Time has come for mandatory unit labelling

doi:10.1136/bmj.324.7339.738/a

BMJ 2002;324:738 ( 23 March )

Letters

Time has come for mandatory unit labelling

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

EDITOR $---$ The editorial by Ferner and Chambers illustrated both the difficulties inherent in calculating the number of unitsconsumed and the dangers in excess alcohol consumption.¹ Sowhat should we do? Australia's commonsense and research basedapproach was to legislate for compulsory labelling of alcoholicbeverages with "standard drinks." In the United Kingdom we areat least six years behind Australia, and only those drinks companiesand retailers in agreement with unit labelling are taking partin a voluntary scheme launched in 1999. Some companies could bepraised for their clear bold labelling, whereas others employtiny difficult to read symbols of dubioususe.

We called for the government to legislate for bold unit labelling on the front of alcoholic drink containers and this hasnow been supported by the Drug and Therapeutics Bulletin. ² ³ A natural conclusion for Ferner and Chambers would also be tocall for unitlabelling.

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