The South Carolina parents of the 16-year-old boy who drank too much caffeine and died from heart problem are taking their qualms with energy drinks to the State House.

Sean and Heidi Cripe are throwing their support behind a new bill proposed by Representative Leon Howard that would ban the sale of energy drinks to those under the age of 18.

In April of 2017, their son Davis drank a Mountain Dew, coffee and an energy drink all within 40 minutes.

Sean and Heidi Cripe are supporting a bill that would ban the sale of energy drinks to those under the age of 18 after their son died from drinking too much caffeine

He suffered from an ineffective heartbeat condition called arrhythmia

Richland County Coroner Gary Watts, at the time, said Davis suffered arrhythmia, a cardiac event that causes ineffective heartbeats.

'Your whole job as a parent is to protect your children and get them to adulthood. When you learn it was something that was legal that took his life, that's hard to live with. Something we could have protected him from,' Sean Cripe explained to WACH.

HOW MUCH CAFFEINE IS IN WHAT DAVIS CRIPE HAD TO DRINK? Large Mountain Dew (24fl oz) 108mg McDonalds McCafe Latte Small (12fl oz): 72mg Medium (16fl oz): 144mg Large (21fl oz): 178mg Standard energy drink 8fl oz can: 77mg 12fl oz can: 111mg 16fl oz can: 148mg Advertisement

For Howard, his hope is that energy drinks will be treated under the same critical view as alcohol.

Ideally, Howard would move to have the proposal become law by next year.

'If kids can recognize they're not good for them because of this legislation, it'll educate them and make them have healthier choices as they get older,' said the Midland, South Carolina, couple.

'[Energy drinks] need to be thought of as something dangerous to your health. They could put your life at risk. Use our story. Use Davis.'

Adults are supposed to consume no more than approximately 400 milligrams in a day, according to the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

That comes out to approximately five cups of coffee per day.

Energy drinks, however, consist of up to 300 milligrams of caffeine.

Assuming Cripe drank a large latte and energy drink, in addition to the large Mountain Dew, he would have had about 434mg.