From last week, health warnings will now appear on alcohol packaging. The alcohol industry has introduced the labels voluntarily.

Is this the same alcohol industry that has been vehemently fighting larger, graphic labelling changes put forward by other countries? One thing is for sure, this is a move that indicates the industry fears stronger government regulation.

The industry’s move to put messages on the labels of all alcohol products is theoretically the right move and one that we’ve been advocating for.

However, it appears DrinkWise have missed the boat when it comes to effective health messages and could do with a little guidance from some of the nation’s eminent health bodies.

The National Preventative Health Taskforce recommends labelling on alcohol products should include key information that promotes safer drinking That includes the current NHMRC Australian Guidelines to Reduce Health Risks from consumption.

The Alcohol Policy Coalition recommends health messages that are outcome-related, that takes up 25 percent of the package surface and includes prominent text and graphic warnings.

Instead what we have is embarrassingly tiny labels that don’t fully address the range of health information that consumers deserve access to.

Evidence has shown that industries (big tobacco and alcohol, for example) tend to pre-empt Government moves by tabling their own, softer versions of anticipated stronger strategies. Given that the Government is sitting with the food labelling review, one has to wonder what the alcohol industry is expecting.

Until next week,

Sarah Jaggard
Community Mobilisation Policy Officer
Australian Drug Foundation

The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare released a new report: Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set 2011-12: specifications and collection manual.

The Alcohol and Other Drug Treatment Services National Minimum Data Set (AODTS-NMDS) data specifications and collection manual has been prepared as a reference for those involved in collecting and supplying the data for the AODTS-NMDS. It should be particularly useful to staff in Australian Government, state and territory departments, and alcohol and other drug treatment agency staff directly involved in the collection and reporting of the data set. 

26–28 September 2011
Public Health Association of Australia 41st Annual Conference, Brisbane, Queensland

3–5 October 2011
Contemporary Drug Problems Conference: Beyond the Buzzword – Problematising ‘Drugs’, Prato, Italy

13–16 November 2011
Australasian Professional Society on Alcohol and other Drugs 2011 Conference, Hobart, Tasmania

Booze trade comes cleanish
Sydney Morning Herald, 13 July 2011
The liquor industry's decision voluntarily to attach health warnings to most beer, wine and spirits products is welcome. It is also a tactically shrewd move - a pre-emptive show of virtue designed to forestall, or at least put the industry in a better position to resist, any government move to impose a mandatory and potentially more commercially damaging regime.

NZ brewer to follow Aussies on health alerts
New Zealand Herald, 13 July 2011
A major New Zealand brewer will introduce health warnings on its drinks after Australia's liquor industry announced a similar move yesterday. Lion Nathan expects to start voluntarily putting health warnings on its products in about six weeks' time, but DB Breweries has rejected the action as ineffective.

Trots drop beer from rich deal
The West Australian, 14 July 2011
One of Australia's richest harness racing events, the XXXX Gold Golden Nugget, will be stripped off its long-standing alcohol branding under a new contract between Gloucester Park and the Swan Brewery.

Alcohol behind trips to SA town: inquest
The Age, 14 July 2011
The availability of alcohol in Ceduna is driving Aboriginal people from remote communities to visit the South Australian town, an inquest has been told. Deputy state coroner Anthony Schapel is investigating the deaths of four men and two women, aged between 33 and 43, between 2004 and 2009 in and around a place called Town Camp just outside Ceduna.

Call for booze prices to be lifted
The Courier-Mail, 18 July 2011
The success of the alcopops tax in cutting teen drinking could be used as a model to introduce a minimum price on all alcoholic beverages, drug and alcohol experts say.
A study of the effects of the three-year-old alcopops tax by academics and representatives from the Alcohol Advisory Group and the National Drug Research Council found teens are drinking less as a result.