Senators blast government over alcohol health warning regulations; proposed rule violates intent of Congress. (Alcohol Beverage Labeling Act of 1988)

SENATORS BLAST GOVERNMENT OVER ALCOHOL HEALTH WARNING REGULATIONS

Since 1969 Senator Strom Thurmond (R-South Carolina) has waged a battle to require health warnings on alcoholic beverage containers similar to the warnings that appear on tobacco products.

Last year, Thurmond and a coalition of over 100 public interest groups assumed that they had won a decisive victory when Congress passed the Alcohol Beverage Labeling Act of 1988. As of November 18, all alcoholic beverages sold in the United States must include a notice that warns consumers about the potential risks of automobile accidents, birth defects and other health problems.

But Thurmond and his Senate colleagues see little cause for celebration on the alcohol warning label issue. The Alcohol Beverage Labeling Act gave Federal officials considerable flexibility on how the warnings should be implemented. According to Thurmond, of Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (BATF) of the U.S. Department of the Treasury took advantage of this flexibility to adopt labeling rules that violate the intent of Congress in passing his bill.

The BATF regulations permit the printing size of the warning labels to be as small as 1 millimeter high for 6-ounce beverage containers or 2 millimeters high for larger containers. The warnings may appear on a front, back, or side label of the container. There are no restrictions on type style or legibility or the spacing between letters. As shown in the sample labels, the health warnings can be much smaller than similar warnings that appear on packs of cigarettes and may be printed vertically in obscure place on bottles or cans.

In several letters to Stephen E. Higgins, director of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, Senator Thurmond attacked the new warning labels as difficult to find and to read. The Senator stated that the rules placed in force this month:

... permit the warning to appear anywhere on the container and the warning to be oriented in any way on the label... We feel that the warning message would be most effective on the front label of the container and oriented in the same direction as the product's name and logo.