Drugs are bad mmmkay.

This is completely absurd. There is nothing at all unsafe about Monster or any of the other energy drinks. The problems only arise when people intentionally drink too much of them. The reality is that you can even die from drinking too much water. As for the family that filed the lawsuit against Monster, all I can say is get real. The kid already had heart problems. These parents are just looking for someone to blame for their and their child's poor judgement. Anyone with a brain knows that taking stimulants like caffeine is not a smart move for someone with heart problems. The fact that they let their kid drink these energy drinks at all was stupid, let alone allowing her to down two 24 ounce cans. These 24 ounce cans are resealable because they do not represent a single serving. They did not properly educate their daughter and watch what she was drinking and now they are looking for someone to blame and some easy money to go along with it. The amount of caffeine in Monster is not at all dangerous when the drink is consumed in moderation. In fact, a sixteen ounce can of Monster energy drink has only a little more caffeine than a good strong cup of coffee. If these parents lacked the intelligence to read the label on the can or to educate their daughter that excessive amounts of caffeine were dangerous because of her heart condition then they have no one to blame but themselves. There are numerous energy drinks out there with more caffeine and more caffeine per ounce of drink than what is in Monster. Hopefully the court will have the common sense to throw out this ridiculous lawsuit. After all, there is still such thing a personal responsibility for one's own actions, isn't there!!!

These drinks only have the equivelant of a couple of cups of coffee's worth of caffeine per can.

So if she drank 2 of these, she only drank a handfull of cups of coffee's worth of caffeine.

Sorry, but there's no 'deadly effects' of 4 to 6 cups of coffee worth of caffeine.

The problems only arise when people intentionally drink too much of them.

Exactly, Duh!

This is completely absurd. There is nothing at all unsafe about Monster or any of the other energy drinks.

HAHAHA, if you believe that, then whatever. I'm not saying that these energy drinks are responsible for the girl's death or the other people, but I can tell you that there's nothing good that comes from drinking those things. They're loaded with nothing but high doses of caffeine and sugar, and drinking too much can have adverse effects on your heart.

If you want your daily fix of caffeine, just drink coffee. At least there's some health benefits to drinking it.

There was a radio station that had a water drinking contest to win a game system. One girl collapsed after drink some ridiculous amount of water. She later died. I think there's a lawsuit in place against the radio station and God. So far, there had been no response from the maker of water.

Moral of the story: Perhaps people with congenital heart defects should avoid caffeine and other stimulants.

If this girl had died from drinking coffee, then who would her family sue? The retailer or restaurant who sold it to her? The coffee bean roaster? How about the coffee grower? How about the manufacturer of the drip coffee maker?

Take responsibility for your own actions. Not every death is somebody else's fault.

azdad48, yes, and another moral, don't listen to those that dismiss the risk to segments of the population with the words like,

you can even die from drinking too much water

Reference, American Academy of Pediatrics, May 29, 2011, Committee on Nutrition and the Council on Sports Medicine and Fitness...

[pediatric] lethal dose of caffeine is considered to be 200 to 400 mg

pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/127/6/1182.full.pdf+html

Five deaths since when? This product has been on the market for more then over a decade. Caffeine Toxicity my proverbial back end! Aspirin kills in the thousands every year! The parties in question either had a genetic disposition to deleteriously reacting to caffeine, were anorexic (weakens the heart) or had congenital heart problems. Remember the ban on Ephedra and L-Tryptophan? The FDA Poster Child for Ephedra "DEATH" was a professional baseball player who died of a Heat Stroke. According to the coroners report he had already had an earlier Heat Stroke (which predisposes you to having more), he had another family member die of a Heat Stroke prior to his untimely death (a brother) supporting a genetic weakness in this regard, he was dehydrated, out of shape, the Heat Index was alarmingly high, he had been out all the night before doing cocaine and prodigious amounts of alcohol and get this... given that Ephedra has a half life of 8 to 15 hours it was estimated he had only two pills 48 hours before and what was found in his system was only trace amounts! This is political BS and favoring one manufacturer or industry over another. So why don't these guys ban coffee and Alcohol?

