WASHINGTON -- Warning labels on beer, wine and liquor are obscure and hard to find on many bottles and cans, say advocacy groups and lawmakers who want the government to make them easier to read.
First required 10 years ago, the labels were intended to cut down on drinking by pregnant women and motorists.But the Treasury Department, which enforces the labeling requirement, has allowed the 42-word health warning to be displayed in ways that are difficult to spot, much less read, according to a petition filed with the agency Wednesday. In many cases, the warning is displayed vertically or in a color that blends into the background.
The government "has been asleep at the wheel in terms of assuring that the labels meet congressional intent and even meet the requirements of their own regulations," said George Hacker, director of the alcohol policies project for the Center for Science in the Public Interest.
The petition, which was signed by the American Medical Association and a variety of anti-substance abuse groups, seeks something akin to the warning labels that must appear on packs of cigarettes.
Among the more obscure labels is one on a Budweiser bottle that is printed vertically, in black, on a red background, Hacker said. On some wine bottles, the warning is printed on a clear label, making it difficult to even find, he said.
Alcohol-related driving deaths have been declining steadily over the past two decades, but a 1997 study by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that drinking by pregnant women was on the rise. The study estimated that 140,000 pregnant women nationwide were frequent drinkers in 1995, compared with 32,000 women in 1991.
Drinking during pregnancy can cause fetal alcohol syndrome, a lifelong condition that can include retardation, facial abnormalities, stunted growth and learning disorders.
A spokesman for the beer industry said brewers have "complied with both the letter and spirit" of the law that mandated the warnings.
"As a practical matter the public is well informed right now," said Jeff Becker, president of the Beer Institute, the industry's research and lobbying arm. "We shouldn't go down a road where changing a label is going to create this additional awareness that frankly is at saturation points right now."
Treasury officials declined to comment on the petition or discuss their enforcement of the warning label.
The alcohol warning says that "women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects" and that drinking impairs the "ability to drive a car or operate machinery."
In a pointed reference to Vice President Al Gore, the petition says that in 1989 Gore, then a senator, publicly urged Treasury Department to ensure that the warnings were legible and prominently placed.
Four members of Congress signed the petition, Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., and Reps. John Conyers Jr., D-Mich., Lucille Roybal-Allard, D-Calif., and Zach Wamp, R-Tenn.