Alcohol packaging should carry graphic health warnings, urge doctors (in UK)

[alp227]

Source: The Guardian

Bottles of beer, wine and spirits should carry cigarette-style graphic health warnings to make clear that alcohol is linked to cancer, infertility and violence, doctors are urging.

The UK Faculty of Public Health (FPH) says harmful drinking has become so common that "no nonsense" warnings displayed in a prominent place on alcohol products are needed to overcome widespread public ignorance about the dozens of medical conditions excessive consumption can cause.

Arresting images, such as a liver after years of alcohol-related cirrhosis or a victim of violence, could force drinkers to realise the risks they take with their health, says the FPH, which represents 3,300 public health specialists working in the NHS, local government and academia.

"At the moment when people think about the dangers associated with alcohol they are more likely to think of a city centre disturbance rather than breast cancer, for example, so these health warnings would help educate the public and give them key information before they decide to buy a can or bottle of alcohol", said Professor Mark Bellis, the FPH's spokesman on alcohol who is also the director of the NHS's regional public health observatory in Liverpool, which specialises in drinking and drug-taking, and director of the centre for public health research at Liverpool John Moores University.

Read more: http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/jul/13/alcohol-packaging-graphic-health-warning

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The article includes examples of the warnings.



Seems there's a worldwide movement to plaster graphic warnings on booze and cigs. As of now, an appeals court has gagged a proposed FDA law in the US for graphic warnings on cigarette packages. Canada has had graphic warnings on cigs since 2000 and UK since 2009. In 2012, a study was published finding those labels work.

[eallen]

1. Candy's dandy, but liquor is quicker

[siligut]

2. I think that alcoholic beverages should carry health warnings

I have seen too much disease caused, in part, by excessive alcohol consumption. I say in part because genetic predisposition and other lifestyle factors often contribute, like with breast cancer and type 2 diabetes.

People also need more education, too many times I have been told that you can't be an alcoholic if all you drink is beer.

[99th_Monkey]

10. Maybe they should also suggest a much healthier alternative

like marijuana ... oh wait, that's right I forgot that mj is
illegal still. never mind.

[JDPriestly]

11. Right!

To say nothing of the health hazard that drunk drivers pose to the rest of us.

[loyalsister]

18. I definitely agree

Knowing 2 people who have cirrosis and one with alcoholic pancreatitis another with permanent brain damage and a repeat drunk driving offender

Not to mention to social costs

[former9thward]

19. What about the many studies that have shown moderate alcohol use is healthy

Studies that have shown people live longer who drink moderate amounts. Should those be on the label too? Or only the side you support? http://www.webmd.com/heart-disease/news/20110224/moderate-alcohol-drinking-may-boost-heart-health

[siligut]

21. I specifically stated "excessive" alcohol

I am all for moderate consumption and wouldn't have a problem with that being on the label as well.

[former9thward]

36. And then you would have to define "moderate" and "excessive".

What is excessive to you may be moderate to me. Impossible to put all that on a label that absolutely no one would read anyway.

[siligut]

37. Basically you've made my point for the need for more education

Health professionals in the US have been teaching that a safe limit of consumption is one drink a day for women and two drinks a day for men for longer than I can remember.

These guidelines have been established to prevent alcohol related health problems.

You know there is already a warning printed on the bottles for pregnant women, I just see it as adding to that.

[former9thward]

38. Many studies have shown pregnant women can drink reasonably.

Another example of an over the top warning. Women in Europe drink during pregnancy( and stronger percent alcohol beverages) and their kids are ok. http://news.discovery.com/human/alcohol-drinking-pregnant-women.html

[siligut]

39. I think the malnutrition that can occur with excessive alcohol consumption is a huge factor in FASD

I remember when Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorders were first being diagnosed and it was frightening, so I think it was an over reaction. Health professionals in the US are now teaching pregnant women that a little wine, two glasses a week, is OK. I just looked at a bottle of wine and the label still has the blanket statement that pregnant women should not drink because of the risk of birth defects. I don't know if that will change anytime soon.

[Lasher]

3. Beer is good for you

[sakabatou]

4. And more

[KurtNYC]

5. It may sound good but addiction doesn't work this way

You can't reason your way out of addiction.

Even worse, many alcohol ads already appeal to the death wish that alcoholics have. There are references and pictures of death right on the bottles. They use the opposite of subliminal messaging -- superliminals. Bacardi has a bat in their logo, Kahlua features an image of Mayan tombs (beautiful death) and some tequila has a dead worm in the bottle.

[LACarMan]

8. tequila has a dead worm in the bottle?

Never heard of this one. Any links to this?

[xtraxritical]

12. Worm in the bottle is a very old tradition, just google tequila and I'm sure you'll find it,or wiki.

[LACarMan]

20. I was being snarky.

The "worm" is found in mezcal, not tequila. I will leave it at that, but if you want, you can google it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

17. Some mescals

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mezcal

which is another Mexican liquor. It's a caterpillar.