240 Mg. Caffeine in 24 oz Monster. 240 times 2 =480 mg.caffeine

36 mg. Caffeine in a 12 oz Pepsi. 480 mg. divided by 36 = 13 + can equivalence.

After many years of a 10 cans of Diet Pepsi a day habit I am sorry I don't see it is posible to die from just 2 days of that amount for just two days unless there is some under lying medical problem. BTW I kicked the habit.

If you want your daily fix of caffeine, just drink coffee. At least there's some health benefits to drinking it.

Ranman87 - No one yet knows what is present in coffee that gives it health benefits. One theory is that it contains antioxidants. Tea also contains caffeine and has health benefits. Perhaps it's the caffeine that supplies the antioxidants, in which case you would be wrong to say that there are no health benefits in Monster Energy drinks.

Devils son - Your reasoning is faulty. If you used to drink 10 12-ounce cans of Diet Pepsi per day and each can contained 36 mg of caffeine, then you are consuming 360 mg of caffeine, which is only 75% of the amount that you would consume by drinking two 24-ounce cans of Monster. The extra 25% of caffeine that you would consume if you were drinking Monster instead of Diet Pepsi might be significant in causing health problems.

Midwest, the article you linked says "lethal dose of caffeine is considered to be 200 to 400 mg/kg", not what you posted, which would be VERY different. You cut off an important detail in that figure.

Anyway, there's no indication in the article that they knew of the heart defect prior to her death and likely didn't as most congenital defects like that aren't found until it's too late. It's also questionable to call out the parents for allowing their 14-year old to drink them, as some are here, considering that even if they told her they were not allowed...she's still 14. Finding a 14 year old that hasn't done something they weren't supposed to without their parents' knowledge is about as likely as finding a diamond in your cornflakes tomorrow.

Midwest-637287,

If 200 - 400 mg of caffeine could kill you, you could OD by taking one Vivarin tablet.

Anyway, there's no indication in the article that they knew of the heart defect prior to her death and likely didn't as most congenital defects like that aren't found until it's too late.

T.A. Clark - there is also no indication in the article that the parents did notknow of her heart condition, nor did the article state that her heart condition was congenital. The exact statement in the NBCNews.com article is, "She died days later on December 23, 2011, from what the lawsuit said was "cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity" that complicated a heart disorder she already had." Heart problems in a child of 14 are not necessarily congenital. There are diseases that cause heart conditions. For example, rheumatic fever primarily affects children between the ages of 5 and 17. From the way the statement reads, it suggests that the parents were aware that she had a heart condition. It says nothing about a previously unknown congenital heart condition.

Perhaps you should not be criticizing Midwest when you are also making assumptions about circumstances that were not specifically stated in the article.

@Z-933870 - @Midwest left of a very important part of the lethality number. It is not 200-400 mg total, it is 200-400 mg per kg of body weight. A kg is approximately 2.2 pounds so a typical 14 year old girl would probably weigh at least 35 kg (77 pounds). This would make the lethal dose 7000-14000 mg of caffeine. This would be at least thirty 24 ounce cans of Monster. But then this is not going to get the sensational reaction that claiming a lethal dose is 200-400 mg, or as little as one can. This is the difference between telling the truth and people with an agenda who try to mislead.

JS in SD,

I agree with stating it's the parents' responsibility. Let's look at this in a different light. What if the child died of alcohol poisoning? Would the parents be allowed to sue the brewer? No! In fact, they would be charged with child endangerment, resulting in death... That is, IF they were present during the child's consumption of the alcohol.

And I have question that I didn't see in the previous comments (if it's there sorry)...

Could the child have simply died because of her heart condition and the consumption of the energy drinks had nothing to do with it? It's quite possible!

As for the other deaths... There's no information on those people's condition or consumption of other "drugs" to draw such a conclusion.

Forrest Gump had an answer for this. Sorry for your loss, but if people were sued everytime someone died from doing something stupid, the only rich people in this country would be lawyers and judges.

They should not be able to sue for something that is normally safe when used as directed (not that I think it's at all healthy). It's the heart defect that killed her, and recklessness if they knew about the problem ahead of time.

