PROVIDENCE — Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch is one of 29 attorneys general urging the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to stop manufacturers of energy drinks that contain alcohol from running what the officials call misleading advertising.

In a letter to John Manfreda, the trade bureau administrator, the attorneys general said energy drinks containing alcohol mimic non-alcoholic energy beverages that are popular with young people. And the officials say alcoholic energy drinks pose serious health and safety risks.

“Beverage companies are unconscionably and deliberately targeting young drinkers in touting their claims about the stimulating properties of alcoholic energy drinks,” Lynch said in the news release. “The advertising and marketing of these drinks — with claims that the alcoholic energy beverages increase stamina or can have an energizing effect — appeal to teenagers as well, heightening our level of concern.”

Lynch’s office states that medical researchers and public health professionals say stimulants in alcoholic energy drinks “may cause an intoxicated person to falsely believe that he or she can continue to drink and function normally, even behind the wheel of a car.”

— MICHAEL P. McKINNEY