Petition to TTB Requesting Cancer Warning on Alcoholic Beverages

The Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of 1988 (ABLA) directs the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) to notify Congress if science shows that the required warning statement on alcoholic beverages must be updated.  Specifically, the ABLA provides that TTB “shall promptly report such information to the Congress together with specific recommendations for such amendments to this subchapter as the Secretary determines to be appropriate and in the public interest.”  Currently, the ABLA and TTB’s regulation require the following warning statement:

GOVERNMENT WARNING: (1) According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic 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.

On October 21, several public health and consumer group advocates filed a Petition with TTB requesting that the warning be updated.  Petitioners assert that there is consensus that alcohol consumption is linked to cancer.  Among other things, they cite statistics from the American Cancer Society indicating that, in 2014, 6.4% of all cancers in women and 4.8% of all cancers in men were linked to alcohol consumption.  They claim that drinking alcohol is the third most important modifiable cancer risk in women and the fourth in men.

In light of this evidence, they request that TTB report to Congress that available scientific information (accrued since 1988) shows that alcohol consumption causes cancer.  Petitioners request that TTB recommend that Congress amend the current health disclosure to state:

GOVERNMENT WARNING: According to the Surgeon General, consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancers.

In addition, they request that TTB report to Congress the available scientific evidence in support of rotating health disclosures, as opposed to a single static warning. They suggest that the new requirements would require rotating the three different warnings, i.e.,

(1) GOVERNMENT WARNING: According to the Surgeon General, women should not drink alcoholic beverages during pregnancy because of the risk of birth defects.

(2) GOVERNMENT WARNING: Consumption of alcoholic beverages impairs your ability to drive a car or operate machinery and may cause health problems.

(3) GOVERNMENT WARNING: According to the Surgeon General, consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cancer, including breast and colon cancers.