It would be like my family trying to sue Sudafed if I took a handfull of it and died. I have high blood pressure, and I know I can't even take that particular type of medicine as often or as much as the recommended dosage states, or my blood pressure will jump.

It's sad that this girl lost her life, but it boils down to bad luck if they didn't know about the heart problem, or stupidity if they did.

What is sad about all of this is Monster has a CAUTION on the can...It says: Consume Responsibly-Max I can every 4 hours with limt 3 cans per day. Not recommeded for children, people sensitive to caffeine, pregnant women or women who are nursing.. It's sad a child died from this from her parents allowing her to drink it. I don't know why in the world a child would need energy. Bad judgment on the parents' part resulted in the death of their child.. Good luck with that lawsuit.. Some people just have to push blame somewhere else...

AND that warning is on an 8oz can... 3 of those equal 24 ozs of monster. she had two 24 ozs of monster... clearly way past the warning...and she was a child....clearly not adhering to the warning.. her parents will not win this case due to stupidity.

For a fact the parents and the girl knew about the heart condition. Also Anais knew she was not supposed to drink energy drinks because of it. Her parents were not around when it happened because a friend of hers at the mall dared her to chug one of them (which would be the second of the two). She is my Aunt's niece so that is how I know. Also I don't believe in this lawsuit because it wasn't the energy drinks fault. However, I do believe that there should be better warnings not just a general "caution don't drink too much of this" kind of statement.

her parents will not win this case due to stupidity.

Unfortunately, her parents could very well win this case. Jurors are going to see a young girl dead and want someone to be responsible for it. It's much easier to blame a faceless corporation than a grieving parent.

I remember about 30 years ago a family sued and won a case against a clothing manufacturer after their little kid burned to death while wearing their pajamas. It seems the parents expected the clothing to be fire proofed after having lighter fluid spilled on it and set alight. The jury only saw a dead child and grieving parents and a rich company and awarded them tons of money. They figured the company could afford to spend money on the poor family. Insurance paid for it right?

Exactly, she had a pre-existing condition. That isn't Monster's fault and they share zero blame or responsibility for her death. Really sick and tired of the "it's someone else's fault" mentality out there followed by the "sue!" mentality after that. People really need to grow up and start being responsible for their own decisions.

"Allow you kid to drink this in the first place", excuse me, a child of any age with money or even food stamp card can walk into a store & buy this poison. Yes poison in a young ones body. As for the dangers of over dosing on caffine, I doubt they even know caffine can be a poison to the body. All they see is commercial & adults saying the drink is great energy.

But you are right it is no more Monster Energy Drinks fault then it is the alcohol companies fault for the deaths & diseases caused by their products, even the harm to our young.

DKJ-4 - She had a total of 480mg of Caffeine in a 24-hr period (1/2 gram), that is not considered "Toxic" in any book. Assuming the corners report is accurate (and I am guessing the Toxic part is a bit of stretch) she died from her condition not the caffeine. By your logic every child that manages to get their hands on a bag of peanuts in grocery store and subsequently ends up in the hospital because they have a peanut allergies, the peanut processor has a part in that child's hospitalization. I just don't buy that.

PS That 480mg assumes that person was drinking their most caffeinated beverage "Monster Hitman Sniper", if they were drinking the more common "Monster Energy Drink" that total drops to 320mg.

...a child of any age with money or even food stamp card can walk into a store & buy this poison.

DKJ-4 - the child had a preexisting heart condition. It is the responsibility of her parents to teach her what is safe for her to consume. I guarantee you that the parents of children who have peanut allergies teach their kids about what they can eat and drink long before they reach the age of 14. It is not the fault of the manufacturer of Monster drinks.

If they taught her not to waste money on overpriced fads it might have helped too.

Then she could also have died from drinking a couple of cups of coffee.

Samual - Exactly but they can't sue their daughter now can they? Just another frivolous lawsuit that both you and I will end up paying for. Give me a break MONSTER is responsible for their daughters death when she was aware of her condition. Everything is on the label but let me guess it wasn't in big enough print right? Pfft.

I doubt the parents knew of the pre-existing condition and I'm sure the lawsuit is just trying to make themselves feel better. They don't know what else to do. What an unfortunate death.

