Bid for warnings on alcohol bottles

[webfact]

Bid for warnings on alcohol bottles
Poungchompoo Prasert
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- The Public Health Ministry's Disease Control Department aims on pushing for the draft law to have a warning image and message on alcohol bottles and a draft law for a strict ban of alcoholic beverages on trains.

Office of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Committee director Dr Saman Futrakul said the draft would soon be submitted to the National Alcohol Beverage Policy Committee for consideration.

The draft content included the requirement for alcohol beverage manufacturers to put an image and message that warned about dangers of alcohol consumption on the bottles and packaging boxes, he said. The warning section should cover at least one fourth of label space.

The image, a picture of drunk-driving accident, would run with a warning message and the alcohol and cigarette hotline number 1422 or 0-2590-3342, he said.

The punishment for not showing such sign would be one year in prison and/or a Bt100,000 in fine. The draft law for the alcohol ban on trains set the punishment as six months in prison and/or Bt10,000 fine.

Stop Drink Network director Teera Watcharapranee commented that the two draft laws would be another strategy to control youths' alcohol drinking problems.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/national/Bid-for-warnings-on-alcohol-bottles-30243454.html


-- The Nation 2014-09-17

[worgeordie]

The proposed fines and prison terms,are a lot higher and more severe

than other much more serious crimes,does that make sense?

regards Worgeordie

[halloween]

Strict ban on alcohol on trains because of the bad behaviour of the few. In other situations, this would be known as collective punishment.

With the exception of the Eastern Line, I have travelled the full extent of the Thai rail system, tolerated badly designed seats, poor tracks, interminable delays and late arrivals with quiet resignation and a cold beer. Can I suggest that the bureaucrats involved are unlikely to have ever been on a long distance train?

[NongKhaiKid]

Strict ban on alcohol on trains because of the bad behaviour of the few. In other situations, this would be known as collective punishment.

With the exception of the Eastern Line, I have travelled the full extent of the Thai rail system, tolerated badly designed seats, poor tracks, interminable delays and late arrivals with quiet resignation and a cold beer. Can I suggest that the bureaucrats involved are unlikely to have ever been on a long distance train?

A former Minister of Transport went on a ' secret ' train journey in one of the lower classes but wouldn't you know it, a television news crew just happened to be on the train too.

He also tried to take a bus to the airport but after waiting an hour and fearing he would miss his flight he called for his official car which just ' happened ' to be nearby.

Yes, top officials know all about travel on public transport.

[Bkungbank]

Smoking, alcohol and teen pregnancy in Thai teen society are alarming. We cannot force them by laws but just proper educations, adult rule model and society acceptance on such bad behaviour are important factors.

Drinking is such wasted of money for youngster as such money will spend on books and other sports will benefit the whole country. Currently after drinking party fighting and unwanted pregnancy will follow causing many trouble to others and tax payer money.

[ETatBKK]

every Wednesday morning before the garbage truck comes, I line up all my Singha bottles or wine bottles of the week in front of the trash bin ( for easy collection ). of course the garbage guys laugh about it.

I think I have to stop doing it under the new initiative, otherwise I may get a fine for 'promoting alcohol' :- (

[HiSoLowSoNoSo]

Very bad for the tourism business if they do this.

[gemini81]

Warning: extremely overtaxed.

[ToddinChonburi]

Fat, Drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life

[madmitch]

There was a rape on a train a few months ago, hence the usual Thai-style reaction to believe that banning alcohol on trains will prevent further such incidents.

Does this mean that after the events of two days ago in Koh Tao, that alcohol will be banned on beaches?

[bushwacker]

Great idea. Put a picture on a bottle and that will solve the problem. Good use of the Minister's time.

[h90]

Trains were always promoted as safe alternative to driving drunk.

Go with the train...enjoy a beer, etc etc....

[poohy]

Warnings on Cigarettes! now beer and very soon beaches I reckon!

[Neilly]

[halloween]

Fat, Drunk, and stupid is no way to go through life

is this a suicide note?

