"Are addictive"

School cracks down: Energy drink ban for children

Even the youngest children are reaching for the stimulant drinks.(Bild: Monkey Business Images – stock.adobe.com)

A secondary school in the central region of Upper Austria informed parents at the beginning of the week that the consumption of energy drinks in and in front of the school building is prohibited. The management cites the harmful ingredients and addictive effects.

They are supposed to give you wings or unleash the beast, come in colorful cans and taste sweet as sugar: energy drinks. This is precisely why they are popular with children and young people and can be bought legally in Austria. Calls for age limits such as those in Latvia, Lithuania or Poland (from 18 years of age) have often been made in the past, but have not yet been implemented.

Ban is possible
A school in the district of Eferding has now taken the problem into its own hands and informed parents in a press release that there is a "clear ban on consuming energy drinks in and in front of the school building". According to the Upper Austrian Education Directorate, this is possible within the framework of the house rules, as there is no nationwide ban on caffeinated drinks in schools.

"Can be addictive"
"We don't want to annoy our pupils with this, we want to protect them. Regular consumption of energy drinks can lead to a kind of addiction," says the school's letter.