If Liberal Leader Jon Gerrard has his way, warning labels -- similar to those displayed on cigarette packages -- would be slapped on beer, wine and liquor to stop pregnant women from drinking.
Gerrard fought last week to resuscitate a bill that would force alcohol producers to label bottles and cans warning consumers that drinking during pregnancy causes Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) in unborn children.
"I believe that if we take the initiative, it won't be long before we get labelling all across Canada," Gerrard said. "Once we get the ball rolling, every province will follow suit and the federal government will come to the table."
But the Doer government has been lukewarm to Gerrard's private member's bill, which died in the house last month, even though an NDP MP has been battling Ottawa for the same kind of labels.
In 2001, the Liberal government passed a bill by MP Judy Wasylycia-Leis that would have legally required warning labels on the containers of every alcoholic beverage sold in Canada.
But after four Liberal health ministers failed to implement the bill, Harper pulled the initiative off the table in 2006.
Winnipeg North NDP MP Wasylycia-Leis said Gerrard needs to convince his Liberal counterparts in Ottawa to pressure the Tories into honouring the motion passed in 2001.
"It was a betrayal to Canadians dealing with FAS," said Wasylycia-Leis. "The beer lobby doesn't want to put anything on labels that takes away from their message that this is God's nectar."
Gerrard said Manitoba could save millions annually by reducing the incidence of FASD.
"A significant number of children end up in child and family services, and the criminal justice system. The cost to the provincial government is several million a year," he said.
However, Manitoba Healthy Living Minister Kerri Irvin-Ross said the bill for placing a label on 22 million bottles of alcohol sold in Manitoba every year would be between $2 million and $4 million -- well beyond the $200,000 the province spends annually in their FASD public awareness program called With Children - Without Alcohol.
"It hasn't been proven that labelling prevents FASD," Irvin-Ross said.
"We have a strong record on the work we do with FASD and think the money would be better spent on the front side in prevention and education." Irvin-Ross said warning labels would provide another avenue for spreading the word, but considering the hefty price-tag, it should be an initiative undertaken by federal government.
Over 20 countries currently mandate FASD warning labels on alcohol beverage containers, including Armenia, Spain, India, Guatemala and the United States.
Eva Carner, director of the NineZero project, an FASD public awareness campaign in the U.S., said there isn't any clear evidence that warning labels have reduced the incidence of FASD among American children. But she said providing health information on the product was a logical first step in a larger battle to educate the public about FASD.
"Anything you can do to stop it is well worth the time and money invested," Carner said.
paul.gackle@freepress.mb.ca
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