Caffeine is a highly addictive drug with mild to severe withdrawal symptoms. The stuff that Starbucks and Dunkin' Donuts sell at premium prices today was commonly called "mud" 30 years ago. We were always warned to never drink any coffee that Grandpa brewed. It was strong enough to wake the dead.

I suppose if you're 80 years old, still need to plow the back 40 today and don't care if you drop dead, have at it. This crap is only popular because it has become a trend for fools with more money than brains. If you are moderately healthy, you simply don't need it and continued use is bad for your health. Just like any drug, the addict will defend it and believes he has to have it to function.

Restrict sales of this poison to liquor stores where I.D. is required to keep it out of the hands of children. Sue the hell out of the store, the distributor and the manufacturer. They know exactly what they're doing by addicting children. Remember that heroin and opium was street legal at one time as well.

Then she could also have died from drinking a couple of cups of coffee.

Your average cup of coffee contains around 40-80 mg of caffeine per cup. Having 2 or 3 may jack you up, but it's not really that bad.

However, these energy drinks can have upwards to 200-300 mg of caffeine a CAN. The comparison isn't even close.

The irony of these energy drinks is that they're marketed as some sort of extreme sports equivalent, when the fact of the matter is, is that they couldn't be worse for you.

The typicall cup of coffee has WAY more than 40-80 mg per 8 oz cup. Try 100-200 mg per cup.

Overall, from a pharmacological and medical perspective, caffeine intake is pretty harmless (the LD50 caffeine is about 150-200 mg/kg of body weight). There is no way she got to that level consuming two Monster Energy drinks over 24 hours. Maybe if she downed 30 cans in an hour would she get to this level.

Medically speaking, she must have some other condition not revealed at autopsy (perhaps a mutation of one of the proteins responsible for caffeine metabolism). Some of the earlier reports indicate that she did have a Mitral valve prolapse, which in some instances can be fatal. Still, it would take a substantial amout of caffeine to exacerbate that condition.

A Venti(large) coffee from Starbucks has between 300mg and 550mg of caffeine in a single cup.

http://www.energyfiend.com/the-complete-guide-to-starbucks-caffeine

A Venti(large) coffee from Starbucks has between 300mg and 550mg of caffeine in a single cup.

A Venti is not your normal serving size for Coffee. Using Starbucks' largest offering isn't indicative of the norm.

Venti is a 24oz coffee. A typical size in america is 10-12oz. And how many of you out there have had a refill of your coffee while eating in a restaurant/diner? The point is that the young lady did not consume a lethal dose of caffeine even if she had slammed two cans one right after the other.

A better question would be what else is in the drink besides caffeine.

Oh, and reality check on "heart problems" and congenital heart defects - there are lots of them and many would not be aggravated by large amounts of caffeine.

If you think you're healthy, you probably just haven't measured your fasting glucose, resting heart rate, or body fat percentage lately.

I happen to have a superb heart rate, thank you very much :-)

I'll bet you can paradiddle your a$$ off. :-)

AzDrummer89, just wait, it will catch up to you. I hope not but it will. You teeth, your stomach, you lungs, they will [pay the price. I use to do caffeine when I was growing up.

They should put these drinks to the test and make a documentary called "Energize Me". They should follow two people for 30 days or more and then run some tests; One who drinks energy drinks, and one who takes in the same amount of caffeine but by coffee. Maybe even a third person, but with soda. I think a lot of people would be interested to see the results of this...

One who drinks energy drinks, and one who takes in the same amount of caffeine but by coffee.

Your average cup of coffee and your average energy drink are not even close in comparison. Unless you're knocking back expresso shots, you're not going to even come close to the energy drinks.

That's why they would obviously have to alter the amount of the drink consumed in a day based on the volume of caffeine in the drink. It's not rocket science.

Please keep in mind that your energy does not come from the drink itself. It comes from your adrenals, glands located near your kidneys that regulate things like heart rate and blood pressure. The Caffiene and other stimulants in drinks like Monster (it's not just caffeine in the drinks but other substances) stimulate the production of adrenaline that is supposed to prime the body for action (fight or flight response). This system is supposed to be used for emergencies only.

