Weekly News
Energy Drink Age-Limit
This week has seen a surge in the amount of supermarkets banning high caffeine energy drinks to under 16s. The list now includes many retailers such as Asda, Tesco and now Boots. This change comes after "growing concern about the consumption of energy drinks" among children. The ban will mean under-16s will be unable to buy energy drinks with a caffeine content of more than 150mg per litre. Caffeine can cause heart fibrillations as well as other heart problems so should not be consumed in large amounts by minors. The high sugar content is also criticised and is well known to lead to many other health problems such as diabetes.
The move has been praised by many such as Jamie Oliver who has been campaigning for healthy food for children for many years. It came after Conservative MP for Lewes, Maria Caulfield requested a nation wide ban earlier this year. It's unsurprising that this is a Conservative led appeal as they are quite the fans of banning things and adding regulations. Personally I think a nation wide ban is extreme however it would be effective as right now all the ban does is force kids to use corner shops for their caffeine hit.
The BBC article uses a tweet from Jamie Oliver to illustrate their point. Using tweets has become more common over the years and in my opinion a clear sign of lazy journalism. Why write a coherent article when you can fill it with random peoples opinions so that its basically written for you. It helps the BBC to negate responsibility for expressed opinions by instead of supplying one they simply use other peoples words to get the point across.
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