Italy: efforts for health warnings to appear on alcoholic drinks labels
Italy: efforts for health warnings to appear on alcoholic drinks labels
Update by Ennio Palmesino, EMNA
A number of NGOs (including the one representing the Italian Clubs of Alcoholics in Treatment) have gathered and, some months ago, under the leadership of ASSOUTENTI (one of the largest Consumers' Associations) put forward the following press release:
We also need cancer warning information on alcohol beverages labels.
This means, labels carrying warnings of the type "can cause severe damages to your health" on every alcohol bottle, the same as for cigarettes packages.
This is the proposal launched by ASSOUTENTI who represents a number of consumers, in collaboration with scientists, lawyers and NGOs. ASSOUTENTI is determined to put in action strong initiatives, because, as they claim, "alcohol beverages can cause cancer, same as for tobacco smoking".
Ethanol is included in the carcinogens list (group 1, those which are "certainly responsible for cancer to humans") by IARC, together with tobacco smoking, asbestos, benzene and similar.
Why then the consumers are not being warned about such risk ? Why is tobacco treated in a different way?
If such warning is being used for cigarettes, there is no reason why it should not be used for alcoholic beverages. Actually, health warnings for alcohol are much more needed, having in mind that the awareness about alcohol being carcinogen is less common than that for tobacco.
ASSOUTENTI has filed a paper with the European Agency for Food Safety (EFSA), with the European Commission, with the European Parliament and with the Italian Ministry of Health.
In the paper they have summarised the scientific research that is pointing to the negative effect of drinking alcohol beverages, and in particular to the link existing between alcohol and cancer. As a consequence, urgent intervention is invoked, and specifically the paper requires "not a general call for labels that should simply indicate the ingredients or other compulsory information, as it is now required for any other food, but the inevitable need to disclose the risks connected with alcohol consumption, first of all the risk to developing cancer".
(...omissis...)
copia integrale del testo si può trovare al seguente link: http://www.eurocare.org/library/updates/italy_efforts_for_health_warnings_to_appear_on_alcoholic_drinks_labels
(Articolo pubblicato dal CUFRAD sul sito www.alcolnews.it)