Monster Energy Drink Cited in Deaths
October 27, 2012
Five people may have died over the past three years after drinking Monster Energy, a popular energy drink that is high in caffeine, according to incident reports recently released by the Food and Drug Administration.
The reports, like similar filings with the F.D.A. in cases involving drugs or medical devices, do not prove a link between Monster Energy and the deaths or other health problems. The records were recently obtained under the Freedom of Information Act by the mother of a 14-year-old Maryland girl who died in December from a heart arrhythmia after drinking large cans of Monster Energy on two consecutive days.
Last week, Wendy Crossland, the mother of that teenager, filed a lawsuit against Monster Beverage, a publicly traded company in Corona, Calif., that used to be known as Hansen Natural. The lawsuit charges that Monster failed to warn about the risks of its energy drinks; a spokeswoman for the company said last week that its products were safe and not the cause of the teenager's death.
That spokeswoman, Judy Lin Sfetcu, added that Monster was "unaware of any fatality anywhere that has been caused by its drinks."
Monster Beverage's stock ended down Monday more than 14 percent, sliding sharply after The New York Times reported about the F.D.A. filings.
In an interview, an F.D.A. spokeswoman, Shelly Burgess, said the agency had received reports of five deaths with possible links to the drink as well as a report of a nonfatal heart attack. Additional incident reports referred to other adverse events such as abdominal pain, vomiting, tremors and abnormal heart rate. The reports disclosed cover a period of 2004 to June of this year, but all the deaths occurred in 2009 or later.

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Posted by Ken at 12:00 AM