line, which I posted after a friend got very sick after drinking the very strong chemical stew posing as an "energy drink."

Many visitors leave comments to the effect that I'm a moron for thinking the drink poses any danger at all. Perhaps they should consider this news story, which was left in a comment posted on my wife's blog:

Wellington teen dies after consuming alcohol, energy drinks

By Leon Fooksman, Luis F. Perez and Lia Lehrer
South Florida Sun-Sentinel
8:44 AM EDT, May 21, 2008

A 16-year-old Wellington student died over the weekend after attending a party where alcohol was consumed, Palm Beach County sheriff's investigators said.

Paramedics who tried to resuscitate Ashley Ramnauth on Sunday found alcohol in her system, sheriff's spokeswoman Teri Barbera said.

Ramnauth was a Lake Worth High School honor roll student and the daughter of Hollywood Police Officer Hansman Ramnauth.

She "apparently made a bad decision to consume energy drinks and alcohol in combination," according to a statement from her family released Tuesday through the Palm Beach County School District. She "did not have a lot of experience with alcohol and did not have a known problem with alcohol," the family added

...In March, paramedics took four Weston schoolboys to a hospital after they became ill from drinking an "energy-boosting" liquid not meant for children, authorities said. The boys were sweating and suffering from increased heart rates and lightheadedness. They drank Redline, a combination fat-burning and energy enhancement drink marketed as a "freaky scientific" breakthrough on the Web site of the company that makes it.

There's a news clip about Ashley's death with the news article; it's worth watching.

I'll conclude with how I concluded my earlier post:

There's something definitely wrong here. [Red Line manufacturer] VPX is not taking responsibility for its product and is getting away with it. Seven-11 is not taking responsibility for the products it sells and is also getting away with it.

Please pass this along with a warning. Energy drink drinkers, think about going back to good old coffee or black tea and stay away from this junk.