European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 15, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Daily Magazine health Hazard labels for booze by Patricia Mccormack United press International health experts and liquor Industry officials Are clashing in Washington Over legislation to put health Hazard labels on alcoholic beverages similar to those on cigarette packs. While everyone agrees alcohol abuse is a problem approaches to the solution Are starkly different. A leading advocate of the labels Michael Jacobson executive director of the Center for science in the Public interest argues that warning labels Are an essential component of alcohol education. Warning labels Are not a Panacea for our nation s alcohol problem but they would be a convenient inexpensive Means of providing information to the Public he said. We need warning labels to inform the Public not just about drinking and driving but also about alcohol s promotion of birth defects cancer and other  spokesmen for the wine Institute and the Beer Institute say their industries prefer to Deal with alcohol abuse through promotions that stress responsible drinking. Janet Flynn president of the distilled spirits Council of the United states inc., opposes the labels As unnecessary. At Issue is what the authors of the House and Senate Bills say Are 100,000 deaths annually some 23,000 on the highways alone that Are the result of drinking. Experts also link alcoholism to some forms of cancer fetal alcohol syndrome birth defects and hypertension. In addition to deaths and disease the congressional office of technology assessment has reported that alcohol abuse costs the Economy some $120 billion a year from increased medical expenses and indirect costs of lost earnings. The Senate Bill was offered by sen. Strom Thurmond r-s.c., and the House Bill by rep. John Conyers jr., a Mich. Conyer s chief of staff Julian Epstein likened the loss of life from alcohol abuse to the devastation of airline crashes imagine if a jumbo Jet crashed every Day for a year and All the passengers were killed each time he said. There would be S.C. an outcry and people would demand that something be done to Stop it. The lost life due to alcohol abuse in a year is the equivalent to a jumbo Jet a Day crashing every Day of the year and killing All  the proposals Call for All alcoholic beverages to Bear one of the following warnings warning alcohol is a drug and May be addictive. The proposed labels Are strikingly similar to those carried on packs of cigarettes and food containing saccharin warning Consumers that use of the products could be hazardous to their health. The first cigarette warnings appeared in 1965, the warnings became More stringent a few years later and in 1984 Congress required that several different warnings be rotated on packs. Warning the surgeon general has determined that the consumption of alcohol during pregnancy can cause mental retardation and other birth defects. Warning drinking this product which contains alcohol impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery. Warning this product contains alcohol and is particularly hazardous in combination with some drugs. Warning the consumption of this product which contains alcohol can increase the risk of developing hypertension liver disease and some cancers. According to the department of agriculture when the labels were introduced in 1965 More than 528.8 billion cigarettes were sold annually and despite the warnings sales increased to a High of 640.0 billion in 1981. Since then cigarette sales have fallen to 574.0 billion in 1987. While warning labels on cigarettes arguably have the intent of ultimately putting the tobacco Industry out of business Epstein maintains that putting warnings on alcoholic beverages is not a first step toward prohibition. We just want to reduce the Cost in deaths and disease of having fun with alcohol Epstein said. In terms of putting sanctions on the liquor Industry he said the congressional Bills will have far less Impact than state regulation of bar closing times regulation of drinking Ages and taxation of alcoholic beverages. Alcoholic beverages sold abroad would not carry the labels under either congressional Bill. The Thurmond and Conyers Bills say that alcohol is the most abused drug in America costing the Economy $120 billion a year in medical expenses and decreased productivity and that it is linked to traffic accidents that kill almost 24,000 annually. The Bills say the combined number of alcoholics and those suffering from alcohol abuse totals 17.7 million people above the age of 18. Is Gus Schuettler they also quote the surgeon general As having advised women to abstain from drinking during pregnancy because of fetal alcohol syndrome the third leading cause of birth defects with accompanying mental retardation. Fetal alcohol syndrome is the Only preventable birth defect among the top three types of birth defects the Bills say. Nevertheless recent surveys reveal that Only 57 percent of americans have heard of fetal alcohol  the measures Call alcohol the most widely used drug among american youth claiming that among teen agers alcohol abuse has reached epidemic proportions and an estimated 30 percent of 4.6 million adolescents experience the negative consequences of alcohol abuse S.C. As poor school performance trouble with parents or trouble with the Law the Bills also say half of All accidental deaths suicides and homicides Are alcohol related and nearly half of prison inmates were under the influence of alcohol when they committed a crime. Thurmond who has been calling for alcohol warning labels for a decade said he is hopeful the Bill will pass this year. I truly believe we Are Riding a wave of Strong support  support for Labelling comes from some 60 groups including the March of dimes birth defects foundation the National Pat the american Academy of paediatrics the Center for science in the Public interest and the National association of parents for drug free youth. A recent Gallup poll showed 70 percent of adult americans favored Labelling. Two recent events also have added impetus to the legislation. Most recently 27 youths from Radcliff ky., were killed when their first Assembly of god Church bus was hit by a pickup truck going the wrong Way on interstate 71. Police said the pickup Driver was drunk. The other event took place nov. 7, when damage suits were filed in a Federal court on behalf of children maimed or crippled As the result of their mothers drinking while pregnant. The product liability suits filed in Seattle allege that manufacturers failed to warn them that heavy use of alcohol during pregnancy increased the risk of Stillbirth and miscarriage and could result in a collection of birth defects known As fetal alcohol syndrome. Jacobson of the Center for science in the Public interest concedes there is tremendous opposition from the Industry to the Labelling proposals. But alcohol is the no. 1 drug in a nation trying to mount a War against  beyond the health warning labels Jacobson said other tactics could help reduce alcohol consumption. Raising the Federal tax on alcohol would be the single most effective step that Congress could take to reduce the alcohol problem he said. Federal taxes on Beer and wine have not been raised since 1952. Liquor taxes went up in 1951. They were eaten up by inflation. Monday August 15, 1988 the stars and stripes Page 13