[ginjag]

Great idea. Put a picture on a bottle and that will solve the problem. Good use of the Minister's time.

Mega problem here is high content of alcohol on a bottle of Nong Khai Khon Khen etc white whisky. at a low price so 4 people can be plastered from 1 bottle cost to get into an angry frame of mind 25 baht.

This brand should be banned-or quadrupled in price from it's 90 baht per bottle. Stop the road carnage---serious fights---and giving some Thais a dead brain. Lads follow their fathers in rural areas---drink this poison is the norm. not forgetting mums drink this as well.

This drink is BIG mega business, hence the reason little is done.

Trains are highlighted because of 1 offence recently of rape/death. OK But what laos Khao does every day is on mega proportions. PM fix this.

[WhizBang]

Strict ban on alcohol on trains because of the bad behaviour of the few. In other situations, this would be known as collective punishment.

With the exception of the Eastern Line, I have travelled the full extent of the Thai rail system, tolerated badly designed seats, poor tracks, interminable delays and late arrivals with quiet resignation and a cold beer. Can I suggest that the bureaucrats involved are unlikely to have ever been on a long distance train?

If you cannot go for a few hours without an alcohol fix, I think you may have much bigger problems than you may realize.

As for Thailand's drinking problem, they should strictly enfore laws concerning drinking and driving. An alcohol tax based on alcohol content would also not be amiss.

[jayjayjayjay]

How to stop this rot

[halloween]

Strict ban on alcohol on trains because of the bad behaviour of the few. In other situations, this would be known as collective punishment.

With the exception of the Eastern Line, I have travelled the full extent of the Thai rail system, tolerated badly designed seats, poor tracks, interminable delays and late arrivals with quiet resignation and a cold beer. Can I suggest that the bureaucrats involved are unlikely to have ever been on a long distance train?

If you cannot go for a few hours without an alcohol fix, I think you may have much bigger problems than you may realize.

As for Thailand's drinking problem, they should strictly enfore laws concerning drinking and driving. An alcohol tax based on alcohol content would also not be amiss.

The only problem I have is with patronising morons who equates anybody who likes a beer with an alcoholic. Long distance trains here are slow, averaging 50-60km/h, and take considerably longer than "a few hours", 12-13 being the norm for BKK-Surat Thani. On this trip it is my habit to get totally rat-faced, pass out in alcoholic stupor and wake devoid of all my possessions except for a carrot in my anus - according to some.

[Cats4ever]

If there is a problem, this will not solve it. The wowsers of the world have not learnt from the battles of the twenties, that were unsuccessful for their cause. If you don't drink, that is fine; please let me make my own choice.

Edited September 17, 2014 by Cats4ever

[hyperdimension]

If you don't drink, that is fine; please let me make my own choice.

The same should go for other recreational drugs.

I support providing information about the drug on or in the packaging, but a lot depends on the content of the information. It shouldn't be the usual "don't do it, you'll die" kind of scare mongering, which seems to be what is being pushed in this case with retail ethanol. The informational content instead should cover scientific facts and guidelines about how to reduce harm such as:

• safe dosage range (could be per body weight)
• specific other drugs that should not be consumed at the same time
• particular actions to take in case problems arise

What proportion of people would be able to answer each the above three in the case of ethanol? Can you?

[h90]

If you don't drink, that is fine; please let me make my own choice.

The same should go for other recreational drugs.

I support providing information about the drug on or in the packaging, but a lot depends on the content of the information. It shouldn't be the usual "don't do it, you'll die" kind of scare mongering, which seems to be what is being pushed in this case with retail ethanol. The informational content instead should cover scientific facts and guidelines about how to reduce harm such as:

• safe dosage range (could be per body weight)
• specific other drugs that should not be consumed at the same time
• particular actions to take in case problems arise

What proportion of people would be able to answer each the above three in the case of ethanol? Can you?

