Researcher says booze warnings worked in U.S.

VANCOUVER — A United States researcher involved in a study on alcohol warning labels in Yukon that was halted after pushback from the liquor industry says caution messages have proven effective elsewhere.

Thomas Greenfield, a leading scientist investigating the impacts of liquor on human health, says warning labels in the United States have increased awareness around drunk driving and drinking while pregnant.

The U.S. enacted a law in 1989 requiring alcoholic beverages to carry a standard government warning. The industry had previously fought efforts to introduce warning labels, but there were growing concerns at the time about fetal alcohol syndrome, said Greenfield.

“The industry essentially ended up taking up the position they wouldn’t fight it,” said Greenfield, scientific director of the California-based Alcohol Research Group.

“So it’s interesting that in other parts of the world as close as Canada, the industry is going back to its former position of fighting everything such as this.”

Greenfield was a consultant on the federally funded study in Yukon, which was the first of its kind in Canada. Beginning Nov. 20, large, colourful labels were affixed to all alcohol bottles and cans inside a Whitehorse liquor store.

There were two types of labels: one that warned that alcohol can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancer; and another that informed purchasers of the recommended maximum number of drinks per day (two for women and three for men, plus two or more nondrinking days per week).

But just four weeks later, the Yukon Liquor Corp. decided to “pause” the label study after hearing concerns from national alcohol organizations. The concerns included whether Yukon had the authority to affix the warnings and possible defamation, said the minister responsible for the liquor corporation, John Streicker.

“We have to weigh the costs that we will have to put towards litigation, costs which could go toward trying to reduce the harm of alcohol and promote education,” he said. “That’s a really hard decision for us.”

He said the liquor corporation is working with the alcohol groups and researchers to determine an approach that would work for all sides.

Timothy Stockwell, a University of Victoria researcher involved in the study, said he felt “extreme disappointment” when he learned the project was being put on hold.

The label phase of the study was supposed to run for eight months followed by a survey to assess the impact.