'Alcopop' Ban Proposed By New York City Health Department

'Alcopop' Ban Proposed By Health Department

Enjoy that Smirnoff Ice--it could be your last.

The city Health Department wants state lawmakers to make it illegal for bodegas to sell "alcopop" - premixed, carbonated, flavored malt drinks with alcohol content as high as 12%

"We are very concerned about these," Health Commissioner Thomas Farley testified at a Council hearing yesterday.

Farley also said the drinks were very popular amongst teenage girls. More than two-thirds of high school students say they drank some in the past year, Farley testified.

There was already a bill introduced in the State Senate that would bar Four Loko from being sold, even in its new decaffeinated form.

New York outlawed the original, caffeinated Four Loko last year.

Not everyone is jumping on the sugary alcohol ban bandwagon. During the alcopops hearing, Queens Councilman Daniel Halloran insisted, "We should be worried about more important things, like firehouse closings."

The ban would also have a devastating effect on the "icing" trend. Although that fad may have already died a natural death.

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