Is Big Alcohol Attacking Irish Sovereignty?

In late May, Ireland made regulatory history by becoming the first country to enact stringent alcohol warning label requirements. Going well beyond the small, cramped, and oft-ignored warnings on U.S. bottles, the Irish warnings were eyecatching, comprehensive--including cancer risk--and provided a number of different labels in rotation. All of these were in accordance with the emerging global best practices around effective health education, and intended to stem the growing alcohol morbidity and mortality in the country.

Needless to say, the industry quickly moved to assert a popular, effective, evidence-based policy intended to save and extend lives could not stand. Raising objections before the June 21 meeting of the World Trade Organization, it sought to kill the Irish government's policy through the interests of other governments, including the United States.

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