The French government’s plan to increase the size of visual warnings about the health risks of drinking during pregnancy has angered winemakers, TheTelegraph.co.uk has reported.
At present, the warning on bottle labels consists of a 0.5cm silhouette of a pregnant woman holding a wine glass, with a red line scored across it. France’s government is considering enlarging this image to 1cm.
Hervé Grandeau, of the Bordeaux Wine Producers’ Federation, described the idea as a “misplaced attempt to salve the conscience” of the state, and as a “half-baked measure” to TheTelegraph.co.uk.
“There has been no study of alcohol consumption by pregnant women since the warning came in. We don’t know if it works. Today it’s a larger warning, tomorrow they’ll want more colours and soon wine labels will be drowned in health warnings,” he commented.
Denis Lamblin, a paediatrician and campaigner on the issue, disagreed: “It’s society as a whole and drinks manufacturers whose advertising increasingly targets woman of childbearing age.” He added that winemakers “do everything to camouflage it [the label]."
A child with alcohol-related problems is born every hour in France. Besides causing miscarriages, alcohol is also linked with 400 childhood disorders, according to Lamblin.
“Why are there photos of malformed foetuses on cigarette packets when the consequences of smoking during pregnancy are less dramatic than those of alcohol?”
© 2017 European Supermarket Magazine – your source for the latest retail news. Article by Peter Donnelly. Click subscribe to sign up for ESM: The European Supermarket Magazine
