Koop urges Congress to raise taxes, curb advertising. (U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop's campaign against alcohol-impaired driving)

Koop Urges Congress to Raise Taxes, Curb Advertising

U.S. Surgeon General C. Everett Koop, MD, set forth a sweeping agenda for Congress in the battle against alcohol-impaired driving, including tough measures designed to reduce consumption and curtail advertising of alcoholic beverages which focus on lifestyle. At a June 15 hearing before the Senate Government Affairs Committee chaired by Sen. John Glenn (D-OH), Koop went beyond the steps he endorsed two weeks earlier at a news conference releasing the recommendations of the Surgeon General's Workshop on Drunk Driving held in December (AR, Dec. 27).

Prevention

Stresses Additional Measures

to Reduce Drunk Driving

Representatives of the broadcast and alcoholic beverage industries, in their testimony, vigorously opposed the so-called "control of availability" measures backed by Koop, while Sen. Glenn appeared to lend a sympathetic ear, particularly to the proposed restrictions on TV advertising.

Stressing that his recommendations were his "personal views" and did not represent those of the Administration, Koop proposed increasing federal excise taxes on alcoholic beverages and equalizing taxes by alcohol content for beer wine and distilled spirits, with the resulting revenues dedicated to fund impaired driving prevention programs.

At the same time, the Surgeon General, who is scheduled to resign this summer after a tenure of eight years as the nation's top health officer, urged that Congress extend the warning label law enacted last year to include warning labels on all alcoholic beverage advertisements by November, 1989. Koop also urged elimination of tax deductions for alcohol advertising and promotions which focus on lifestyle rather than price and product.

Spokesmen for the National Association of Broadcasters, the Beer Institute, and the Wine and Spirits Wholesalers of America focused their criticism on Koop's tax and advertising proposals, while reciting their own voluntary campaigns…