Ireland Mulls Health Warnings on Alcohol Products

national | consumer issues | news report

Tuesday January 06, 2004 18:14

by Sean Walsh

Health warnings on Drink

It's enough to make even the most hardened drinker think about becoming a teetotaler.

Fresh from an assault on their previously inalienable right to light up in pubs throughout Ireland, tipplers are now facing the prospect of cigarette-style health warnings on bottles and cans of alcohol.

The health ministry confirmed Monday it was considering introducing warnings in an effort to persuade binge drinkers to sober up, after surveys showed the Irish are among the world's highest per capita drinkers.

It follows on from a ban on "happy hours" and a tightening up of regulations covering underage drinkers in pubs.

Officials are also reviewing alcohol advertising campaigns and promotions which target young people.

A health ministry spokesman denied the proposed crackdown would turn Ireland into a "nanny state," given the imminent ban on smoking in the workplace.

"The motivation behind these measures is public health and nothing else," he added.

Government figures estimate that alcohol-related problems cost Ireland about $2.7 billion a year in costs for health care, crime, road accidents and lost productivity.

A clampdown has been backed by the country's health profession with three-quarters of doctors favoring warning labels similar to those found on cigarette packets, according to a survey in the Irish Medical Times.

However, the drinks industry gave a less favorable response and said an extension of health warnings on cigarettes to alcohol made little sense.

"Alcohol, when consumed moderately, does not cause any harm and so a health warning wouldn't make much sense in a straightforward sense," said Pat Barry, director of corporate affairs at Diageo Plc, brewers of Irish traditional tipple Guinness.

Not only had the industry joined together to promote sensible drinking, but advertising campaigns were now carefully vetted, he added.

But his argument is unlikely to hold much sway with the government, already set to stamp out smoking in pubs and restaurants next year despite massive opposition from the hospitality industry.

The smoking ban had been due to start at the beginning of January but has been delayed until March at the earliest to allow for prisons and psychiatric hospitals to be exempted.

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Comments (3 of 3)

the MEAS designated driver campaign

by David

Tue Jan 06, 2004 18:36

MEAS is a drinks industry lobby masquarading as a public safety watchgroup

They have an ad on the radio goes something like this.

"Dick joins his friends in the pub after work"

~annoying woman voice~ "Dick, you'll have one?, ah go on, One won't kill you, ah you'll have one for the road?, OOh, you're the designated driver, well aren't you a clever dick"

~annoying mans voice~ Be a clever dick, designate

If that ad is actually aimed to stop people drinking and driving i'll be very surprised. It's so utterly inane and patronising that nobody could possibly take it seriously. Its almost like they're trying to use reverse psychology

Not Nanny State...CORPORATE State.

by Watchdog

Sun Feb 22, 2004 00:19

Religious bias against "evil" smoke and drink and natural herbs is being used, along with the popular (dating back to at least Mussolini) of the "for your protection" ploy is what's at work not just in Ireland but anywhere the World Bank, WTO and US business/militarism rear their ugly heads.
(We aren't allowed to call this "fascism", are we?)

Public money is NOT to be used for the public but for corporate benefit...such as war toys and oil and the like. If public money goes to pay for individual actions, say, in drinking and "smoking" and venereal diseases and the like, there's less for the Corporatocracy.

Further, any freedoms granted the public (as if the public doesn't OWN those freedoms anyway) are threats to absolute control by corporate interests...which prefer no flexibility and no surprises.

All natural or natural-ish things are under attack...from vitamins and herbal nutrients and food supplements, natural food, marijuana/cannabis, tobacco, alcohol, natural public lands, sex, open speech, etc., to be replaced by patented, controlled, for-profit products and services from the Corporatocracy...or the Capitalocracy, if one prefers.

A corporate controlled government that tolerates poisoning of troops by D.U. and experimental drugs, that participates in the massacres of tens of thousands of Iraqis, that tolerates pesticide poisonings of virtually everyone, the tolerates nuclear energy over benign alternatives, that tolerates a PLETHORA of toxic/carcinogenic and untested cig adulterants, ETC...is NOT concerned about anyone's health. It's about MONEY...Uber Alles.

This is about a war on nature, on life...perpetrated by non-living, non-breathing, non-feeling, un-dying corporate entities. They may be SERVED by human drones ,but...it's still Unliving...even anti-life, obviously.

Public Health?

by Gaillimhed

Thu Apr 01, 2004 13:26

If public health is the motivation, and perhaps the drain on the economy caused by the publics bad health,
watch out for new laws coming to a health minister near you...

-brush your teeth before bed-time, cos now its the LAW
-penalties for insufficient milk consumption
-Bed-time police
-daily excercise certificates and tax penalties for obesity

Public health can be a serious business, especially for the crypto-health-fascists.

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Ireland Mulls Health Warnings on Alcohol Products

Comments (3 of 3)