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The Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act (ABLA) of the
The Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act (ABLA) of the Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988
The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1988 (, ) is a major law of the War on Drugs passed by the U.S. Congress which did several significant things:
# Created the policy goal of a drug-free America;
# Established the Office of National Drug Control Polic ...
, , , is a United States federal law
The law of the United States comprises many levels of codified and uncodified forms of law, of which the most important is the nation's Constitution, which prescribes the foundation of the federal government of the United States, as well as ...
requiring that (among other provisions) the labels of alcoholic beverages carry a warning label
A warning label is a label attached to a product, or contained in a product's instruction manual, warning the user about risks associated with its use, and may include restrictions by the manufacturer or seller on certain uses. Most of t ...
.
The warning reads:
The ABLA also contains a declaration of policy and purpose, which states that the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is Bicameralism, bicameral, composed of a lower body, the United States House of Representatives, House of Representatives, and an upper body, ...
finds that
Research evidence suggests that the current American fetal warnings aren't very effective. Many people don't notice them.
The labels have been criticized for being so poorly-designed as to be almost useless. They are small, black-and-white, and entirely text-based, unlike tobacco packaging warning messages
Tobacco package warning messages are warning messages that appear on the packaging of cigarettes and other tobacco products concerning their health effects. They have been implemented in an effort to enhance the public's awareness of the harmful ...
, which now mostly use images. Although drinking alcohol is harmful to health under all circumstances, the labels warn only about not drinking under specific circumstances, with messages about impaired driving
Driving under the influence (DUI)—also called driving while impaired, impaired driving, driving while intoxicated (DWI), drunk driving, operating while intoxicated (OWI), operating under the influence (OUI), operating vehicle under the infl ...
and fetal alcohol spectrum disorders.Special Issue of Alcohol and Alcoholism: All of these traits have been shown to make labels less effective, in lab and virtual studies. Tim Stockwell, one of the researchers designing the Northern Territories Alcohol Labels Study, described evidence on the effectiveness of the labels mandated by the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act as "pretty moot because the labels are so bad."
References
{{US-law-stub 1988 in law United States federal controlled substances legislation Alcohol law in the United States