Consumer Fraud

Wine & Business | BATF considering new health warning

A bigger, bolder alcoholic beverage health warning label is being considered by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. Opponents of the proposed label claim that the new label is unnecessary and that it unduly penalizes the U.S. alcohol beverage industry.

The petition to change the existing health warning labeling laws for wine and spirits was initiated by several temperance groups; among them is the Center for Science in the Public Interest, which has opposed the wine industry’s so-called Health Label, messages directing consumers to learn more about the health effects of moderate drinking.

Existing federal regulations require wine bottles, along with all other alcoholic beverages, to carry a health warning statement “located in a conspicuous and prominent place on the container.” Most warnings are usually located on a wine bottle’s back label.

The CSPI is asking the BATF to require alcoholic beverage producers to have the warning label “appear in a prominent place on the front of the container in a horizontal position.” Temperance groups contend that many alcoholic beverage producers position the warning vertically on the margin of the label, thus making the label difficult to read when the container is placed on a shelf.

The new health warning label would appear in red or black type on a white background, surrounded by a black box. Backers of the petition cited studies that suggest graphic devices such as boxes help consumers recognize and process a warning message.

Backers also want an icon or pictorial element as part of the label, claiming that these elements heighten consumer awareness of warning labels. They claim that “one researcher specifically studied the triangular icon with an exclamation mark inside it and found that it produced significantly faster response times than warnings without an icon.”

The argument is that the new health warning statement, including a red exclamation mark, will be more noticeable and more effective, and will meet “the standards for the warning statements as originally set out by Congress.”

Some of the comments already submitted to the BATF by opponents of the new health label stated that “the warning label serves little or no purpose beyond that of making all involved in its placement feel good, and that it merely forces brewers, winemakers, distillers and importers to spend money and jump through regulatory hoops. The change will result in an avalanche of new label submissions to the BATF, wasting more tax money on this cynical exercise.”

Another submission opposed to the new health label stated that “the present labeling requirements are more than sufficient to serve the education and warning functions … the proposed changes contain exactly the same information already found on the labels and are alarmist in nature. The changes are effectively a disincentive to purchase alcoholic beverages, and will reduce sales, penalizing U.S. alcohol beverage producers.”

The public comment period will end Aug. 20. Comments may be sent to: Chief Regulations Divisions, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, P.O. Box 50221, Washington, D.C., 20091-0221; ATTN: Notice No. 917.

Written comments must be signed. E-mail comments may be submitted to nprm@at fhq.atf.treas.gov. They must include a name, address, and e-mail address and must reference the notice number.

The BATF contact is James Filcaretta at (202) 927-8210.