THE STUDENT VOICE SINCE 1904
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 22, 2010
WWW.KANSAN.COM
VOLUME 123 ISSUE 66
BUZZ KILL
Photo illustration by Chris Neal
From now on, Four Loco won't have the energy kick it's known for. Phusion Products, the makers of the popular alcoholic drink, are taking out the caffeine, guaraná and taurine from their product after health officials and the FDA deemed the drink unsaleable to consume.
Photo illustration by Chris Neal
Four Loko nixes caffeine
Popular drink no longer contains stimulants, but maintains alcohol content
BY KELLY STRODA kstroda@kansan.com
Controversy surrounding Four Loko may cause the drink to lose its buzz. Literally.
Phusion Projects, the company that makes Four Loko, announced Tuesday that it would remove the stimulants caffeine, guarana and taurine from its beverages nationwide. The company will produce only non-caffeinated Four Loko drinks from now on.
However, the company's founders still aren't convinced their product is unsafe for consumers.
Four Loko is sold in a 23.5 ounce can, has an alcohol content of 12 percent by volume and contains 135 milligrams of caffeine. That's the same amount of alcohol in four to five beers and the caffeine content of a Red Bull and an espresso shot.
2 The company's statement said if Four Loko was unsafe, the Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, the federal bureau that approves alcoholic beverages, should not have approved the products.
"If it were unsafe, popular drinks like rum and colas or Irish coffees that have been consumed safely and responsibly for years would face the same scrutiny that our products have recently faced," the founders said in a statement on their website.
HISTORY OF CONTROVERSY
Nationally, Four Lok isn't the only drink causing worry.
The Food and Drug Administration recently announced it was warning four companies that produce caffeinated, alcoholic beverages that their products are unsafe.
The FDA has been examining these products since November 2009 and concluded that caffeine is an "unsafe food additive."
Health officials have raised concerns about mixing caffeine and alcohol. Jenny McKee, health educator at the Wellness Resource Center at Watkins Memorial Health Center, said that mixing the two can lead to problems.
Caffeine is a stimulant and alcohol is a depressant. The two have opposite effects.
Alcohol slows down bodily functions like heart rate and breathing while caffeine increases heart rate and alertness. The combination could potentially be heart stopping, McKee said.
The popularity of caffeinated, alcoholic beverages, also known as CABs, has grown significantly in recent years. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, two popular CAB brands had a 67-fold increase in sales from 2002 to 2008.
Scrutiny over Four Loko first started in mid-October after the drink sent college students in Washington and New Jersey to the hospital after consuming large quantities of the drink. The blood alcohol content of the students ranged from 0.12 percent to 0.35 percent. According to blood-alcoholcontent.org, a BAC level of 0.40 can be lethal for more than half of adults.
Following these incidents, several states made moves to ban the drink. Lawmakers in New York City and Pennsylvania started asking liquor stores to remove Four Loko from their shelves. The beverage has been officially banned in four states: Washington, Michigan, Utah and Oklahoma.
Freda Warfield, a spokesperson for the Kansas Alcoholic Beverage Control, said the state had been monitoring Four Loko closely.
However, in order to ban the drink in Kansas, legislation would need to be passed. The Kansas Legislature reconvenes January 11.
"We will take any actions necessary to keep our Kansas safe," Warfield said.
McKee said the drinks could pose health risks even if they do not contain caffeine. She said that some people still might not understand how much alcohol the drinks have, especially Four Loko.
REACTION
Mike Hathaway, manager of Cork and Barrel, 2000 W. 23rd St., said he expects a spike in sales as a result of Four Loko going decaf.
"If it has three to four drinks, spend three to four hours sipping on it," she said.
"I suspect that sales will go through the roof here until they're all gone," he said.
A problem, McKee said, is that one container isn't one drink.
Brad Wandell, a junior from Ellicott City, Md., said he's surprised by the controversy. He said he has been drinking Four Loko for about six months, but never had any problems with the caffeine and alcohol combination. Wandell said he would still drink Four Loko because he cares more about the alcohol content than the caffeine.
But some think that removing the caffeine will cause the drink to lose popularity.
Jake Liston, a junior from Kansas City, Mo., said he's never tried Four Loko, but there were smashed Four Loko kans in front of his house this weekend.
"So, it looks like people are having fun with it," he said.
