Now that I've damned warning labels with faint praise, I would like to explain why CCSA believes they should become law in Canada. There are some obvious reasons that may have little to do with their effectiveness, but are worth noting. The second is that warning labels are required in the US and a consistent policy on both sides of the border makes sense. However, the most compelling argument in favour of warning labels comes not from the field of alcohol control policy, but from the area of consumers' rights. Any consumer product that has a consistent, proven potential for causing a significant number of deaths and injuries should be appropriately labelled.
Consumers have a right to be told clearly what risks are inherent in their use of such a product.
Alcohol is toxic, a fact not known to many Canadians. Alcohol toxicity is the officially recorded cause for more than 50 Canadian deaths every year. In its milder manifestations, alcohol toxicity is probably experienced by thousands of Canadians every day in the form of a hangover. Considerable thought must go into the wording used on alcohol warning labels. The more we learn about alcohol the more complicated its relationship to our health and well-being becomes.