GROUP AGAINST ALCOHOL ADVERTISING (GALA)

July 13 2011

The Group Against Alcohol Advertising (GALA) has grave reservations about the moves of the alcohol industry to produce their versions of warning labels on alcoholic drinks.

Although some labelling is better than no labelling, the type, size and content of the labels should be decided by health authorities and the government and not by the industry. To allow the alcohol industry to create warnings that suit them will not produce the health warnings that the scientific evidence indicates are required..

Dr Graeme Woodfield , spokesman for GALA, states that “GALA has always found it anomalous that alcoholic drinks are the only beverage that has never been required to have nutritional informational panels or warning labels regarding the presence of a harmful drug. GALA considers that allowing the industry to create the labelling for alcohol will result in a variety of confusing versions , conflicting advice from non-medical and often biased sources of information, when it should be a uniform system enacted by law, as for tobacco.”

The best solution is for the government , through its alcohol reform Bill, to enact a law that ensures independent and sensible labelling of alcohol, with warning labels that are clear and accurate. GALA believes that such labelling may have only a little immediate effect on the NZ culture of heavy drinking but over time, measured in years, it will help to affect attitudes, particularly in the young. This has already occurred with tobacco.

Dr Woodfield notes that “the alcohol industry in 2005 was asked if they would voluntarily label alcohol with suitable warnings. They refused. Now because of action in Australia, they are trying to cynically portray themselves, as having community care as a major priority. When they spend about $300,000/day promoting their products, it can be seen where their priorities are focussed.”

ENDS

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