MEP Biljana Borzan and MP Andreja Maric of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) on Friday announced that they plan to resend a motion to the Sabor to ban the sale of energy drinks to minors, saying that 80% of citizens support that idea according to a survey.

During a press conference in Parliament House, Borzan recalled that one year has passed since the death of a minor after consuming an energy drink and that SDP had proposed a bill in 2018 already that would have restricted the sale of energy drinks to minors similarly to some other countries.

That received the support of the entire opposition and even some ruling Croatian Democratic Union lawmakers, however, the bill was rejected by the then health minister Milan Kujundzic, claiming that there was no data on how many minors actually consumed energy drinks.

96% of students have consumed energy drinks, 61% take them with alcohol

Presenting the results of a survey conducted among 271 secondary school students in the eastern Croatian town of Zupanja, Borzan said that 69% of them said that the price of energy drinks did not deter them from purchasing them while 96% said they consume energy drinks even though 86% of them know they are unhealthy.

She added that the school in Zupanja is probably not an exception and the results would be identical in any part of the country.

Borzan said that the survey indicated that 70% of students started drinking energy drinks while still in elementary school.

In addition, 8% drink an energy drink once a day, 5% several times during the day, 9% consume it often and 22% regularly.

Borzan in particular warned that it was concerning that 61% of the students said they consume energy drinks with alcohol.

Another survey of 805 citizens throughout the country showed that 80% of citizens support a bill that would ban the sale of energy drinks to minors.

It is obvious that the sale of energy drinks to minors must be regulated by law, she said, appealing to Health Minister Vili Beros to ban their sale.