Alcohol packaging warning messages (alcohol warning labels,AWLs[1]) arewarning messages that appear on the packaging ofalcoholic drinks concerning theirhealth effects. They have been implemented in an effort to enhance the public's awareness of the harmful effects of consuming alcoholic beverages, especially with respect tofoetal alcohol syndrome andalcohol's carcinogenic properties.[2] In general, warnings used in different countries try to emphasize the same messages (seeBy country). Such warnings have been required inalcohol advertising for many years, although the content of the warnings differ by nation.
AWorld Health Organization report, published in 2017, stated:[3]
Alcohol product labelling could be considered as a component of a comprehensivepublic health strategy to reduce alcohol-related harm. Adding health labels to alcohol containers is an important first step in raising awareness and has a longer-term utility in helping to establish a social understanding of the harmful use of alcohol.
A 2014 study inBMC Public Health concluded that "Cancer warning statements on alcoholic beverages constitute a potential means of increasing awareness about the relationship between alcohol consumption and cancer risk."[4]
In many countries, alcoholic beverage packages are not required to have the information about energy and nutritional content required of all other foods and drinks, as of 2018[update].[5]
Increasing calls for the introduction of warning labels on alcoholic beverages have occurred aftertobacco packaging warning messages proved successful.[4] The addition ofwarning labels on alcoholic beverages is historically supported byorganizations of thetemperance movement, such as theWoman's Christian Temperance Union, as well as by medical organisations, such as theIrish Cancer Society.[6][7] The impetus to add alcohol packaging warning messages to containers of alcoholic beverages "reflect[s] a growing evidence base relating to the relationship between alcohol consumption and a range of health problems including cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, overweight and obesity, liver disease, fetal abnormalities, cognitive impairment, mental health problems, and accidental injury".[4] Even light and moderate alcohol consumption increases cancer risk in individuals.[8][9] As of 2014, alcohol warning labels are required in many countries, including Brazil, Colombia, Costa Rica, France, Guatemala, Mexico, Russia, South Africa, Taiwan, Thailand, and the United States.[4] Modernalcohol advertising promotes alcoholic beverages heavily "as though it was not a toxic substance".[4] The alcohol industry has tried to actively mislead the public about the risk of cancer due to alcohol consumption,[10] in addition to campaigning to remove laws that require alcoholic beverages to have cancer warning labels.[11]
TheWorld Health Organization declared alcohol aClass I carcinogen in 1990. Despite unequivocal scientific evidence, as of 2020[update], only South Korea had AWLs that warned of the link. This remains the case even though recent research has demonstrated that cancer-related warning labels can significantly reduce alcohol consumption.[12] The alcohol industry has lobbied hard against any measure that could lead to greater public awareness of the link between alcohol and cancer. These include preventing, delaying, and weakening AWL legislation.[13]
Alcohol producers object strongly to warning labels saying thatalcohol causes cancer. They object more to warnings that are more graphic and those which are required to be in a prominent position on the bottle; given the choice, they hide the warnings as inconspicuously as possible. Lobbyists generally do not object to legislation requiring warnings aboutdrunk driving, underage drinking, orfetal alcohol syndrome.[5]
Industry has sometimes argued that integrating warnings into the main label is too expensive, and should be banned. They prefer supplementary stick-on labels, with placement to be chosen by manufacturers, so that it does not interfere with the main label or detract from it. They then choose the most inconspicuous placement. Governments have opposed this.[5]
The alcohol industry has also taken to using international trade and investment law to slow the implementation of warning labels, introducing provisions into international agreements that forbid some types of warning labels. This allows them to threaten litigation under these international agreements, creatingchilling effects. Even if their cases are thrown out, litigating in national, international, and supernational forums delays action and makes it much more expensive. In 2010, Thai legislation requiring alcohol warning labels was blocked in theWorld Trade Organization (WTO): alcohol-exporting countries, including Australia, the European Union, New Zealand and the United States, argued that a label mandate was a "technical barrier to trade". Since then, there has been similar WTO opposition to warning labels proposed by Kenya, India, Ireland, Israel, Korea, Mexico, South Africa and Turkey.[5][13]
These tactics have previously been used by the tobbacco industry to oppose tobbacco warning labels andplain packaging requirements. The tobacco industry has lost some lawsuits, but Australia had to fight litigation to thehighest Australian court, and before theWorld Trade Organization, and before an international tribunal. Uruguay, facing litigation from companies richer than it is, was only able to fight industry lawsuits and persist with its warning labelling legistaion by using charitable funding from theBloomberg Foundation. A lawsuit blocked the introduction of graphic warning labels in the US in 2013, following a ruling from the Court of Appeals for the DC circuit.[5] As of 2023[update], the US still has only the small black-and-white plain-text warnings mandated by the 1988Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act. These do not reflect medical research done since 1988.
