The Australian Beverages Council has criticised a proposed ban on the sale of energy drinks as mixers in bars and clubs across Western Australia.
The proposal, which has been submitted by WA police as part of a review of the state's liquor act, was a knee jerk reaction that lacked any substance, according to its CEO Geoff Parker.
WA already has a ban on the use of energy drinks as mixers by venues after midnight, and it is the only state to have done so, according to Parker.
This latest submission calls to extend the ban on the use of energy drinks as mixers outright across all licenced venues across the state.
Parker said, however, that it was absurd to blame a soft drink that contained the same amount of caffeine as a cup of instant coffee (80mg) as being somehow implicated in contributing to problems with late night revellers.
“Energy drink sales in licensed venues represent less than one per cent of an average bar’s takings. The non-alcoholic beverages industry would contend it’s the other 99 per cent of sales, the majority of which are beer, wine and spirits, that causes problems particularly when combined with the ‘idiot factor’ of a small percentage of patrons. It’s not the mixer that’s the problem,” he said in a statement.
Parker also noted that a number of leading global authorities, including the UK Government’s Committee on Toxicology and the European Food Safety Authority, had in the last year concluded that the scientific evidence did not support a harmful toxicological or behavioural interaction between caffeine and alcohol.
“We call on the WA authorities to look at real cause of the problem and don’t blame the mixer,” Parker said.
