Ireland to introduce world-first alcohol health labelling policy | Hacker News Reader

Ireland to introduce world-first alcohol health labelling policy

theguardian.com

15 pointsshaicoleman11 comments

Good for them. I was visiting Dublin this past summer. One early morning, I stumbled across a guy having alcohol withdrawal seizures (according to his friend that didn't have a phone, so I called 112 for them). Later that day, I watched a guy pass out drunk in the road. Construction workers came from a nearby site and placed cones around him so he wouldn't get run over.

Maybe my experience was abnormal, but it was shocking.

Do you belive a warning label would have helped those people?

Do you believe it is more harm than good to require verifiable warnings on dangerous products?

Yes

I remember warning labels tearing my childhood friends family apart. His dad would come home late at night after reading too many labels and beat his wife while my friend hid in his room.

Labels are definitely more harmful

Labels will have a nocebo effect, so that's not unreasonable. They're also guilt inducing.

>They're also guilt inducing

That sounds like a personal problem.

Informed consumers are the basis of rational market behavior. Even libertarians tend to be on board with objective informational requirements and disclosures.

> Maybe my experience was abnormal

Not really; in my time in Ireland I've seen more of this kind off stuff than all the rest of my life combined. I also know more Irish teetotallers than of any other nationality, which probably isn't a coincidence either.

Not abnormal at all...(was there April/23)

>14.3 litres of pure alcohol a year

To get to this amount of alcohol for reference, a pretty standard bottle of spirits is 750 mL and 80 proof, or 40% alcohol by volume. so if you regularly bought a One liter bottle of liquor you would need to drink 35.75 bottles of Jameson a year, or larger, and pricier, 35.75 bottles of Smirnoff. That is the average, and from public health studies I've read in the past alcohol consumption by average has a serious barbell effect altering the average.

Personally I have three drinks and think " I should slow down"

If you drink three drinks (assuming you mean 3oz) every day, that gets you there per annum. That keeps you in 'Moderate Drinking' per CDC[0]

[0]: https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/moderate-drinking.ht...

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