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Legislative
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| Mike Elliott Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
Parliament Index |
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Legislative
Council |
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| Mike Elliott Leader Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council |
Parliament Index |
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The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: In the area of drug policy, we have to be very careful that our community does not adopt a double standard. The drug that I will talk about today is caffeine. There is currently an application-
The Hon. A.J. Redford interjecting:
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: Currently there is an application before ANZFA for approval for caffeine to be put into all soft drinks. Members may not be aware that in the United States caffeine can be used in all soft drinks. In the United States, drinks like Mountain Dew, which are available here in Australia, contain caffeine. In fact, they contain more caffeine than that found in drinks like Coca-Cola. What is interesting is that scientific work that has been done in the United States in terms of taste testing has shown that something like 90 per cent of people are simply not capable of tasting caffeine. It is therefore quite obvious that the reason that caffeine is being added to soft drinks is its addictive properties and not for taste. In relation to cola drinks, at least it can be fairly argued that cola is a natural source of caffeine and so, if you make a cola drink, the caffeine is part of it.
As I said, there is now an application before ANZFA. It has come in the first instance from a soft drink producer in New Zealand, but it is an application in the Australian jurisdiction, and it would open the door right up. I think members would be surprised to see just how much of the fluid consumption of children today is by way of soft drink. It has been calculated that, if caffeine was allowed into soft drinks other than cola drinks, the caffeine intake of the average child would more than double. Short-term implications for children are for the most part not serious, although I think they could be in one regard. Work done on caffeine shows that the coffee drinker who has their first coffee in the morning and says they have had a real boost is actually coming out of withdrawal, and the caffeine is compensating for the withdrawal they have gone through overnight. So the boost of caffeine is the classic-
The Hon. T.G. Cameron: Are you serious?
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: I am absolutely serious. The research has been done on it. The worry about young kids is not so much that they get onto caffeine and are high, running around the classroom. That is not really the concern at all. There are kids who have large amounts of caffeine on a regular basis, and I have been in many classrooms when they have not had caffeine for a while and they are actually in withdrawal. That greatly upsets their concentration. It is fairly basic and standard, but it is not a risk that you really-
The Hon. T.G. Cameron interjecting:
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: Yes, there is, particularly if you drink enough of it. Most soft drinks at present do not have caffeine, except for the cola drinks-
The Hon. T.G. Cameron interjecting:
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: Anyone who looks at the market in energy drinks will see that it is expanding very rapidly. Energy drinks are not covered by the rules that cover soft drinks. Virtually all energy drinks have caffeine. Many contain guarana. Guarana is a berry that contains six times as much caffeine as coffee beans. I am not saying that the final drink has a higher dosage than cola drinks have, but people think that they have this wonderful new thing called guarana. The name `guarana' is written in big letters on the packaging, but what people are not being told and what is not in big letters is that guarana contains caffeine, and precisely how much. I am not calling for the government to ban caffeine, but what I am saying is that caffeine should be allowed to continue in cola drinks-
The Hon. A.J. Redford interjecting:
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: -but it is not unreasonable that the word `caffeine' be printed in big letters and the quantity be made known.
The Hon. A.J. Redford interjecting:
The Hon. M.J. ELLIOTT: If you think it is a joke, you ought to do a bit more reading about it, because it is quite serious.
Member's time expired.