[KurtNYC]

23. actual not tequila but mezcal which is similar

http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/1334/why-is-there-a-worm-in-bottles-of-tequila

[Politicalboi]

6. It's about time

Now lets get rid of their TV commercials. And have lawsuits like big tobacco had to deal with. No warning labels, commercials that make you the hero of supplying booze, and 3 cute frogs that taught your 3 year old, now of drinking age, to say Bud Wise Er. They crucified Joe Camel to children, why not 3 frogs.

Oh and tax the shit out of it too.

[CBGLuthier]

7. Hey I like the green stuff too but tax the shit out of my Trois Pistole? Fuck No!

[Douglas Carpenter]

31. you know that stuff in your avatar is not exactly harmless either?

I should know. I only got high once - but I stayed that way for seven years. Anyone who claims that it is the worst thing in the world is misguided. Anyone who claims that it is harmless is full of shit.

[99th_Monkey]

9. But, but .. I thought 1-2 glasses of red wine was fine

and actually good for ones health? There was a scientific study
I saw on the interwebs that had those findings.

[RC]

13. I moderation, wine is healthy.

The problem is some people's idea of moderation is the very definition of excessive. Wine with meals or in the evening is fine. It's that jug of Ripple starting at breakfast...

[99th_Monkey]

26. So to be fair

the labeling should also include THAT information,
or else it would be quite misleading.

[Throd]

14. Why stop at booze? Put warnings on packaging for ice cream, cookies, and pizza!

Oh pleae Lord! Deliver me from those who wish to protect me from my choices.

[siligut]

15. As long as they are educated choices

I believe in choice, and the best choices are made when one has the facts. Too often people are not aware of the hazards of alcohol beyond a morning hangover.

[Throd]

16. Oh bullshit.

As teenagers we all knew that booze, cigarettes, fast food, and illegal drugs have negative consequences. The people they are trying to protect with a warning label know this already, they just don't care enough to stop.

[Amonester]

22. And cars, jetskys, snowmobiles, deltaplanes

Yep. All very dangerous products. All.

[T_i_B]

27. There is definetly a prohibitionist tendency in the UK

Personally I just wish that they would be open about thier real goals of getting alcohol and tobacco classified as illegal substances. Certainly in the case of tobacco they might actually win more support by being more honest in this manner.

[MADem]

32. The Pub Crawl is an historic tradition. They'll tear down Big Ben before they get rid of getting

shitfaced in UK.

I always thought they liked to drink in Ireland, until I got to UK and Germany. Those guys make the Irish look like temperance leaders.

[Sanity Claws]

24. More education is definitely needed

Many people think that as long as they're not falling down drunk, they're not suffering any effects from alcohol.

Wrong.

It can lead to high blood pressure, cause an electrolyte imbalance and other health problems.

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/blood-pressure/AN00318
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0847/is_n3_v13/ai_8193360/

[wordpix]

25. friend who's a world traveler says Britain is the worst place for falling down drunks in the world

He said it's common to see people openly drinking on the street in front of bars and restaurants, falling in the streets, vomiting etc. Sounds like a nightmare.

[Douglas Carpenter]

29. I have spent a LOT of time in the UK and its not THAT bad

In fact I never noticed that it was any different than anywhere else in Europe in that respect. There is a social acceptance factor with alcohol in Britain that exceeds American levels though. Most larger hospitals will even have a bar or as they call it a "social club" for their staff. That would be hard to imagine in North America

[wordpix]

34. a bar for doctors and nurses in the hospitals? Hope they're not drinking on the job

I definitely wouldn't want to be treated there by staffers just returned from the bar

[Douglas Carpenter]

35. it's more of an after work thing - but throughout Europe and the UK having a drink or two at lunch

time is considered generally acceptable. And statistically their health care ranks on every quality of life index in the world higher than the U.S. In fact with all their fatty foods, wine or beer, their life expectancy is a few years longer than the U.S. in virtually every single Western European country

[steve2470]

28. I wouldn't go for graphic warnings but at least a sentence stating possible health risks...

along with a URL to an official government health website.

[Douglas Carpenter]

30. one by one we are finding things that people shouldn't be doing that must be curtailed whether its

drinking, smoking in people's own homes, parents observing their customs and having their children circumcised, giving toys to children along with their fast food, eating too much saturated fat or worse giving children candy made from processed sugar, promoting unenlightened religious beliefs, teenagers being excessively affectionate in their dealing with each other and God knows what else. I hate to even think of what else goes on behind all my neighbors dark closed doors. Rather than confront these issues one by one. Wouldn't it be best to just set up committees in every neighborhood to monitor peoples' behavior and confront them? If they won't change and do what we all know is only for their own best good - they would be reported to authorities for further action.

[MADem]

33. But don't you dare hold those Committee Planning Meetings at the Olive Garden! nt

[Sirveri]

40. Should work about as well as all those pics of aborted fetuses does on abortion rates.

Basically not at all.

[4th law of robotics]

41. Can we do the same thing for unhealthy foods?

Like picture a 1000lb guy being carried to the ambulance by a team of EMTs on a package of chips?