Last year a 14 year old teenage girl died in Maryland after drinking two cans of Monster Energy Drink two days in a row and now her parents are suing the manufacturer for not warning consumers about the potential dangers of their product. Each 24 ounce can of Monster Energy is the equivalent of 7 cans of soda and the parents believe that it was the energy drinks that caused their daughter to go into cardiac arrest. An attorney for the family told reporters; “Monster, with their targeted marketing practices and promotion of energy drinks to teenagers, put profits over the safety of America’s youth. Nothing can bring Anais back, but we can tell the world these drinks are harmful.”
Anais’ parents may not be alone in their tragic loss. According to a reporter for the New York Times, the family has obtained records under the Freedom of Information Act that prove that Monster Energy is already under investigation by the Food and Drug Administration for 5 previous deaths. So far the FDA has been unable to “prove a link” between the drink and the deaths. A spokesman for the FDA said “the agency had received reports of five deaths with possible links to the drink as well as a report of a nonfatal heart attack. Additional incident reports referred to other adverse events such as abdominal pain, vomiting, tremors and abnormal heart rate. The reports disclosed cover a period from 2004 to June of this year, but all the deaths occurred in 2009.”
While Monster Energy has taken a hit in the stock market due to the negative publicity, its stock fell 14% yesterday; it vigorously maintains its innocence in Anais’ death. While public sentiment is split as to who’s to blame in these accidental deaths Anais’ family continues to push for better labeling on Monster Energy packaging in the hopes of preventing another family from suffering this tragedy.
