As far as it goes, a new federal rule that takes effect this week represents a major breakthrough in the war against the most abused drug in the country.
The trouble is that the rule doesn't go quite far enough.The most abused drug? Alcohol. The breakthrough? The new federal requirement, effective Nov. 18, that all containers of alcoholic beverage sold in the United States carry health warnings. The requirement is a little-noticed part of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988.
Superseding any state laws on the subject, the new rule says labels must carry this message:
"Government warning: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects. (2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems."
Women are the primary target of the warning because of growing awareness of the health toll exacted by fetal alcohol syndrome. The condition involves physical deformities and mental retardation often found in babies born to mothers who drink heavily during pregnancy.
What's wrong with the new rule? Simply that the liquor and brewing industries are being given too much leeway on where to apply the warning label.
Though the law specifies that the health warning appear on every beer, wine, or liquor container in a "conspicuous and prominent place," the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms has some strange ideas about what that means. The Bureau is letting the warning be placed on the container's brand label or as a separate front label. Or the warning may be placed on a back or side label.
But, as a spokesman for the Center for Science in the Public Interest notes, a warning placed on the side of a container is easy to overlook and sometimes may be printed in type that's hard to read.
That won't do. Warnings about the health dangers of alcohol should be placed on the front of the bottle or can. The message also should appear within a printed border - just as health warnings on cigarette packs do.