Alcohol industry using every dirty trick in the playbook to muddy the waters around labelling

On Wednesday, 3 October 2018, one of the most researched, analysed, and debated pieces of legislation in the history of the Irish state made its final journey through Dáil Eireann. The Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015 is a far reaching and world leading piece of legislation which contains a range of measures, designed to work as a package and aimed at reducing overall alcohol consumption and curbing alcohol harm. A central component of the legislation is the inclusion of alcohol health information labelling so the public could know some of the health risks associated with alcohol. Such was the breadth and depth of scrutiny of the Public Health (Alcohol) Bill 2015, spanning nearly a decade from its origins in 2009 to its passage to law in 2018,[i] that only two of the 158 TDs in the Dáil opposed the legislation at its final stage.[ii] And so it was in October 2018 that the Bill, now the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018 (PHAA), became law.

One of the driving forces behind the legislation was the then Minister for Health, and now Tánaiste, Simon Harris TD, while steadfast support also came from the current Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD. Indeed, a senior minister in the government which proposed, introduced, and passed the PHAA was Paschal Donohoe TD. Therefore, it was with much surprise that nearly seven years after the passage of the PHAA the same Paschal Donohoe TD did a solo run, announcing that Ireland’s alcohol health information labelling, due to commence in May 2026, would have to be “carefully examined again” by government.[iii]

Speaking to RTÉ’s ‘This Week’ programme on April 6^th about US president Donald Trump’s imposition of a 20% tariff on the EU, the comments seemed to implicitly, and incorrectly, suggest that Ireland’s alcohol health information labelling would affect Irish alcohol exports to America. The erroneous suggestion that labelling would impact alcohol exports has been part of a long running ploy by the alcohol industry to have these health warnings rescinded. So, how did it come that a senior government Minister seemed to be pushing an inaccurate industry narrative on alcohol health information labelling?

Alcohol industry opposition to labelling

The alcohol industry is, unfortunately, extremely powerful with considerable influence in the media and at the highest levels of government. Indeed, the influence the alcohol industry wields on the corridors of power in Ireland was recently exposed by an original piece of academic research – ‘Assessing alcohol industry penetration and government safeguards: the International Alcohol Control Study’.[iv]

The study, published in the British Medical Journal, revealed worrying levels of alcohol industry penetration in the formulation of alcohol policy in Ireland as a result of government granting incentives, privileges, or benefits to the alcohol industry, government officials or politicians with current or former roles in the alcohol industry, and alcohol industry participation in alcohol policy formulation. It is within this context that opposition to alcohol health information labelling must be viewed.

Who would stand to lose from a more informed public?

Alcohol is the most harmful product in retail food and beverage shopping, yet it is sold in most of Europe and globally without appropriate warnings or essential product information.[v] We now have substantive evidence going back decades that the alcohol industry has sought to shape public understanding on the causes, nature, and uncertainty of alcohol related harms, in ways that protect revenue, using many of the same strategies previously used by the tobacco industry.[vi]

Just like the tobacco industry before it, the alcohol industry is adept at doing anything to protect its health-harming product – including denying the health risks associated with alcohol, opposing efforts to inform the public of these risks, and lobbying against public health measures aimed at reducing alcohol consumption and harm.

Warning labels would be far from a panacea, but, at the very minimum, consumers should have the right to know when products pose a substantial, preventable risk to their health. Sadly, progress has been far slower than it might have been, due in no small part to the influence of the alcohol industry.[vii]

Industry opposition at national level

From its origins in 2009 to its passage to law in 2018 the PHAA faced considerable industry opposition. Indeed, in their research paper, ‘Understanding the Political Organization and Tactics of the Alcohol Industry in Ireland 2009-2018’, Lesch and McCambridge identified three interrelated tactics used by alcohol industry actors to oppose, delay, and, failing that, shape the PHAA.[viii] These tactics were obstruction through participation, coalition-building and mobilizing proxies, and making use of extensive political resources in lobbying.

Indeed, all three tactics have been deployed by the industry at national, European, and international level in their attempts to torpedo Ireland’s groundbreaking alcohol health information labelling. Therefore, it is unsurprising to witness the alcohol industry muddying the waters in relation to EU-US trade difficulties in order to lobby for labelling to be postponed or rescinded.

