Those little red bottles seem to be everywhere: watch TV and you’ll see commercials for 5-Hour Energy drinks; shop for groceries or stop for gas and there they are: 5-Hour Energy bottles that claim to be safe and help you get through the day with all natural ingredients.
Lots of people need help getting some pep back in their step these days, and it’s no surprise that 5-Hour Energy drinks are very, very popular. Maybe you’ve tried 5-Hour Energy yourself.
Thing is: the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is now reportedly investigating 90+ reports that something bad happened to someone after they drank down a 5-Hour Energy drink — and out of these “adverse events,” 33 people were so ill they need to go to the hospital for treatment and 13 of these people died.
What happened? After drinking 5-Hour Energy, reports of adverse effects include heart attacks, convulsions – one sadly was a spontaneous abortion. So the FDA is investigating this product.
Once again, this is a products liability situation. Right now, 5-Hour Energy Drinks may be worrisome and 5-Hour Energy Drinks may be subject to an investigation by the federal government, but no one has recalled a single bottle and right now, you can go down the street and buy as many of the little red bottles (extra caffeine versions come in black bottles) as you’d like. Listen carefully and you’ll hear those profits cha-chinging in the coffers of the companies that make and sell 5-Hour Energy Drinks.
5-Hour Energy insists its product is safe: its CEO says that he and his son drink it every day and that the product has been thoroughly tested. Admirably, he tells the media that he would not sell a product that his family would not drink.
The FDA is considering 5-Hour Energy to be in the same pot of products as RedBull and Monster – energy drinks filled with caffeine that are marketing to teens and young adults. (We are monitoring them, as well, read our earlier post.) In a letter released last week, the FDA reported that it will probably ask outside experts to help analyze these products — something that the FDA has not seen the need to do before (get outside experts to test things).
Meanwhile, this product is being sold in local stores and lots of people are buying and using it. If you or a loved one becomes sick or has problems after drinking an energy drink, then it is important not to delay but to get medical treatment as soon as possible. That’s always the first priority — figuring out what legal claims may exist should wait until a medical crisis has passed with skilled medical care.
