Caffeine To Require Warning Label?

Here in California, under Proposition 65, we are required to slap warning labels on any products or containers which have chemicals known to cause cancer or reproductive harm. Now, because some review board doesn't understand the difference between correlation and cause, caffeine has been added to this year's list of chemicals under review. The panel claims that natural sources, such as coffee or tea, would not require the label, because they're considering caffeine as an additive in energy drinks, but if you drink a quadruple espresso everyday, I think you may be in the same ballpark as Monster or Red Bull. According to some nutritionist, caffeine at high doses has been linked to "reduced birthweight, miscarriages, and infertility." I guess men don't have to worry about the extra caffeine in Excedrin, huh?

Just what we need, more warning labels, even on something that most obstetricians already warn pregnant women about: reducing your caffeine intake to keep your blood pressure down. It's not the caffeine specifically, it's any kind of stimulant that makes your heart race. Are pregnant women going to be really this stupid, where they won't drink coffee, but they'll down Red Bull any chance they get? Puhlease. Including caffeine in this round of chemical reviews seems to be reactionary to all the recent alarmism on how much of these energy drinks kids seem to be slugging down. Well, with the first increase in teen pregnancy since 1991, I guess we have to do something. For the children, you see...