At national level the alcohol industry spent considerable time, money and political capital lobbying against labelling. However, until April 6^th their efforts to shift the dial at government level had been unsuccessful. One of the reasons for this was the determination of successive governments, with champions within government committed to reducing alcohol harm.[ix] Beyond political support, the adoption of a multisectoral approach to reducing alcohol consumption and harm also proved critical.[x]

Industry opposition at European level

At European level, industry lobbying was just as intense with several organisations representing wine, beer and spirits producers lodging official complaints to the EU Commission to open infringement proceedings against Ireland for undermining the Single Market. In addition, 13 EU member states including France, Italy and Spain also formally objected or raised concerns with the European Commission. Nevertheless, big alcohol failed to overturn Ireland’s health information labelling. However, they did manage to scupper any chance of harmonised EU labelling through direct intervention and lobbying to dilute proposals in Europe’s Beating Cancer Plan.[xi] The net result of the industry’s successful lobbying at European level is that there will be no harmonised EU labelling, rather, each country, Ireland included, must go it alone or have no warnings whatsoever.

In their case against labelling the industry relied heavily on misinformation. This tactic came to light during Ireland’s notification of the labelling regulations to the EU Commission through the Technical Regulations Information System (TRIS). [xii] In their submissions to the process many of the industry’s well-coordinated submissions used the ‘complexity’ argument, i.e., that the association between alcohol and cancer risk is apparently complex and cannot be adequately explained in a single warning label and that this is a complicated scientific and policy issue that people couldn’t possibly get to grips with by giving them public health information.

Some tried to downplay the link between alcohol and liver disease. Others went back to the thoroughly debunked myth that alcohol is associated with health benefits while many referred to trade issues that may occur and the cost of labelling to alcohol producers – the same falsehoods again being pushed by the alcohol industry, and some politicians, in order to use EU-US trade difficulties to stall labelling.

Thankfully, the EU saw through the misinformation and gave the green light to Ireland’s alcohol labelling regulations with then EU Health Commissioner Stella Kyriakides noting that Ireland’s regulations were proportionate to the scale of alcohol issues in Ireland.[xiii]

Industry opposition at international level

Similarly, the alcohol industry took the fight against alcohol health labelling to the international stage. When the Irish Government notified the World Trade Organisation (WTO) of its plans to introduce labelling regulations, several notable alcohol producing countries, including the UK, US, Australia, New Zealand, Mexico and Cuba, raised their concerns with the WTO that the move is a barrier to international trade. However, what was interesting about the concerns raised by these WTO members was that “their arguments resembled industry’s common position in domestic contexts that the interventions are an undue impost on manufacturers and the economy”. Indeed, international research analysing ‘Industry influence over global alcohol policies via the World Trade Organization’ found that, in the case of opposition to Ireland’s alcohol health information labelling, WTO members countries used industry-specific claims and counter proposals.[xiv]

Furthermore, in a comprehensive feature article about the labelling of alcohol products in the New York Times, IBEC’s alcohol lobbying arm, Drinks Ireland, said the forthcoming warnings on alcohol products in Ireland in relation to the links between cancer and liver disease were “disproportionate and inaccurate,” and primarily geared toward scaring people.[xv] Suggesting that warning labels are disproportionate ignores the scientific consensus and the significant human and economic cost of alcohol harm.[xvi] Alcohol is a Group 1 carcinogen, just like tobacco, and is directly linked to liver disease and multiple cancers.[xvii]

Thankfully, to date, there has been no derailing or delaying to labelling via the WTO. In fact, the numbers of countries making comments about Ireland’s regulations has dropped from 12 in June 2023 to 6 in March 2024 and none at all in the last two meetings held by the Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade. During these WTO discussions, Ireland’s position has been defended by both the EU and the World Health Organisation.[xviii]

The latest industry opposition

Recently, industry has tried to use the confusion created by EU-US trade difficulties to have Ireland’s health information labelling postponed. To achieve this, big alcohol has again claimed, incorrectly, that labelling will harm Irish exports. Unfortunately, some in government appear to have fallen for this ruse. Speaking to RTÉ, the Minister for Finance suggested that government should re-examine Ireland’s health information labelling of alcohol products amid concerns about tariffs.[xix]

This latest attempt from industry is part of a long-running campaign against these modest regulations. As noted, this immensely profitable global alcohol industry has used every tactic and opportunity available to torpedo these health warnings.

