The Irish government delayed alcohol health labelling from May next year unit until 2028 at a cabinet meeting on Monday, disappointing health advocates.
Some in the government have been convinced the labels may undermine ongoing EU-US trade negotiations if they were seen as a barrier to trade. Health advocates dispute this assessment. Health ministerJennifer Carroll MacNeill said she was “not pleased”.
The Irish Medical Organisation went further calling the delay a “serious threat to public health” with “health being ignored in favour of corporate interests”. “The longer this Government delays, the more irreversible damage is done,” said the organisation’s president Dr Anne Dee.
“To say that this delay is a blow for public health in Ireland is an understatement. It is a failure of leadership and of democracy,” said Sheila Gilheany CEO of the NGO Alcohol Action Ireland. And many alcohol products in Ireland already carry the labels, making any delay “farcical if not so serious”.
“Re-examining the policy at this stage, under pressure from commercial interests, would not only weaken Ireland’s credibility but risk setting a damaging precedent across Europe,” said the newly-formed European Health Alliance on Alcohol in a letter to the Irish government last week.
The weeks leading up to the decision were filled with selective leaks about a likely delay until 2029. Coverage of the decision–which still has not been fomally announced–looks likely to be out-done that of a larger spending announcement and the summer recess.
AR This may offer a salutory tale for the UK where the government earlier this month initiated a bid to introduce alcohol health labels. At the same time it bowed to industry pressure to drop all the most effective alcohol health policies from its plans. The road ahead is not easy. ■