ys been para wy sao “Howls of protest” have greeted Ireland’s plan to add a health warning label to alcohol products, said Catherine Conlon in the Irish Examiner. Last year, Ireland drafted a regulation requiring all alco- hol products sold here to have health warnings on their labels similar to those used for cigarettes, and this month the deadline for the European Commission to oppose the law elapsed, allowing it to g0 into effect. Producers will have three Years to comply with the new rule, but after that all beer and wine bottles in Irish stores and pubs will feature stark statements such as “Drinking alcohol causes liver disease” and “There is a direct link between alcohol and fatal cancers.” France, Italy, Spain, and other wine-producing EU countries are up in arms over the “alarmist” warnings, with Italian farmer association Coldiretti calling it a “direct attack” on vintners’ livelihoods. But consumers deserve to know the truth—and given the well-known Irish predilection to alcoholism, it makes sense for Ireland to “lead the way.” More than one-fifth of Irish drinkers regularly binge drink, and 1 in 10 Irish babies has fetal alcohol syndrome. “Ie time to face up to reality” about the “huge harm” alcohol inflicts on society, We Italians don’t dispute that heavy drinking, drinking while pregnant, and drunk driving are all bad, said Cristina Bosetti and Silvio Garattini in Avvertire (Italy). And we believe con- sumers should have “adequate information on the harms of alcohol.” But wine is fine in moderation—in fact, it can be good for you. Numerous studies have shown that “modest alcohol Ireland: Are alcohol warning I Italian wine: Vintners fear warnings will hurt sales. sumption”—up to z Seyis associated with zene’ Be of heart disease and stroke. in- redients in red wine, in particular, fave health benefits. “There’s only pone thing Italians love more than wine, said Gerardo Fortuna in Euractiv, “and that’s whining about wine.” In the days since the EU tacitly appro} Ireland’s alcohol-labeling law, no fe} than five Italian politicians have ex pressed “dismay and concern.” Their objections are mainly financial. The _ Italian wine industry employs 1.3 mil- lion people, and health warnings on alcohol could lead Italy to lose $1.1 billion in wine exports. That's why Italians haven’t given up on trying to water down the Irish law. Italy's Agriculture Minister Francesco Lollobrigida met this week with his Irish counterpart, Charlie McConalogue, and gave him a bottle of wine, saying he would try to make him “see that we have no intention of harming his health,” This “diplomatic row” may be a bit silly, said Finn McRedmond in The Irish Times, but there’s a larger issue at stake. It’s one more example of “the public-health hall monitors seemingly hell- bent on creeping into every crevice of society.” We saw the same thing a few years ago when the government insisted on slapping calorie counts on restaurant menus. Yes, we all know that guz- zling wine might cause cancer and that too many burgers could lead to heart disease, But the nannies in charge of public health will have to “accept that enjoyment is the tenet i well lived, not a mere by-product of it.” eee Rane ct ea ase tetera