Finally! Caffeine Regulations I can SUPPORT!

According to an article by Nutritional Outlook, six senators are urging the FDA to immediately ban the marketing and retail sale of pure caffeine. This is the FIRST caffeine regulation I can really get behind, and here's why:

This proposal addresses a legitimate safety issue; unlike some of the proposed energy drink bans, regulations to ban the sale of pure caffeine are a necessary step toward ensuring safe caffeine consumption.

Now, before you jump up and down with all the reasons you think energy drink bans are good, let me just say this: V8 V-Fusion has 80 mg of caffeine from green tea. This is an energy drink, but would you have a problem letting a 12 year old drink it? V8's energy drink has the same amount of caffeine as an 8 ounce Red Bull, but they both that LESS CAFFEINE (and potentially less sugar) than a tall mocha from Starbucks. 

The rest of my arguments against energy drink regulations can be found here ("Why You Could Get Carded for Buying a V8"), here ("NY Bans Marketing of Red Bull but Misses the Bull's Eye"),  and here ("Save Lives by Focusing on the Source of the Problem"). 

Senator Blumenthal (D-CT) is one of the six senators proposing this pure caffeine ban, and I have NOT been a fan of his other caffeine regulation proposals (see "Which comes first: supplement safety laws or the power to enforce them? The Durbin-Blumenthal Dietary Supplement Labeling Act").

But for this one time, I will stand with the Senator and support this pure caffeine ban.

Perhaps the best argument FOR this proposed ban on pure caffeine sales is the following stat:

A single teaspoon of pure caffeine is roughly the same amount of caffeine as 25 cups of coffee, according to FDA.

Source: http://www.nutritionaloutlook.com/150129/caffeine

No consumer needs pure caffeine. If you're buying pure caffeine to make your own energy drinks in your basement so you can sell them online, I am not okay with that. As a food scientist quality assurance professional, and caffeine consumer, everything about that situation scares me.

Dear FDA, I know you're under-staffed, under-appreciated and over-worked, and I know you've got your hands full with the necessary FSMA regulations. But can you do us all a favor and please, please, do something (swift) about this request. It'll make Mr. Richard Blumenthal (and Mr. Sherrod Brown) very happy.

-GreenEyedGuide

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