However, the facts are that labelling is a health matter and has absolutely nothing to do with exporters; indeed, the regulations place no burden whatsoever on export businesses. The measures only apply to goods sold in Ireland and so have no impact on Irish exports. While in relation to imports, small producers, or home-produced products, the legal onus is on retailers of alcohol, not manufacturers, to ensure products are labelled.[xx] Therefore, a supermarket or off-licence can simply add a sticker to the product. It should also be noted that alcohol producers already produce a range of labels for different markets including the USA which has specific conditions.

The industry has also made the ridiculous claim that labelling will affect the tourism and hospitality sector. Labelling has no impact on this sector, beyond requesting a licensee to display an A4 sheet of paper with alcohol health information on the premises. The alcohol industry is clearly trying to involve the tourism sector in their fight against labelling. Indeed, the mobilisation of proxies to fight battles on behalf of the alcohol industry has been identified as a core industry tactic in opposing the PHAA and its regulations.[xxi]

Finally, industry is also claiming the signing of operational regulations regarding labelling was a solo run by former Minister for Health, Stephen Donnelly. There are many reasons why industry is taking this approach. Firstly, this tactic paints labelling as a solo run by a former Minister who is no longer involved in politics, which is being done to obfuscate the fact that labelling was democratically voted through the Dáil and Seanad with the passing of the Public Health (Alcohol) Act 2018. This course of action also seeks to minimise the role of the current Tánaiste, Simon Harris TD, who was the Minister for Health who championed the PHAA and labelling and oversaw its passing into law. Furthermore, this approach also tries to avoid the fact that the current Taoiseach, Micheál Martin TD, was also a firm supporter of the PHAA during its journey through the Oireachtas.

The reality is the alcohol industry will say anything to try and derail, delay, or destroy Ireland’s alcohol health information labelling. It should not be forgotten that this industry now making spurious arguments about exports, imports, and trade, is the same industry that previously made demonstrably false claims regarding the health benefits of alcohol, and downplayed the risks, to try and scupper labelling.

Alcohol – what’s the harm?

The evidence is clear – even 1-2 drinks per day carries increased cancer risk, with around 1,000 alcohol-related cancers diagnosed annually in Ireland, liver disease death rates have steadily increased over the past 20 years and Ireland has one of the highest rates of foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD) in the world.

Furthermore, at least 1,500 of hospital beds are in use daily[xxii] and up to 30% of Emergency Department presentations are caused by alcohol consumption.[xxiii] It has devastating impacts on mental health with national research indicating that alcohol may be a factor in close to half of all suicides.[xxiv] Additionally, we also know that four people lose their lives every single day because of alcohol.[xxv]

It is against these facts which the industry is campaigning – this is the reality they want to silence.

[i] https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9318702/#:~:text=Coalition%2Dbuilding%20and%20mobilizing%20proxies.,minister%2C%20R%C3%B3is%C3%ADn%20Shortall%20later%20recalled:

[ii] https://www.oireachtas.ie/en/bills/bill/2015/120/?highlight%5B0%5D=public&highlight%5B1%5D=health&highlight%5B2%5D=alcohol&tab=bill-text

[iii] https://www.independent.ie/business/no-review-of-plan-for-alcohol-label-warnings-department-of-health-insists/a1844907282.html

[iv] https://gh.bmj.com/content/bmjgh/9/11/e016093.full.pdf

[v] https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanepe/article/PIIS2666-7762(25)00001-8/fulltext

[vi] https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r176

[vii] https://www.bmj.com/content/388/bmj.r176

[viii] https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35838435/

[ix] https://www.wcrf.org/about-us/news-and-blogs/how-ireland-beat-the-odds-to-introduce-cancer-warning-labels-on-alcohol/

[x] https://www.wcrf.org/about-us/news-and-blogs/how-ireland-beat-the-odds-to-introduce-cancer-warning-labels-on-alcohol/

[xi] https://alcoholireland.ie/europes-beating-cancer-plan-how-big-alcohol-lobbying-diluted-a-historic-public-health-breakthrough/