"Listing of Alcoholic Beverages as Cancer-Causing Agents Should Sour Health Claim Proposals"

George A. Hacker, director of the Alcohol Policies Project at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, had the following comment about the decision by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services to include alcoholic beverages as "known to be a human carcinogen" on the National Toxicology Program's list of cancer-causing agents.

"We applaud the decision to list alcohol as a carcinogen. That should provide a wake-up call to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, which is considering industry proposals to permit health claims on wine labels. Today's report should put a cork in the wine industry's effort to market America's costliest and most devastating drug as the ultimate health potion."

-30-

CSPI is a nonprofit health-advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C., that focuses on food-safety and alcoholic-beverage issues. It is largely supported by nearly one million subscribers to its Nutrition Action Healthletter. CSPI led efforts to win passage of the law requiring warning labels on alcoholic beverages.