Another day, another lawsuit against Four Loko. This time, they’re being sued by a New Jersey man who says drinking two and a half cans of the formerly-caffeinated “energy” beer gave him a heart arrhythmia. Each can contains 12% alcohol—the equivalent of three cans of regular beer—and a recent study found that even moderate amounts of alcohol may increase the risk for arrhythmia for people with diabetes or heart disease. Phusion Projects, the Chicago-based makers of Four Loko, will be keeping their lawyers busy: they’re also facing a suit over the death of a 15-year-old boy in Illinois, plus another from an Ohio man who claims the beverage caused him to run out into traffic, where he was hit by a car. Chris Hunter, one of Phusion’s founders, told The Fix in an interview last year that his drink isn’t to blame for the tragedies that are often associated with it: “We drank our product, we know it’s like any other alcohol. If you consume something responsibly you’re fine, if you don’t you’re not fine, and I don’t care if that’s Bud Light, Smirnoff vodka or Four Loko.”
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