Attorney General Richard Blumenthal is calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to ban alcoholic energy drinks after incidents in which users were hospitalized.

            Blumenthal’s call comes a year after the FDA heeded a call by Blumenthal and other attorneys general and began investigating whether the drinks meet the agency’s Generally Recognized As Safe (GRAS) standard.

           In a letter sent Friday, Blumenthal called on the FDA to complete its review as soon as possible and ban the beverages.

            “Since FDA commenced its review, evidence has only increased that alcoholic energy drinks are unsafe and unacceptable under the GRAS standard,” Blumenthal said in the letter. “Recent incidents, including hospitalization of nine Washington state college students after consuming an alcoholic energy drink known among users as ‘blackout in a can,’ provide further powerful proof of the dangers of these beverages to public health and safety.

            “After a year of mounting and alarming evidence, I urge your agency to complete its work as soon as possible and impose a nationwide ban on these dangerous and potentially deadly drinks.

            “Alcoholic energy beverages are a witch’s brew of stimulants and alcohol, creating wide-awake, energized drunks who pose a serious threat to themselves and others. By masking the effects of alcohol with a stimulant, they encourage risky behavior and dangerous overconsumption -- as has happened in Washington state and elsewhere.”

            Blumenthal and other attorneys general wrote the FDA in September 2009 urging investigation of alcoholic energy drinks. The FDA’s review started in November 2009.

Blumenthal helped lead states that reached agreements in 2008 with Miller-Coors and Anheuser-Busch to stop producing alcoholic energy drinks.