We’re calling for mandatory health warnings to be printed on all alcohol labels.
Current situation
Currently the law only requires labels on alcohol to include: i) volume of the container; ii) the drink’s strength (ABV); and iii) whether any of the 14 most common allergens are present. The inclusion of further information is left up to the producer. This could include:
- The official low-risk drinking guidelines,
- Health warnings,
- Ingredients,
- Nutritional information, and
- The number of units of alcohol in the container
Best practice Alcohol Labelling Guidelines are produced by the alcohol industry-run Portman Group, who describe themselves as the “social responsibility body and regulator for alcohol labelling, packaging and promotion in the UK”. These Guidelines are described as ‘minimum recommended best practice elements for product labelling’, which includes:
- Provision of unit information,
- a pregnancy message or symbol, and
- a direction to Drinkaware
In addition to these, the most recent 2022 update to the guidelines, added:
- The Chief Medical Officers’ 2016 Low Risk Drinking Guidelines
In terms of compliance, the Portman Group claims on its website that 99% of products contain a pregnancy warning message or logo, 94% demonstrate unit content, 93% display a Drinkaware or responsibility message, and almost four in five (79%) carry the latest UK CMO low risk drinking guidelines.[1]
Analysis of current situation: The information required by the current best practice guidelines, though described as ‘health-related information’ is all about responsible drinking and is framed in this way. It does not include any clear, explicit messages about the potential negative impacts to health (beyond that on the health of a baby during pregnancy), of consuming alcohol, and certainly not of cancer risk.
It is fair to assume the industry would be very resistant to what it would see as the more explicit association of alcohol with cancer or other serious health risks.
Mandatory Labelling in Ireland
In May 2023, Ireland became the first country in the world to introduce comprehensive health labelling of alcohol products, under the Public Health (Alcohol) (Labelling) Regulations 2023.
This will require labels of alcohol products to:
- state the calorie content and grams of alcohol in the product
- warn about the risk of consuming alcohol when pregnant, and
- warn of the risk of liver disease and fatal cancers from alcohol consumption.
The Irish government have described the new regulations as ‘bringing alcohol into line with labelling requirements for other products’. There is a three year lead-in time to give business time to adjust, so the law will come into effect from May 2026. However, since then, this has now been postponed until 2028.
Others active on this issue:
The Alcohol Health Alliance is calling for:
- Alcohol product labels to be required to display health warnings and nutritional information to help consumers make informed decisions about their drinking.
- Mandatory alcohol product labelling that provides consumers with information relating to:
- Ingredients
- Calories
- Units
- Chief Medical Officers’ guidelines
- Health risks such as alcohol during pregnancy and cancer
The World Health Organisation recommends labelling alcoholic beverages to increase awareness and ensure consumers make informed decisions.
Alcohol Focus Scotland is also calling on the Scottish Government to introduce mandatory labelling that includes suitable health warnings.
World Cancer Research Fund though it doesn’t have a clear policy position on labelling specifically, it has recently made alcohol and cancer a new global policy priority.
It is quoted in this useful Guardian article as saying: “mass media campaigns, using tough messages mirroring the graphic photographs and wording on cigarette packets, were now needed to tackle the widespread lack of awareness that alcohol and being overweight are both major causes of cancer.”
WCRF campaigning on this is grounded on the recognition that alcohol has been shown to cause seven forms of cancer.
Also active in this space:
Institute of Alcohol Studies is also actively engaged in conversations on this, though I couldn’t find any active campaigning for this policy change.
Alcohol Change UK is the secretariat for the APPG on Alcohol Harm. The latest report by this APPG was a briefing for the Health and Care 2021 Act but this didn’t include anything on labelling. Alcohol UK’s policy pages includes discussions of alcohol marketing but there is not clearcut policy ask on alcohol labelling.
This Guardian article from Sept 2023 ‘Dire need’ for labels on alcohol and ads about unhealthy eating to cut avoidable cancers sets out some of the key arguments and organisations in this space.
Arguments for mandatory health warnings
Low awareness:
Awareness of the health risks of alcohol is low.
“Although alcohol negatively affects various health outcomes, awareness about the health risks of consuming alcohol remains relatively low.” (WHO)
ASH’s Smoke Free GB annual survey of over 12,000 UK adults found that while 86% of people knew smoking caused cancer, only 54% were aware that obesity was a key risk factor and 53% knew that alcohol was one.
Labelling is effective:
There is evidence that health warning labels on alcohol increases awareness of health risks and reduces self-reported consumption.
“Experimental studies indicate that warning labels can impact self-reported intention to reduce consumption.”
“The results of two studies, one in an experimental setting and the other in a real-world setting, found that exposure to warning labels related to cancer led participants to drink more slowly; the second study found that exposure to warning labels on health risks more generally was associated with reduced self-reported drinking and alcohol sales.” (WHO)
“A Canadian study released in 2020 found that alcohol warning labels, like warnings on packets of cigarettes, are effective tools in helping drinkers make informed decisions. The study found consumers exposed to the labels were 10% more likely to know about the link between alcohol and cancer and three times more likely to be aware of the low-risk drinking guidelines.” (AHA)
Labelling requirements for alcohol are relatively lax:
Current labelling laws for food and non-alcoholic drinks must display nutritional information and cigarettes must display health warnings. Alcohol labels require neither.
Public support:
Polling suggests public support for more comprehensive labelling of alcohol.
AHA polling found “Over half of UK adults want more comprehensive labelling on alcohol products.”
- 76% want to see number of units on a product
- 56% want to see a pregnancy warning on labels
- 51% want to see nutritional information such as calories and sugar on labels
Fits with priorities of the sector:
CancerWatch’s analysis and survey of industry priorities on cancer prevention found the strongest support in the sector for measures which ‘advise, inform and encourage’ individuals to make better decisions.
Recent consultation on non/low alcohol labelling
There has been recent government consultation on no and low alcohol labelling. The intention behind the consultation was that:
The government wants to increase substitution of alcoholic drinks with NoLo alternatives among people who drink above low-risk levels.
Research suggests that the main policies that encourage substitution of higher strength drinks with lower strength drinks relate to price, availability and clear labelling (Anderson and others 2022).
Advertising and marketing policies are also considered important in influencing the extent to which NoLo drinks are consumed as substitutes to standard alcoholic drinks.
The government is consulting on options for updating recommendations on labelling of NoLo alcohol drinks, including seeking evidence on whether these options could facilitate industry to shift the alcohol market towards lower strength options by making them more available, acceptable and affordable as substitutes for standard alcoholic drinks.
A recent Guardian article reports that :
Health charities urged ministers to learn from the success of public health education campaigns run in the north-east by Fresh and Balance, which are funded by local NHS trusts and local councils. The groups, which target smoking and harmful drinking, specialise in hard-hitting mass media ads.