Reuters: Regulatory News: UPDATE 4-Monster Beverage says its energy drinks did not kill teen

Reuters: Regulatory News Reuters.com is your source for breaking news, business, financial and investing news, including personal finance and stocks. Reuters is the leading global provider of news, financial information and technology solutions to the world's media, financial institutions, businesses and individuals. // via fulltextrssfeed.com

UPDATE 4-Monster Beverage says its energy drinks did not kill teen Mar 5th 2013, 00:54 Mon Mar 4, 2013 7:54pm EST * Doctors hired by company say drink did not kill teen * U.S. regulators probing five other deaths * Chicago panel to discuss proposed energy drink regulations By Martinne Geller March 4 (Reuters) - Monster Beverage Corp, defending its Monster Energy drinks from mounting criticism about potential health risks, said on Monday its medical investigators found no evidence that the drinks caused the death of a 14-year-old girl. The family of Maryland teenager Anais Fournier sued the company last year after she died of cardiac arrest that her parents blamed on "caffeine toxicity" after she drank two Monster Energy drinks in a 24-hour period. Monster, the top-selling U.S. energy drink, has come under fire from U.S. regulators and politicians. On Tuesday, a Chicago committee on health and environmental protection will discuss an official's proposal to limit the sale of energy drinks. On Monday, Monster's lawyer and two doctors it hired said in a press conference that their examination of Fournier's medical records found no evidence that the drinks, or the caffeine in them, contributed to her death, noting that she had been receiving treatment for a heart condition since childhood. "'Why did she suddenly die' is the question," one of the doctors, California emergency room physician Michael Forman, said. "That question can never be answered with any certainty." Monster said that its team found "no medical, scientific or factual evidence to support the Maryland Medical Examiner's report of 'caffeine toxicity'." Forman said that given Fournier's health history, she might have suffered cardiac arrest that day, regardless of what she drank. In addition, he noted that no blood test was ever taken to prove caffeine toxicity. Kevin Goldberg, a lawyer for Fournier's family, told Reuters there were other symptoms of caffeine toxicity, though he declined to elaborate. "We have our experts and they have their experts," Goldberg said, adding that it was "not appropriate ... to litigate the case in the media." Energy drinks are caffeinated beverages with aggressive-sounding names like Monster, Red Bull, Rockstar, Amp and Full Throttle. They are often associated with active or extreme sports, which makes them popular with young men. In addition to the Fournier lawsuit, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in October that it received incident reports of five deaths that mentioned Monster's namesake drink. FDA spokeswoman Shelly Burgess said on Monday that the FDA "continues to look into cases in which energy drinks were suspected as a possible cause of death," though she notes that the reports do not establish causality between the drinks and death. "If we find additional information that establishes causality, FDA will take appropriate steps to protect the public and remove the harm," Burgess said. Monster shares closed down 85 cents, or 1.7 percent at $49.81 on the Nasdaq. Link this Share this Digg this Email Reprints

You are receiving this email because you subscribed to this feed at blogtrottr.com. If you no longer wish to receive these emails, you can unsubscribe from this feed, or manage all your subscriptions