Using it as a "pick me up" is an abuse of the system. There will be consequences.

Stay wakeful by getting enough sleep, taking a walk, and avoiding caffeine. Yes. Avoiding caffeine will boost your overall energy level.

Keep grinding those teeth you will love it in a few years, believe me dental insurance is worth s&^*. Your stomach not that bad you will still be able to eat everything you want, maybe, but you will have a little pain now and again, some gas, and now and then a little trouble going, don't worry it only will get worse as you get older. Your lungs well I don't think it was just the caffeine but you are suppose to breathe so fast for so long, they get tired too, you know. listen I'm older, I've been there done that, so don't listen to me, next time that hot looking person wants to have a little something something and the only way you can keep it going is to drink something, you got a problem, now listen, your broke.

Oh that energy drink may turn into a pill with you and another person sitting in a tub holding hands! Whatever! Natural right!

I agree with you Ed, I worked in a convience store for awhile and seen many children as young a 9 or 10 coming in buying these drinks, not just Monster brand, all brands. I refused to sell to the youngers one. unless their parents were paying, boss didn't like it but hey I'm a mother & grandmother

That crap has all the nutritional value of a coffee enema. And is less pleasant to drink.

evolution1085......just curious if you actually know the facts of the "Hot Coffee" lawsuit........the coffee was WAY hotter than it should have been and caused 3rd degree burns on that woman. Coffee at that temperature 180 to 190 degrees causes 3rd degree burns in 3 to 7 seconds.

Here is a link for you if you find the need to educate yourself

well link didn't post.......so go to www. caoc.org/index.cfm?pg=facts and take out the spaces and you should get there.

Water boils at 212 degres Farenheit, so it's not as if the water was boiling hot. Also, get a cup of joe from starbucks, and you'll receive it today at the same temperatures. Based on the math of cups served vs people burned, it was an entirely acceptable statistical risk (still is). You have a better chance of dying in a car crash (hell dying in a plane crash) then you do getting burned like that with your coffee. As there was no structural failing in the cup itself, a judge finding under the letter of the law should have ruled for the defendant in that case... but juries are notoriously easy to dupe with tragic narratives. Should I be able to sue if I cut my arm off while playing with a chainsaw?

@Animal Lover

The blame here is the parents or girl or both, not the monster drink.

People are always looking for reasons to sue. Parents need take responsibility for their children's behavior.

Maybe the parents didn't know about it, you ignoramus.

Keep jumping to conclusions like that and you'll get a concussion, if you don't already have one. Why do you cretins always blame the parents, or anybody for that matter, without any facts?

Usually, it's because they're cretins.

The parents are getting blamed because they have filed a lawsuit. Monster is not at fault for this. So if the parents are going to act that way, then very few people will feel sorry for them and quite a few will lay the blame on their feet. Doesn't matter if they knew about the pre-existing condition or not. If they did, then it is certainly their fault they didn't explain to their child the dangers of what they eat/drink. If they didn't know about the condition, it still isn't Monster's fault. Either way, Monster is not to blame at all, yet the parents are suing them. Tells most of us all we need to know about what kind of people those parents are.

Human nature. Parents that lose a child typically want desperately to blame someone for it!

NO! We MUST freak out with a knee-jerk reaction and run around like headless chickens!

Oh wait. No we shouldn't.

Nevermind.

I agree. In a 8 oz cup of coffee there are 108 mg of coffee. In 16 oz of Monster Energy there are 160 mg. You do the math! I am sorry for the deaths but if you should not have caffeine, then you should not be drinking it!

"Acceptable risk tolerances"--I love it! So if I fire a gun into a crowd of 10,000 people and only kill 1 of them, that's OK, right? Oh, no, it's not. But that's often the situation with not only quasi-drugs like these energy drinks, but also all the legal drugs on the market. My point is, a low incidence of death from something like this always seems OK unless it's you or a loved one who dies. Of course the parents would want to sue Monster Energy Drinks, and so would any parent on this forum if it were their child.

