This past Friday, the Food and Drug Administration announced its intentions to ban beverages that combine caffeine and alcohol, including drinks like Joose and 4 Loco.
The reason for doing so seems to be that the companies manufacturing such products have failed to provide evidence that the mixture of caffeine and alcohol is a safe one. Presumably, if these manufacturers can prove that these drinks are not, in fact, hazardous, then they will remain on the shelves.
In addition to the lack of safety information about the beverages, Dr. Joshua Sharfstein, the principal deputy commissioner of the FDA, also added in a press conference that the drinks were suspected to increase incidents of “serious injury, drunken driving, sexual assault and other dangerous behaviors.” The Center for Science in the Public Interest cited similar dangers in a statement concerning its lawsuit against MillerCoors, known around college campuses for the deathblow it dealt to a beverage called Sparks. MillerCoors cited “emerging research” as evidence enough for these statements.
The legal and logistical reasons for the potential discontinuation of these products are readily apparent, as the FDA has a responsibility to protect consumers from potentially harmful products. However, situations such as these also require a closer look at where the burden of responsibility truly lies.
Consider first the idea put forth by the FDA that caffeinated alcoholic beverages have not been proven to be safe and are therefore potentially detrimental to the public. Although the dangerous nature of these drinks is certainly not in dispute here, the method by which the FDA is determining their legal status is a little less clear. Neither caffeine nor alcohol is recognized for anything beneficial to human health, but both are perfectly accessible on their own. Somehow, though, the mixing of the two in a product constitutes a breach in responsibility on the part of the manufacturer that does not exist so long as the unsafe ingredients remain isolated.
Take, for example, slogans like “drink responsibly,” which promote the idea that it is the duty of any individual who chooses to drink to monitor his or her own health, and to adjust their level of consumption accordingly. Here we see it as generally accepted that the burden of moderation is placed on the individual choosing to partake of the harmful substance. Now, it is true that these slogans come to us not from the FDA but from beverage companies themselves, and so do not present any true contradiction in policy. However, it’s remarkable how the addition of a single ingredient is enough to shift the burden of blame in our minds from the consumer to the manufacturer.
Caffeinated alcoholic beverages are also said to increase the risk of a number of undesirable activities, all of which are enumerated above. This list, however, reads more like a list of the downsides of alcohol itself rather than one specific to caffeinated drinks. If the increased risks of drunken driving and sexual assault are ones we trust individuals to handle when they consume beverages containing alcohol alone, then why do we alter our stance based merely upon the addition of caffeine? This is not to say that these risks are not present or that all individuals are capable of avoiding them, but more to point out the inherent hypocrisy in the FDA’s current stand against caffeinated alcoholic drinks.
In short, it seems that the FDA is a little erratic in where it chooses to place responsibility when it comes to the handling of “dangerous” substances. The bottom line of all this, however, is that in the end, it really doesn’t matter what the FDA decides to do.
The reality, which may be of no concern to the FDA and other officials but merits mentioning here, is that caffeine and alcohol will continue to be mixed in the future, regardless of the outcome of this process. The “Monster bomb” will still frequent pre-games and frat parties, and, although the mixed drink may never make its way to the shelves here in the States, it will always have its place at the bar. The important thing, it seems, is not that caffeine and alcohol don’t meet, just that they don’t do so before each one has been paid for separately. After that, anything goes—at least according to the FDA.
And always remember to drink responsibly, just in case you’re the one who’s actually being held responsible.
Chris Bassil is a Trinity sophomore. His column runs every other Wednesday.
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