NSW bid to ban caffeine energy drinks - 9News

It's unacceptable that energy drinks with dangerously high levels of caffeine are allowed to be sold to children, the NSW government says.

NSW Primary Industries Minister Ian Macdonald says he will lobby to have them banned, as some are being sold to minors due to a loophole in Australian law.

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Five Year 7 students from Quakers Hill, in Sydney's west, reportedly suffered side effects including dizziness and nausea after consuming energy drinks on their way to school on Wednesday.

Mr Macdonald says it's examples such as this that have prompted the state government to look at how it can get the drinks off the shelves.

"It's simply unacceptable that these products, clearly marketed at youths, have appeared in the market," he said in a statement on Thursday."So the government has taken immediate action to get these illegal products off the shelves."The Food Authority is working to get the so-called energy drinks 'Fuel Cell' and 'Cintron' off shop shelves as they both exceed the caffeine level legally permitted in the Food Standards Code."

However, Mr Macdonald said some drinks could not be banned in NSW because they were registered as dietary supplements with the federal Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA).
"It appears that some drink manufacturers have exploited a regulatory loophole by being registered with the TGA as a therapeutic good, despite containing caffeine levels in excess of those permitted under the Food Standards Code."

Some other drinks were registered as dietary supplements in New Zealand, an issue he would take up at a trans-Tasman food standards meeting in October.

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