The EU Commissioner for Health and Consumer Protection has backed a recommendation by an inquest jury for further research into the safety of stimulant drinks such as Red Bull.
Mr David Byrne said the issue had been brought to his attention and he had asked the EU's scientific committee to look at stimulants, the amounts one could take and their effect on the body. "These are important issues in the whole context of food and food safety," he said in Dublin yesterday.
"It has been brought to my attention as well that there is a mix sometimes between alcohol and the stimulants, and this is something that we are going to have to address also to see whether this is a cause for concern," he added. Red Bull is a popular non-alcoholic drink among young people in particular, and is often mixed with vodka.
In a rider to its verdict on the death of an 18-year-old Limerick University student, an inquest jury in Dublin on Tuesday recommended that immediate research be carried out by all relevant Irish authorities into stimulant drinks on sale in the Republic.
The jury found that the cause of Mr Ross Cooney's death was unexplained Sudden Adult Death Syndrome but added its recommendation after hearing that the student had consumed up to three cans of the Red Bull high-energy drink on the day of his death.
There was no evidence, however, that the drink was responsible for his death. Mr Cooney collapsed during a basketball tournament in Tallaght, Dublin, in November 1999.
The Government said on Thursday it would establish a committee to investigate Red Bull and other high-energy drinks. The committee will include the Ministers for Health and Justice.