Steve, you don't know nothing. Energy drinks have B vitamin megadoses and other chemicals of interest too, all of which work in conjunction to get your heart kicking. It's not just the caffeine. 500mg caffeine is of course not toxic *by itself* in normal people

1) Vitamin B megadoses work on completely different pathways and are totally unrelated.

2) "other chemicals" are largely added for marketing purposes and are as safe as they are ineffective.

Some people have genetic algorithms that make them "slow caffeine metabolizes", and for these folks small amounts of coffee and other drinks that contain caffeine can be deadly . . .

But there also are people such as myself who have the full array of what I call the "South American Coffee Achiever Gene Matrix™" and can consume huge quantities of coffee, carbonated beverages containing caffeine, tea, and so forth and so on with no problems . . .

I enjoy two pots of Massimo Zanetti Master Chef coffee every morning, and I make it using the single drip method in the ratio of 12 ounces of water to 1/2 cup of ground coffee at the ideal brewing temperature of 200 degrees Fahrenheit, which at this higher strength maps approximately to six cups of coffee for a total amount of caffeine in the range of 1,500 to 2,500 milligrams, and I enjoy several more pots of coffee throughout the day but then switch to caffeinated soda pop in the evening, where before going to bed I typically drink two caffeinated soda pops, noting that I only drink soda pop made with pure cane sugar . . .

For me, which has been observed and verified by actual medical doctors, the reality is that absent the coffee and soda pop I am more like Forest Gump, but with the coffee and soda pop I am smarter than Albert Einstein, at least in the scenario where Albert's primary focus was composing silly DISCO songs about ladies underpants, which is fabulous . . .

http://www.surfwhammys.com/Im-Going-Goo-Goo-Over-Ga-Ga-11-28-2010-2-DP7.mp3

Fabulous! :-D

Steve, Monster also has panax ginseng, guarana, and l-carnitine, which may add to the stimulant effect. The various chemicals are intended to work synergistically, with the sum being bigger then parts.

Not sure about any synergism going on - the other compounds in energy drinks are in very small amounts and are much safer than caffeine. Which is another way of saying they are worthless. Ginseng in large amounts does have some activity in the brain and even the heart. I suppose you could be sensitive too it, or even allergic to it.

The real problem as I see it is that Monster sells drugs dressed up as candy, and aggressively markets it to children and young adults. If you want or need mysterious chemical cocktails, you should be prescribed them.

If you want to play make believe, then take out the caffeine (including guarana). It's a drug. We are all familiar with this kind of nonsense with cosmetics and hair care products. Putting silk protein in shampoo, or milk thistle in your lotion. Whatever - but as far as I know, they don't put actual active ingredients that actually produce chemical changes in your hair and skin. That would spoil the fun.

However, I'm quite skeptical that Monster had much if anything to do with this girl's untimely death that was truly negligent. It's not like Starbucks refuses 14 year olds. I am curious to know what really happened, but we likely will never hear.

Jim, I think responsible adult users should be free to use what they like without a prescription. I thought the average NBC reader was past the war on drugs.

It's also not nice to blame Monster for selling a drink that, if did contribute to a girl's death, only did so without Monster having any knowledge that their otherwise harmless drink was lethal to 1/100th of a percent of the people that drink it.

I agree that it isn't Monster's fault - but I'm with LilMe12 in saying it's cruel to blame the parents as many other posters are doing. First, as LilMe12 says, the article does not make it clear if the cardiac condition was known prior to the autopsy - and second, nowhere does it say the parents provided, condoned, or even knew about the girl's consumption of energy drinks.

Princess-The parents started the blame game. They laid blame on Monster long before anyone laid blame on them for lack of supervision. If they are going to initiate the chain of "not nice" actions by laying blame inappropriately, one can hardly be expected to afford them sympathy when they become victims of the same type of behavior they engaged in.

If this were merely chalked up to what it was, a tragic accident no party could have reasonably forseen or prevented, then sympathies would lie entirely with the parent. But as it stands, the parents believe that a corporation which sells millions of units of a beverage every year should somehow have been aware of the highly unique risks that the corporation's drink posed to their daughter than they, as parents, were. This assertion that some corporation bears more responsibility for the freak coincidence of unknown genetic vulnerabilities and volume consumption than they as parents exposes them to criticism of their own failure to be aware of or regulate their daughter's behavior.

