Lawsuits you should know about

There’s been a trend lately with college students and the consumption of caffeinated alcoholic beverages.  According to a few studies on this topic, as many as 26% of college students use, or have used, this combination of caffeine and alcohol.  Now the Food and Drug Administration is stepping in to make sure the drinks aren’t causing harm to those who consume them.

On November 13, 2009, the FDA issued letters to manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic products, letting them know that they are going to begin to look into the “safety and legality” of their products.  The increase in the popularity and use of thee products, along with reports of some potential safety hazards, are cited as reasons precipitating this step.

In order for these products to not be unlawful, one of the following conditions must be met:

• Its use has been approved by FDA regulation
• The substance is subject to a prior sanction
• The substance is “generally recognized as safe” (GRAS).  In order for it to meet this criteria there must be evidence of its safety at the levels used, and a basis to conclude that the evidence is generally known and accepted by “qualified experts” on the subject.

As of the date of this blog entry, the FDA has not approved caffeine for use at any levels in alcoholic beverages.  So for a product to be on the market legally it can only be done so if there use is subject to a prior sanction, or their use is generally recognized as safe.

In the notice, the FDA has alerted the nearly 30 manufacturers of these products that they are considering whether or not caffeine can be lawfully added to alcoholic beverages.  The FDA requested that the manufactures provide evidence within a 30 day period of their theories as to why their product is lawfully being marketed (based on the criteria listed above), along with data and proof to support their theories.

The FDA has indicated that if it is determined the use of caffeine in a product is not GRAS or prior sanctioned, action will be taken to ensure the products are not allowed to be sold.

While this isn’t exactly a product recall, based on the enormous popularity of these products the administrators of this web site thought the readers would find interest in it.

The Walt Disney Company, the parent company to the Baby Einstein Company, have offered consumers a refund of $15.99 on up to four Baby Einstein videos purchased during June 5, 2004 and September 4, 2009.

The refund is offered after a two year long struggle with the Boston based advocacy group The Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.  In 2006 the group filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) stating that the company was claiming (on the web site) that the products were educational, but in their opinion there was no research to back up these claims.  The statements in question were removed from the web site but no further action was taken by the FTC.  The FTC stated that nowhere did the Baby Einstein company claim that these DVDs were educational.

The advocacy group took things a step further in June of 2008.  At this point they approached a group of Boston lawyers who threatened the Walt Disney Company with a class action lawsuit against the company.  Such a lawsuit or lawsuits have not been filed at this time.

The Baby Einstein Company made a statement to Good Morning America that the products were designed to expose children and their parents to arts and humanities and nowhere was it implied or stated that these products were educational.

To get your refund (on up to four DVDs) you need to package them in a mailing envelope in their original cases (if you have them), fill out a form from their web site and it must be completed by hand (click here for a link to the form) and return it to the Baby Einstein Company by March 4, 2010.