Last February
the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms gave permission to several
vintners to include labels on their wine discussing the possible health
benefits of alcohol consumption. Several studies have found moderate wine
consumption associated with a reduction in heart attack risk.
Enter Republican
Senator Strom Thurmond (South Carolina) whose daughter was killed by a
drunk driver. Thurmond tightened the screws on the ATF and the agency
reversed itself and has stopped approving new applications for wine labels
that make the health claim. Seventeen wineries that already obtained approval
will be allowed to go ahead with their labels.
Thurmond held
up Treasury Department nominees in order to force the ATF to create formal
rules for such labels. The ATF will hold public hearings on the issue,
though dates and locations have not been set, and it is likely that in
order to appease Thurmond the ATF might eventually approve rules so difficult
to comply with that the health claim labels might be short-lived.
I’m extremely
skeptical of the health claims made for alcohol, but individuals should
be able to make up their own minds rather than having Thurmond decide
how much information they have about possible health benefits associated
with wine consumption.
Reference:
ATF
puts cork on bid to tout health benefits on wine labels from Scripps
McClatchy.