SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – A pair of attorneys have suggested that recently-issued guidelines from the World Health Organization (WHO) concerning alcohol consumption may one day set up litigation similar to that which the tobacco industry faced decades ago.
San Francisco-based Holland & Knight attorneys Jessica M. Brown and Ana Dragojevic, authored a blog post for their firm this past February titled, “Alcohol Consumption Guidelines: A Warning Shot for the Industry.”
The attorneys referenced a WHO public statement issued on Jan. 4, 2023, which stated there was no “safe” level of alcohol consumption which did not damage human health. Four years prior, WHO led the SAFER: A World Free from Alcohol-Related Harms (SAFER) initiative, which outlined technical guidelines for alcohol control and aimed to reduce harmful use of alcohol by 10 percent in 2025.
Just last year, Canada published new national recommendations saying that zero alcohol is the only risk-free approach to the substance.
“It remains to be seen how the WHO’s guidance will impact the alcohol beverage industry in the U.S., but it could be analogous to another highly restricted product: tobacco. In response to public outcry about the negative effects of tobacco usage, the Public Health Cigarette Smoking Act banned advertising of cigarettes on television and radio starting on Jan. 2, 1971, and, since 1984, cigarette companies have been required to place U.S. Surgeon General warnings on all cigarette packs and advertisements with the passing of the Federal Cigarette Labeling and Advertising Act,” Brown and Dragojevic said in their blog.
“These impacts are apparent in the production level of tobacco in the U.S., with the number of tobacco farms decreasing from 180,000 in the 1980s to about 10,000 in 2012. Sales of tobacco products, such as cigarettes, have also declined in recent years. In 2017, about 249 billion cigarettes were sold in the U.S. – a 3.5 percent decrease from the 258 billion sold in 2016.”
The attorneys added the alcohol industry appears to be following a similar path, and that it was “not unreasonable to assume that other countries will adopt the WHO’s guidance on alcohol, similar to its guidance on tobacco.”
Brown and Dragojevic did not respond to inquiries for comment from Legal Newsline.
Current standards in Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend alcohol consumption be limited to two drinks or less per day for men, and one drink or less per day for women.
Last year, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced it would appoint 20 nationally recognized nutrition and public health experts to serve on the 2025 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee – but whether or not the committee will take WHO’s recent statement into account when developing the new guidelines for alcohol consumption is unknown at this time.
From Legal Newsline: Reach Reporter Nicholas Malfitano at nick.malfitano@therecordinc.com