Minister of Health and Social Services Paula Risikko (National Coalition Party) has proposed that the plan to provide all containers of alcoholic beverages with labels warning the consumers of the health hazards of alcohol should be abandoned.
The introduction of warning labels was passed by Parliament last year as part of the changes to the alcohol legislation in Finland.
As things stand, the stickers are to be used from the beginning of next year.
According to the parliamentary decision, the stickers should state in 3-mm letters "WARNING: Alcohol is hazardous to the development of the fetus and to your health".
Risikko is hoping for a proposal from the government to cancel the decision on the planned warning labels.
Risikko says that actually she has never believed that the proposed stickers would reduce the potential risks of alcohol or the number of alcohol abusers.
Another problem emerged just before Christmas when the European Commission ruled that the general warning against alcohol has to be eliminated from the label text. The Commission stated further that Finland should accept the national warning labels used by other EU countries.
Risikko said that she does not regard the scheme as sensible.
She believes that the excessive use of alcohol can be reduced with the help of effective education and the use of taxation to adjust alcohol prices.
