Russian health official lashes out at energy drinks

A chief Russian health inspector has said he is not surprised by the news that cocaine residue was been found in the Red Bull energy drink, and went on to say that all energy drinks were evil.

“This is a malignant drink and it has only one reason for its existence – to spread addiction among the younger generation as fast as possible,” Russian state news agency RIA Novosti quoted Chief Sanitary Inspector Gennady Onishchenko as saying Tuesday.

“This evil spawn of the so called energy industry is in mass production and the scale is growing as the authorities in the countries where these products are beuing produced and sold turn a blind eye to this problem,” Onishchenko added.

Earlier this month German health officials said they had discovered traces of cocaine in the energy drink Red Bull Cola.  "The [Health Institute in the state of North Rhine Westphalia] examined Red Bull Cola in an elaborate chemical process and found traces of cocaine," said the head of the food safety department at Germany's federal ministry for consumer protection. The ministry recommended banning the drink in Germany and this restriction has already been enforced in several regions of the country.

Similar reports came some time later from Hong Kong.

In Russia Red Bull Cola has not been banned yet.