Caffeine used to be found only in coffee. It's now in energy drinks like Panera Charged Lemonade.
A lawsuit against the product manufacturer alleged that it "contains more caffeine than Red Bull and Monster Energy Drink combined and has no consumer warning," CBS News reported.
The suit blames Panera for the death of Sarah Katz, 21, last month. The University of Pennsylvania student suffered cardiac arrest after drinking Charged Lemonade on 10 September 2022, according to CBS News.
Caffeine was also found in large concentrations in select Philippine watersheds and beaches based on the study of natural water and wastewater samples by marine scientists from the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute and the University at Buffalo in New York in 2019.
The samples were taken from Boracay, Tubbataha Reefs Natural Park, the Davao Gulf, Macajalar Bay in Cagayan de Oro City and the Batangas town of Mabini.
In the Boracay samples, the concentration of caffeine was lower when the resort island was closed in 2018 as there were few tourists then. The caffeine levels were highest during the dry season when there was an influx of tourists.
Shyrill Mariano, the study's lead author and a UP MSI postgraduate student, said the caffeine in the water samples came from the coffee disposed of by cafes and households, GMA News reported.
While the study findings indicate that marine life risks harm from the high levels of caffeine in the water and a lot of coffee is being wasted in Boracay, the problem isn't the proximity of cafes or other sources of caffeinated drinks to the coasts.
The problem is that coffee disposed of through kitchen sinks does not go to wastewater treatment facilities. The study said there is a lack of treatment facilities to remove the contaminants.
Mariano said tourist sites, like Metro Manila, must have wastewater treatment systems.
"Even if we do not yet know all of the effects of the caffeine on general aquatic flora and fauna, it's enough of a data set to say that we need to increase the number of wastewater treatment plants," said Dr. Caroline Jaraula, assistant professor and co-author of the UP MSI study, according to GMA News.
