Public health researchers found that alcohol companies are more than twice as likely to tell consumers to “Drink responsibly” than to actually warn them why. A recent study published in the Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, analysed over 6,000 alcohol labels across three major retailers. Findings revealed that only a quarter of the products carried a voluntary warning and most of these focused on advising specific groups not to drink, including minors, pregnant women or drivers.

Lead author Asad Yusoff, from The George Institute for Global Health, said that the alcohol industry is using vague, largely hidden, responsible drinking messages that neither informs consumers of the risks associated with even low levels of alcohol use nor does it have much influence on alcohol consumption rate. 

Alcohol is linked to a wide range of health harms.The World Health Organization position is that there is actually no safe level of alcohol consumption, but people in Australia aren’t seeing that information on alcohol packaging.

The Wire’s Shaun Dourado asked Asad Yousoff to introduce the study and its importance in more detail.