Coffee is ‘harmful’ for humans, EU bureaucrats have warned, sparking fears the beloved drink will soon be targeted by regulations.
According to scientific evidence, officials said in a report, ‘caffeine is harmful to humans if swallowed’.
They said the stimulant, a key component of coffee, can be harmful to the heart, cause anxiety and create problems with sleep, hydration and body temperature.
The report came to support an EU decision made to ban the use of caffeine in pesticides to kill slugs and snails on potato and cabbage patches.
But it has sparked fears that coffee could soon be directly targeted by EU regulations, as reported by the Telegraph.
Danish MEP Anders Vistisen felt it was an unnecessary intervention by the EU: ‘What is this all leading to? Are they seriously going to eventually force us to drink decaffeinated coffee? It’s becoming ridiculous.
‘Nobody thinks smoking and whisky are good for you but they add pleasure to many people’s lives.’
There is not enough research to say if caffeine is a risk for people who live near where it is processed or work with it, the report said.
Danish MEP Anders Vistisen (pictured) felt it was an unnecessary intervention by the EU: ‘What is this all leading to? Are they seriously going to eventually force us to drink decaffeinated coffee? It’s becoming ridiculous’
Chairman of the Tottenham Conservative Association Elliot Hammer weighed in (pictured): ‘The EU is coming for your coffee!’
Reform UK member James Bush commented: ‘The geniuses in the European Commission think that “caffeine is harmful if swallowed”. I am glad we’re free of these idiots’
Uproar has exploded on X too. Chairman of the Tottenham Conservative Association Elliot Hammer weighed in: ‘The EU is coming for your coffee!’
Reform UK member James Bush commented: ‘The geniuses in the European Commission think that “caffeine is harmful if swallowed”.
‘I am glad we’re free of these idiots.’
The ban comes despite research from the National Cancer Institute in the US, Harvard School of Public Health, The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee and Goldsmiths, University of London saying drinking coffee can bring active health benefits – not harms.
People who drink six or seven cups of coffee each day were found to be 16 per cent less likely to die from disease within ten years than those who did not, in research by the National Cancer Institute from 2018.
And drinking three or four cups per day was found to reduce the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 27 per cent in a study from the The Institute for Scientific Information on Coffee from the same year.
Another X user was not sure where the meddling would stop after this: ‘Not long ago we were being told a few cups a day (not too many) was good.
‘Caffeine is also in tea and chocolate and possibly other things – are they banning those as well?
Uproar has exploded on X too (pictured), with users despairing about when the EU’s meddling will stop
‘Will we eventually be allowed nothing at all?
‘Maybe an EU-approved synthetic food pill each day.’
One user said: ‘The EU has lost the plot.’
Another weighed in firmly to say: ‘No. This is where the line must be drawn.’
Someone else was also very clear on their feelings on the matter: ‘The only thing harmful for humans, as I see it, as EU regulations.’
One user was entirely dismissive of the attacks on caffeine: ‘Haven’t they got anything better to do? Please f*** off.’
Another felt sure that the continent would not allow the clampdown: ‘I’m quite sure France and Italy won’t permit this.’
And one questioned: ‘EU warns, “Coffee is DANGEROUS for you!” 1,000 years after humans started drinking it, wouldn’t we know for sure by now?
According to scientific evidence, EU bureaucrats said in a report, caffeine – a key component of coffee – ‘is harmful to humans if swallowed’. Pictured: File photo
‘Bureaucrats NOT CHEMISTS or biochemists claim report proves caffeine “harmful to humans if swallowed”.’
Another user commented in the same vein, saying: ‘Honestly, the EU are nuts.’
Someone else felt similarly: ‘The EU continues to prove how out of touch and dumb they are.’
On the notion that caffeine is harmful to humans when swallowed, one user said: ‘It’s a good thing I only splash coffee on my face!’
Anders Vistisen, chief whip of the Patriots For Europe party, also made a comparison to the EU’s attempt to limit coumarin in 2013, a compound found in cinnamon that can be toxic if too much of it is consumed.
It would have amounted to a ban on the Danish pastry. Only an outcry from bakers saw the sweet treat re-categorised as a ‘traditional’ food so it could be treated as an exception from the ban.
Mr Vistisen said: ‘It would suit everyone much better if many of these matters were left to national competence and personal choice.’
Other EU bans, on titanium dioxide and other food colourings, have hit bakers hard too, forcing them to stop making or at least rework certain recipes.