Warning labels coming on containers of alcoholic beverages

MPs less than convinced of the merits of the labelling, but favour ban on bulk discounts

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Next year, all containers of alcoholic beverages will have to be provided with labels warning the consumers of the health hazards of alcohol, even though Finnish MPs themselves do not believe in the positive impact of such warnings.
     
In Parliament, the stickers were themselves labelled as fiddling and schoolmarmish, while only a few MPs dared to defend the introduction of such warnings.
      The matter will in any event have to be put to a vote, as the National Coalition Party, the Green League, and the Left Alliance all oppose the proposed warning labels.
      However, backed by the majority of votes in the house, the government parties intend to implement the changes to the alcohol legislation which have been proposed by the government.
      Even though the Parliamentary Social Affairs and Health Committee noted in its report that the effect of such warnings on the use of alcohol is likely to be "very slight", the majority of the committee members decided to support the idea anyway.
      According to Erkki Pulliainen (Green League), the only meaningful way stickers could reduce the consumption of alcohol would be if they read: "Did you notice that the tax on this bottle has increased by 50 per cent? Watch your wallet!" Even Päivi Räsänen, the chair of the Christian Democrats, expressed scepticism about the labels. The Christian Democrats have otherwise steadfastly advocated all manner of restrictions on the sale of alcohol.
     
If the labels were given a chilly reception, the government's idea to ban all bulk discounts on alcohol purchases met with fairly unanimous approval.
      The MPs found it justified that supermarkets would no longer be allowed to use 12-packs of beer (known popularly as "dachshunds") as loss-leaders. Starting a couple of years ago, the 6-pack and 12-pack has replaced the packet of coffee as the product of choice to lure in customers. Supermarket beer prices have fallen sharply as a result, but only for bulk buyers.
      One worry has been that the 12-packs often end up in the hands of young drinkers, who are tempted to drink the entire contents at a single sitting, often outdoors, since there is no going home with them.
      The legislative proposal would also forbid the advertising of alcoholic beverages on TV between 7.00 a.m. and 9.00 p.m., while the Greens, the Left Alliance, and the Christian Democrats would ban television commercials for alcohol entirely.


Previously in HS International Edition:
  Alcohol abuse most common killer of working-age Finnish men (1.11.2006)
  Sales of beverages in cans have grown 50 percent from last year (28.10.2005)
  Significant rise in overall alcohol consumption in Finland last year (25.2.2005)

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