Do you agree with that?
Evidence of meeting #106 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was products.
A recording is available from Parliament.
Evidence of meeting #106 for Health in the 42nd Parliament, 1st Session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was products.
A recording is available from Parliament.
6:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
I think there is a body of research that has come out since the products were introduced in 2004, and I point to a recent study, the largest study ever done, which is by the European Food Safety Authority. I would be happy to share a summary with you.
Going back to one of the comments that was made earlier on the problem with combining alcohol with caffeinated energy drinks, it's the alcohol, not the caffeine. I can point you to that study, and there's a growing body of evidence globally, particularly from some of the larger national health authorities.
6:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I want to show you some pictures. I'm showing a Red Bull promotional booth, and it has a Virginia festival vodka and Red Bull on the same poster—
6:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
I can't speak to American regulations. I can only speak to Canadian. You said “Virginia”.
6:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
That's the name of the alcohol. I'm not sure that it was taken in the U.S.
6:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
I can't comment, because I don't know where that was taken—
6:55 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
This was taken off the.... This is the Monster drink, and it's a bartender mixing together alcohol and the Monster drink on promotional mats that are clearly made for a bar that say “Monster Energy” with Monster advertising behind the bar.
I'm looking at “Rockstar Energy Drink”. It's the same thing, with mixing mats in a bar that have Captain Morgan, Smirnoff, Baileys, and other—
6:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
In fairness, sir, you have two mats there that say “Rockstar”, and then the mat above it, which has the list of the alcohol, is completely separate .
6:55 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
Actually, in bars, sometimes people, instead of drinking alcohol—
7 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Thanks. I'm just wondering what your association's position would be on this—wherever it is—clear mixing of your products and alcohol in a way that clearly is associating them. Does your association have a position on whether that's a business practice that your association—
7 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
First of all, we abide by the regulations that Health Canada has put forward, which says on all of our cans that these products are not to be mixed with alcohol.
Are our products sold in bars? Absolutely, they are, just like soft drinks, just like flavoured water, etc. In fact, there are lots of consumers who don't drink alcohol who are perhaps the designated driver that night and who will opt for an energy drink instead of drinking alcohol—which is, I think, something that should be supported—or a soft drink, for example. We've all seen people who do that.
Are there people who mix our products with alcohol? Absolutely, there are.
7 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
I'm just trying to find out what your position on that is, neutral or—
7 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
Our position is that we support Health Canada's regulations.
7 p.m.
NDP
Don Davies NDP Vancouver Kingsway, BC
Finally, I think a couple of witnesses talked about the quantity. Someone suggested that we limit the size of these high-alcohol drinks to 1.5 or two drinks per container. My question would be, why would we do that? Why wouldn't we limit that to one drink per container?
Mr. Stockwell, would you comment?
7 p.m.
Director, Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research, University of Victoria, As an Individual
Obviously there's an arbitrary element. There are so many products out there that are more than one standard drink. Beer is up to 10% or 11% in a regular 341-millilitre can, so you're already up to two or more standard drinks. It would cover a whole range of products.
The 1.5-drink guideline in the national low-risk drinking guidelines is less than the daily allowance for a female, so if we're thinking about young people being attracted to these products, it's just that 1.5....
Look, if you could make it one, that would work well, but it should be something in that range. At the moment we have four, and either of those others is going to be a lot better.
7 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'm glad to hear the effects of alcohol being discussed in a committee. I practised emergency medicine for 20 years. One thing I had to study was, of course, toxicology. In my professional practice, no substance kept us as busy as alcohol. There were some of us who would probably have been out of work if not for alcohol.
I have to take issue with Don, first for having called dibs on my lungs in the last meeting and now also for having taken my questions.
I wanted to expand on something, Mr. Goetz. You talked about your products. I wasn't sure, but I thought you said you discouraged the use of these energy drinks with alcohol. Now, does it say on the label of these drinks that they should not be consumed with alcohol?
May 9th, 2018 / 7 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Okay, excellent.
I also want to expand on some of the things that Don said about promotion.
You are right, Red Bull can be sold in a bar the same way that Coke, Pepsi, fruit juice, and everything else can be. You are right. I've been a designated driver and have had Pepsi all night in a bar. However, there are promotional products that tend to promote an association with establishments that serve alcohol on the premises.
There will be, for instance, high tables, which you really only find in bars, that you stand at. They will say Red Bull on them. There are Red Bull-branded bar fridges, and neon signs that, again, you only see in bars. I won't bother to show it, but there is a poster on which someone is advertising a Red Bull pub crawl with the logo.
As you say, it's not necessarily telling them they should be mixing it, but it's obviously promoting this product in establishments or in association with alcohol. Would you be supportive if the industry, say, refused to use the copyright of the images of your brands for such purposes?
7 p.m.
President, Canadian Beverage Association
Well, first of all, you see energy drink fridges and coolers in grocery stores and convenience stores, and not just in bars.
7 p.m.
Liberal
Doug Eyolfson Liberal Charleswood—St. James—Assiniboia—Headingley, MB
Yes, I'll say that, but a bar fridge is a different kind of fridge from what you will see in a grocery or convenience store. I take your point, though.
The neon signs that you see in bars I've rarely seen in a convenience store.
