The Suffolk County Board of Health this week said it will suggest legislation to ban the sale of energy drinks to anyone younger than 19 years old, over concerns that the caffeine levels can be hazardous — or even deadly — to children.
The county decision was unanimous, according to Newsday, and the board is expected to draft a letter calling of the ban that is will sent to the Suffolk Legislature as well as the Federal Food and Drug Administration.
While a spokesman for the American Beverage Association told Newsday the drinks, which include the highly popular Red Bull, are safe and that they are not marketed to children.
But the county said they can cause rapid heartbeat and high blood pressure, which can pose major threats to a child's health.
The county is no stranger to banning unhealthy substances. Suffolk recently banned the sale of bath salts and synthetic marijuana often sold as "Spice."
Fire Departments Help in Nassau
Most of Suffolk County's 109 fire departments have helped out their brethren in Long Beach, Island Park, and Lido Beach over the past month, sending firefighters in 24-hour shifts to help fire departments that been working non-stop since Superstorm Sandy devastated the area a month ago.
"Unlike Suffolk County, where we had damage but didn't lose trucks or fire houses, these guys actually lost houses and equipment," said Greg James, chief fire coordinator with Suffolk County Fire Rescue Emergency Services. "And then of course, a lot of firemen had their own homes destroyed."
Suffolk County FRES coordinated with all departments, ensuring that different parts of the county were helping out on different days. This way, neighboring districts of those up in Nassau could be on call if an extra truck or engine was needed in the case of an emergency.
James said about 15 firefighters from Suffolk were sent each day to lend a hand.
Health Department: Not Too Late for Flu Shots
If you haven't had a chance to get your flu shots this year, Suffolk's Department of Health Services says you don't need to worry — there's still time.
“Influenza is a serious disease that should be treated as such,” Suffolk County Health Commissioner Dr. James Tomarken said in a statement. “Most people who become infected with the flu will suffer with fever, congestion, cough, sore throat, and muscle aches over the course of a week or two and will eventually recover completely. However, some are at greater risk for serious complications that can lead to hospitalization or even death."
The flu season, which peaks in January, can last into May. So far, New York State has seen a steep jump in flu cases this year, the department said.
Aggressive driving can kill don't you know.
Spiders are off my list.
As for the 'de' it was a line I thought deleted, must have missed a bit.
1)You defended someone who made severely racist comments that had nothing to do with the topic and then say MY comments had nothing to do with it 2) you then called me out for insulting those racist comments while then insulting me in the same breath. 3) You claim my comments had nothing to do with the article, yet agree with someone who talks about judging people based on their middle name and Somali Muslims, on an article about energy drinks. Why no comment about their post having nothing to do with the blog? For the same reason most don't, they agree with what's being said, despite the fact it's completely irrelevant to the what's being discussed. All 3 examples are definitions of a hypocrite. You called out my comments because they went against someone you agree with. Again, you make no mention of their comments of Islam and the name Hussein but just say that it's MY comments that have nothing to do with this. That's all there is to it.
The question is should the government write a law, putting an age restriction on Red Bull ? My answer is no. They really need to fix the economy. Create new jobs. Lower my taxes. Help those devastated by Sandy. The list could gone on and on. That job description falls on the parents. There are a lot of great parents on this site. What is your answer. Please be nice and respect some elses email. Thanks Laura
E-Mail: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E-mail http://www.ehow.com/how-does_4564093_email-work.html http://www.amazon.com/E-Mail-Dummies-Second-Edition-Levine/dp/0764501313 E-Mail:
Sorry but I don't see record labels as censorship. The government does not tell anyone they can't MAKE whatever kind of music they want, and the government does to tell anyone that they can't BUY it if they want it. I don't necessarily like the idea of record labels, but I'm not willing to say the government is taking away my freedoms because of them.I just don't see it that way. Movies are rated too.(I KNOW it's not by the government.) People are free to use those ratings to decide whether they want their child to see a movie (or if they want to see it themselves), or they can choose to ignore the ratings. But they are there for the people who are interested in them. Record labels, same thing.
Way to back off your ridiculous statement by calling it tongue in cheek. Behind every joke is some truth right? Somehow you really believe that to some extent otherwise you wouldn't have said it.
I was never in the military, but it seems to me that when you joined the military, you signed up to live by a different set of rules than the rest of us while you are under their command. Censorship in the military is very different than in the general public. I'm sure there are MANY MANY more things that you are prohibited from saying because of the sensitive nature of whatever it might be.(That is NOT to say someone's sexuality is a matter of national security, so THANK GOD Obama overturned that policy.) My point is, when you are in the military, you live by their rules. Hell, they even tell you what to WEAR too, don't they? Isn't that an infringement on your rights? But they have rules for you to live by, so you live by them.When you joined, you agreed that your commanders would tell you what to do, and you would do it. So don't complain and say you were censored on that one issue just because it's a convenient argument here. BTW, I agree that There are very few politicians who have our best interests at heart. That's on both sides. But there are good people on both sides too.