InAustralia, "Alcohol beverage makers must label their products with warning labels relating to the risks of drinking during pregnancy", as of 2019[14]
In 2017, "Alcohol can cause cancer" warning labels were added to alcoholic products at aliquor store inYellowknife, next to existing federally-mandated 1991 warnings (about drinking while pregnant, or driving drunk). The labels were added as part of theNorthern Territories Alcohol Labels Study, planned to run for eight months. Alcohol industry lobbyists stopped the study after only a few weeks, threatening to sue theYukon government. Spirits Canada,Beer Canada and the Canadian Vintners Association alleged that the Yukon government had no legislative authority to add the labels, and would be liable for defamation, damages for lost sales, and packaging trademark and copyright infringement, because the labels had been added without their consent.[15][16]
TheFood Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) requires alcoholic beverages to have a label with the following text: "Consumption of alcohol is injurious to health".[17]
Backed by theIrish Cancer Society, the government of Ireland will place warning labels on alcoholic beverages, with regard toalcohol's carcinogenic properties.[7][18] The policy should enter into force on May 22, 2026.[19]
Alcoholic beverages may not be advertised in a manner which directly or indirectly claims benefits or promotes its consumption, and may not show the product or itspackaging.[20] Alladvertisements must also be accompanied by one out of five predefined warning messages, lasting at least two seconds for video advertisements or occupying at least 25 percent of the advertisement area for print media.[21]
Since 1989, in theUnited States, warning labels on alcoholic beverages are currently required to warn "of the risks of drinking and driving, operating machinery, drinking while pregnant, and other general health risks."[22]
As of 2014, the current alcoholic warning message reads as follows:[4]
GOVERNMENT WARNING:
(1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcohol beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects.
(2) Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery, and may cause health problems.
In 2025, theSurgeon General of the United States Vice AdmiralVivek Murthy called for updates to alcohol warning labels on alcoholic beverages, with the advisory noting "Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States."[23] The updates specifically concern thecancer risk associated with alcohol consumption.[24]
The ASCO statement, published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology, cautions that while the greatest risks are seen with heavy long-term use, even low alcohol consumption (defined as less than one drink per day) or moderate consumption (up to two drinks per day for men, and one drink per day for women because they absorb and metabolize it differently) can increase cancer risk. Among women, light drinkers have a four percent increased risk of breast cancer, while moderate drinkers have a 23 percent increased risk of the disease.
Clearly, the greatest cancer risks are concentrated in the heavy and moderate drinker categories. Nevertheless, some cancer risk persists even at low levels of consumption. A meta-analysis that focused solely on cancer risks associated with drinking one drink or fewer per day observed that this level of alcohol consumption was still associated with some elevated risk for squamous cell carcinoma of the esophagus (sRR, 1.30; 95% CI, 1.09 to 1.56), oropharyngeal cancer (sRR, 1.17; 95% CI, 1.06 to 1.29), and breast cancer (sRR, 1.05; 95% CI, 1.02 to 1.08), but no discernable associations were seen for cancers of the colorectum, larynx, and liver.
