NEW DELHI: Less than one-third of all the countries globally have regulations mandating Alcohol Health Warning Labels (AHWLs) on alcohol containers, said a latest Lancet study. It recommended the need for mentioning well-established adverse health consequences due to alcohol consumption such as fatal cancers, liver damage and other non-communicable disease and road traffic accidents on them.The study, published in The Lancet Regional Health – Southeast Asia on Tuesday, said harm due to alcohol use is a great public health concern for the South East Asia region, with the annual per capita consumption expected to grow even further.According to Dr Yatan Pal Singh Balhara, the co-author of the study, “In India, while there are health warning labels on alcohol containers and health warning labels on alcohol advertising, there are no provisions to have health warning labels on pregnancy, health warning labels on under-age drinking, and health warning labels on drink-driving.”Dr Balhara, Psychiatry professor at the National Drug Dependence Treatment Center and Department of Psychiatry at AIIMS, New Delhi, said all these are important themes to consider as alcohol is a significant contributor to road traffic accidents. The study said recommendations have been made to include cancer warning labels on alcoholic beverages.
Source link
