Warning labels headed for alcohol

WOMEN will be confronted with more explicit warnings about drinking while pregnant after federal and state ministers backed calls for mandatory labels on all alcohol products.

Public health advocates are now pushing for warnings that drinking causes cancer and other diseases to be shown on all alcohol packaging.

New warnings against drinking while pregnant are likely to include larger images and more overt descriptions about the risk of Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder.

Food Standards Australia New Zealand has been ordered to come up with new warning labels “as a priority”.

Pregnancy warnings have been included on alcohol products since 2011 but this system has been voluntary, using an industry-run “drink wise” sign of a pregnant woman drinking with a cross through it.

At least 25 per cent of alcohol producers have failed to use the voluntary labels.

A study last year found less than half of the alcohol products sold in Australia had health warnings.