Liston said he thought the buzz around Four Loko would die down soon.
"But it's only a matter of time before another product will replace it," he said.
Edited by Kelsey Nill
On Wednesday, the FDA sent warning letters to four companies that produce caffeinated, alcoholic beverages.
Charge Beverages Corp.
—Produces Core High
Gravity HG, Core High
Gravity HG Orange, and
Lemon Lime Core
Spiked
COMPANIES THAT RECEIVED WARNING LETTERS
United Brands Company
—Produces Joose and Max
Phusion Projects, LLC
—Produces Four Loko
New Century Brewing Co.
—Produces Moonshot
Former student remembered by family, friends
FUNERAL
BY MICHAEL HOLTZ mholtz@kansan.com
TOPEKA — Matt Adair was more than just a friend. He was more than a son. And he was more than an older brother.
To Phil Cole, one of Matt's closest friends, he was "the greatest man that ever lived." No one in the congregation at his funeral on Saturday morning seemed to object
More than 200 people came to Westminster Presbyterian Church in Matt's hometown to mourn his tragic and sudden death.
The Rev. Junie Ewing best captured the overwhelming emotions of the occasion.
Matt, a 21-year-old former KU student, was found dead in his off-campus apartment early Tuesday morning after an apparent suicide.
"We love him, we're mad at him and we miss him," she said to a somber congregation of Matt's closest friends and family. "It's just so hard losing someone as young and vibrant as
The freshman from Baltimore faces a nine-game suspension and a sizable fine for taking impermissible benefits as prospect.
She described Matt as "the life of the party," someone who "made friends wherever he went." The rows of friends who filled the pews made that much
and vibrant as Matt”
Selby cleared by NCAA to play starting Dec.18
"A permanent result has me utterly convinced, you have no idea how much you'd be missed/At ease
MEN'S BASKETBALL | 1B
The circumstances of Matt's death make filling that hole all the more difficult. Ashley Brown, one of Matt's closest friends from high school, expressed her frustrations in a poem she recited from the lectern:
you must be, I'll never understand, whatever blinded you from seeing our hands/The hands of those who loved you so, it wasn't even close for your time to go."
clear. What remained unclear was how they'd move on without a friend who always put others before himself.
Matt's father, Jeff, suggested those close to Matt could "make his life count for something" by making a difference in someone else's life. That's what Matt would do.
Whether he was helping his great-grandfather in the yard or lending an ear to a troubled friend, Matt was always there when friends and family needed him most. He was kind and selfless, compassionate and reliable.
Jeff said bracelets should have been made: "What Would Matt Adair Do?"
"He touched everybody's heart in this room," he said. "I just want everyone to leave here with a piece of him and make a difference."
"There's going to be a hole in a lot of our hearts for a while, including mine," said Cole, a senior from Boston. "Matt was a huge part of all of our lives. He left a hole that's going to be difficult to fill."
In a brief moment of comic relief during an otherwise somber occasion, Cole told the story of a time last summer when Matt suddenly appeared at his house. Cole never knew what to expect from Matt—his rashness was a part of his appeal.
"Do you like corn?" Cole said he remembered Matt asking.
"It's just so hard losing someone as young and vibrant as Matt."
Hesitantly, Cole told Matt, "Sure Who does it?"
JUNIE EWING
Reverend
That's all Matt needed to hear to convince Cole to sneak into every cornfield they could find around Lawrence. They took as many ears of corn as
Matt was an effortless comedian and everyone's favorite jokester. Even in death, memories such as Cole's could still make people laugh.
"We're all going to miss Matt," Cole said. "A day is never going to go by that I don't think about him."
Of course they didn't do it for the corn, Cole said. They did it to create a new and outrageous memory together. The laughter that filled the church meant everyone understood at least that much.
they could carry before returning to Cole's house.
Edited by Clark Goble
SAFETY | 3A
The KU Public Safety officers patrol campus nightly.
Making the rounds at KU
INDEX
Classifieds...6B
Crossword...4A
Cryptoquips...4A
Opinion...5A
Sports...1B
Sudoku...4A
The latest installment in the series sold out in theaters.
Film pulls in young adults
9
HARRY POTTER | 6A
WEATHER
TODAY 63 30
Partly cloudy
TUESDAY
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WEDNESDAY
Sunny
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All contents, unless stated otherwise, © 2010 The University Daily Kansan
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