My thoughts were outlined in my Thursday editorial comment:Most of the energy drinks such as Red Bull and Monster already meet the new requirements to keep caffeine levels at 180 milligrams per drink.All energy drinks will still have to change their labelling to meet new Health Canada requirements to list ingredients and analysis of the amount of caffeine and vitamins.And all the drinks will have to carry a warning that they are not recommended for children or pregnant or breastfeeding women and should not be mixed with alcohol.
It's not quite the radical solution some had pushed for, but Ottawa is pressing ahead with tighter regulations on so-called energy drinks.
An expert panel had recommended to the federal health minister that these drinks only be sold under the direct supervision of a pharmacist.
Given that the majority of these energy drinks contain less caffeine that the coffees and other drinks available at places like Starbucks and Tim Horton's, it was a preposterous idea.
So a silver lining of sorts in that Ottawa declined to go that far.
However, the feds are still taking a nanny-state approach to intervening in the marketplace with tighter regulations on these products.
For example, the minister has put caffeine limits in place for energy drinks and has mandated warning labels and caffeine content to be listed on the side of the can.
However, most energy drinks already fall below the new limits, and most already come with warning labels which discourage consumption by children and pregnant women.
But we now have a situation where certain drinks with caffeine are subject to a whole new set of rules and regulations and other drinks with even more caffeine are completely and totally exempt from these rules and regulations.
If that sounds absurd, that's because it is.
Ottawa has created a very convoluted solution in search of a problem. What a waste of time and resources.
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