I'm not sure the perfume example really stands with the others. Assuming it's even possible to have your asthma triggered enough by perfume to risk your life, you really shouldn't be out in public if you are that fragile.

That said, I consider odor pollution a real problem - my neighborhood's normally fresh air is regularly fouled by smokers. Perfume regularly stinks up offices, schools, etc.

please tell me you are joking.

Your probably more likely by over 10,000% to die from driving a car or drinking alcohol then from taking Monster Energy drink. Probably more then a few billion sold and 5 deaths. Compare that to just about any other type of deaths per how many in a million and way down the list. Why don't you just remove living since that would be about the same.

There is nothing good about them. So what, they wake you up. Have a cup of coffee or a soda instead. The mix is just not good for ones body!

Paul,

Even I don't drink them, never have or probably will it is up to the person since this is a legal drink. If you follow baseball you heard that Josh Hamilton could not focus his eyes because he drank too many soda's. He had to quit drinking them. To each his own. Millions of folks have had zero problems drinking Monster and as stated above 5 deaths probably out of billions of drinks. You could preach about hundreds of other items and be more correct in it's health or danger to others then this energy drink. Some times a dozen people die in a year eating a spoiled fruit or meat and just about any food you can think of. Just saying.

Mr. Cool just lost his cool. Yeah, let's take everything you don't like of the market. We probably end up in some weirdo veganish society. What right do you think you have to tell other people what to do or what to consume!

Especially if you have a heart condition....

16oz of Monster Energy drink has approximately the same caffeine content as 16oz of brewed coffee. I feel bad for the poor girl but she obviously had some underlying condition that caused her death.

So what makes an energy drink an "energy drink" if it's no different from a cup of coffee? It obviously boosts your metabolism beyond our body's normal zone or else you wouldn't get the high.

Exactly.

The lawsuit, filed in California Superior Court in Riverside, said that after drinking two 24-ounce cans of Monster Energy on consecutive days Fournier went into cardiac arrest. She died days later on December 23, 2011 from what the lawsuit said was "cardiac arrhythmia due to caffeine toxicity" that complicated a heart disorder she already had.

She already had a heart disorder but her death is somehow the fault of the Monster drink. Luckily for her family I won't be sitting on that jury. They would have a lot of explaining to do before I was willing to give them a dime.

I totally agree. If your child has diabetes, would you let them go on a candy bar binge??? Seriously. My kid is healthy, and I still would never let her drink energy drinks.

Anyone who thinks they can control what their 14 yr old drinks is deceiving themselves. Or perhaps holding their children prisoner. Really, don't you recall being 14 and doing all sorts of things your parents didn't know about, whether they would approve or not?

"aren't we paying billions of dollars to government agencies to make sure this does not happen? time to end the waste and get rid of them."

You're just acting this stupid to make a point about the raving idiocy of someone who would actually espouse this opinion, right?

Maybe your parents monitored everything that passed your lips at the age of 14, but that is certainly not the norm. We parents are somewhat conditioned that if it's out there on the shelf in every store, and anyone with money can walk in and buy it, surely it can't be harmful. That's the blind trust in the regulatory agencies that probably aren't worth much trust at all!

HOW IRONIC, I was awake at 4:30 am from my sleep with my heart beating fast, I thought it would go away and started working on my laptop. 2 hours later my heart was still beating fast. I went to the Emergency Room to find out my heart rate was at 256 bpm close to bursting. I was drinking "Noz" energy drinks and my heart went into d-fib and I almost died twice at the ER. This story is needed because people need to be aware how dangerous these type of drinks are.

The Today Show please contact me if you need someone to share there story. I am having surgery next week on my heart as a result. Email me at jrobin7933@yahoo.com.

@JoeRob-4427188 How much of it were you drinking? Did you have any cardiac issues where consuming stimulants was a bad idea? If you drink enough of a stimulant, you might as well be doing crystal meth. People need to get their heads out of their a$$es and actually try to understand what they consume. YOU CAN OVERDOSE ON WATER TOO, YOU LUMOXES.