A new labelling system set to be introduced on alcoholic drinks in the UK has been criticised for not carrying a health alert, writes Michelle McDonagh.
All alcoholic drinks sold in the UK will be expected to carry labels with recommendations for safe drinking levels by the end of next year under a new voluntary agreement between government and the drinks industry.
However, the agreement has already been criticised both in Britain and in Ireland for not going far enough. As well as containing information on alcohol units and safe drinking levels, groups such as the British Liver Trust feel the labels on alcoholic drinks should include a strong health warning such as "alcohol can kill".
Moves are already afoot to try to develop a voluntary code of practice on the sale and promotion of alcohol in Ireland. In January Minister of State at the Department of Health and Children, Sean Power, wrote to all the main players in the Irish retail sector in Ireland and encouraged them to meet Retail Ireland (the representative body within Ibec for the retail sector in Ireland), who agreed to facilitate a meeting to discuss developing a voluntary code of practice in that sector.
A Department of Health spokesman says: "The department understands that two very useful meetings have taken place to date and discussions are continuing on the development of a code. The Department of Health and Children will continue to monitor progress and assist in the development of a code."
The spokesman says it is not possible to say at this stage what the new code would cover or when it might be agreed.
Meanwhile, a sub-group has come together under the Social Partnership Working Group to explore what role, if any, labelling has to play in encouraging safer drinking practices. This group is in active discussions with the department, but no agreement has been reached on the labelling issue as yet.
Director of Drinks Manufacturing Ireland, Rosemary Gareth, who represents the drinks industry on the labelling sub-group, says: "From the industry's perspective, we feel consumers need to be able to make an informed choice. We think labelling can play a role in some instances but there is a limit in what it can achieve."
The organisation for the Mature Enjoyment of Alcohol in Society, MEAS, points out that the warning label campaign has had very little impact internationally.
In Alcohol and the Community, the publication of the main themes that emerged at the MEAS 2005 conference, Dr Mark Morgan, head of the education department at St Patrick's College Dublin and one of the country's foremost authorities on underage drinking, says such campaigns may, in fact, have some unintended, negative impacts.
He points out that the warning label campaigns had their origin in the US in the late 1980s and emphasised a variety of potential negative outcomes of excessive alcohol consumption, including birth defects, impaired driving and general health risks.
"The evidence is very clear that people see the warning labels and recall their contents," says Morgan. "There is also an indication that the information contained is transmitted to drinkers, especially with regard to heavy drinking and birth defects.
"However, there is no evidence of any change in behaviour that follows from the warning label," he says. "Worse still, there is some evidence that the addition of the warning labels may add some glamour and attractiveness to the products.
"This is in line with studies of risk-taking at adolescence where the addition of a modest level of danger may actually increase the attractiveness of an activity," he says.
He explains that the international literature is far more positive on the effectiveness of brief interventions regarding alcohol by medical practitioners with their patients than it is in relation to warning labels.
"It is clear from our research that the public is insufficiently aware of what a standard drink is, the low risk drinking limits for men/women, the effects of alcohol and so on. I would therefore support well thought-out and comprehensive initiatives to help fill this deficit," Morgan says.
Prof Joe Barry of the Department of Public Health and Primary Care at Trinity College Dublin believes the alcohol issue needs to be taken as seriously in Ireland as the tobacco issue has been taken.
He points out that the Strategic Task Force on Alcohol recommended that safety messages or health warnings be carried on alcohol packaging. He says the Government will obviously have to enter negotiations with the drinks industry over the exact wording of such warnings, but that health interests should have a major input.
"The Department of Health took a very strong line with tobacco and all packaging now carries very strong warning labels. I think that this is needed in relation to alcohol also. I think that what is required is a series of different warnings similar to tobacco, for example, 'there is no safe drinking limit in pregnancy' and 'you should not drink and drive'," he says.
Barry believes the warning labels should contain information on the grammes of alcohol contained in a particular product rather than units as most people under 30 throughout Europe would understand grammes better than units.
"Alcohol is a legal drug, it's not just a foodstuff and it needs to be treated as such by the Government and the Department of Health and Children," he argues.
Guidelines:
The Department of Health guidelines recommend 21 units of alcohol per week for a man and 14 units for a woman - however, most people have no idea how many units they are consuming.
A 300 ml bottle of lager contains 1.1 units, a half pint of beer contains 1 unit, a small glass of wine contains 1 unit and a pub measure of spirit contains 1 unit of alcohol.