The New War on Moderate Drinking

Source: American Beverage Institute

Rick Berman

January 18, 2017

In the last 12 months we have witnessed an unprecedented and coordinated attack on moderate drinking. The “health halo” that has long provided some measure of protection against attempts to put alcohol in the same category as tobacco has been targeted and diminished by the public health community over the past year.

Now we are dealing with new and multiple claims of moderate drinking causing cancer of the colon, rectum, breast, oropharynx, larynx, esophagus, skin, as well as the traditional concern of liver cirrhosis which is more related to heavy drinking. The pace of these reports being released is without precedent. I doubt it is a coincidence. These health-related reports are evidence of a shift away from the traditional narrative surrounding DWI. Over time we have successfully convinced enough policy makers that the DWI problem was a much smaller problem today than texting, cell phones and the newest issue of marijuana use prior to or while driving.

Having said that, Utah just announced it will entertain a bill to lower the legal BAC limit to .05. While we do not expect it to get traction, Utah was the first state to go to .08 and any low BAC level accident could quickly fan those flames-leading to “copycat” state laws.

Specific evidence of our concern:

The Centers for Disease Control is telling women on birth control to abstain entirely from drinking. There is a series of new studies tying low levels of alcohol consumption to cancers.

Women, specifically, were targeted in a number of 2016 studies that highlighted their increased rates of alcohol consumption and linked even moderate drinking to breast cancer. A Washington Post analysis showed that alcohol-related death among white women aged 35-54 have more than doubled since 1999. Researchers at Columbia University are calling it a “looming health crisis.”

And there is a renewed push, thanks in part to a series of recommendations in the Surgeon General’s November report, “Facing Addiction in America,” to raise alcohol taxes prohibitively, put tobacco-style warning labels on bottles and cans, limit access through restrictions on retailer density, and ban or further restrict alcohol advertising and marketing.

Any feelings of optimism that things will change with the new administration should be entertained cautiously. Republicans are often just as bad or worse on issues related to alcohol, and President Trump is a teetotaler with his own personal biases against drinking.

There is a tendency to ride out the storm given that any corporate pushback is fraught with legal and public relations consequences. But to do nothing is to accept a fate of tobacco-like proportion.

We concede that any one study or headline can generally be dismissed or debunked. However, it is nearly impossible to play whack-a-mole with this deluge of bad PR. The new “noise level” is creating an environment that supports anti-alcohol legislation as well as a consumer fear of even moderate consumption. Few people are willing to accept the heightened risk of a series of cancers. And as baby boomers grow into their senior years, that huge cohort is susceptible to these studies that counsel abstaining from ANY drinking. In short, the cultural permission to drink any alcoholic beverage on or off premise is being set up for a change. We should not suffer from the conceit witnessed in other industries where negative trends were dismissed as a fad.

The ABI was formed for several reasons. Responding in this anticipated environment was one of them. We are already aggressively countering the public health narrative. You can read evidence of our position in the op-ed below. It is running in newspapers across the country. However, a coordinated and more serious industry response to this heightened activity is required. To learn more about the problem and how we can fight it together (without your brand being compromised) come to the ABI meeting in San Diego on February 27th where we will be developing our strategy options.