Well the safe dose depends on the person.....there are people who drink a bottle whiskey per day until they are 80, than they reduce it a bit. While I know girls who get an hangover if they drink 2 glass of wine.

When I was in school they did the usual "don't do that, you'll die" for smoke, alcohol, heroin (actually all the hardcore drugs were all the same....and injected) with no difference. You see your old grandpa smoking and drinking and he doesn't die, so you figure out it is stupid propaganda and don't believe it when someone sells you some hardcore drug.

Real information is the solution......Let some former Alci speak (in a other school they let former drug addicts speak) with photos and let him explain how he lost everything due to his drinking.....real life informations.

[Gonsalviz]

How ridiculous to force bottlers to attach a lable with warnings that everyone already knows.

The exception would be California because everything causes cancer in Cali.

[hyperdimension]

Well the safe dose depends on the person.....there are people who drink a bottle whiskey per day until they are 80, than they reduce it a bit. While I know girls who get an hangover if they drink 2 glass of wine.

That's not a valid reason for omitting any recommended safe dosage. Average or median values derived from statistics could be used. Any substance can become dangerous if too much is consumed.

[hyperdimension]

How ridiculous to force bottlers to attach a lable with warnings that everyone already knows.

Are you sure that everyone knows about safe consumption of recreational drugs? Not everyone is as well-informed and educated as us. Even amongst us, I feel that there are many who are still uninformed of facts, even ignorant of or unwilling to accept any information that they disagree with or go against their long-held (but now outdated) beliefs.

Each drug has its own safety considerations. Currently there are no safety guidelines that come with the purchase of ethanol products. Any strong psychoactive drug should come with safety information; if not in writing then at least verbally from the drug dealer / pharmacist / salesperson.

I promote safe and responsible consumption of recreational drugs regardless of whether they are legal or not.

[nisakiman]

The U.S. public health establishment buries overwhelming evidence that abstinence is a cause of heart disease and early death. People deserve to know that alcohol gives most of us a higher life expectancy—even if consumed above recommended limits.

http://www.psmag.com/navigation/health-and-behavior/truth-wont-admit-drinking-healthy-87891/

The usual puritanical prohibitionists singing their usual song of exaggeration and scaremongering. Those people (a small minority) who have a problem with alcohol will be unaffected by any gruesome photoshopped medico-porn or hyperbolic warnings; they will simply ignore it. All it would achieve (same as in the garbage plastered all over cigarette packs), is the further uglification of the things around us, and the massaging of the egos of the self-righteous. Nobody takes a blind bit of notice of the message. I can just imagine how that expensive bottle of claret will look on the dinner table, plastered with pictures of diseased livers. Lovely.

If you cannot go for a few hours without an alcohol fix, I think you may have much bigger problems than you may realize.

That misses the point entirely. Given that drinking alcohol on trains almost never causes problems, and given that it is very pleasant to while away the hours on the train sipping a cold beer or two, this seems like a sledgehammer solution to a non-existent problem. These people proposing stupid laws like this really ought to get a grip. We are not children, we are autonomous adults, and capable of making our own decisions. We don't need (or want) interfering busybodies trying to coerce us into a lifestyle that they personally approve of. If that's the way they want to live then that's fine; I'm a live and let live type of person. But when they start telling me how I should live my life, then they can just f**ck off.

[halloween]

Well the safe dose depends on the person.....there are people who drink a bottle whiskey per day until they are 80, than they reduce it a bit. While I know girls who get an hangover if they drink 2 glass of wine.

That's not a valid reason for omitting any recommended safe dosage. Average or median values derived from statistics could be used. Any substance can become dangerous if too much is consumed.

One effective way of raising the average IQ of the population would be to remove all the warning labels and let nature take its course.

Drinking too much water can kill you, eating too much salt can kill you (and the amount is amazingly small). Should bottled water, taps even, and saltshakers have warning labels too? If not, why not?

[hyperdimension]

Well the safe dose depends on the person.....there are people who drink a bottle whiskey per day until they are 80, than they reduce it a bit. While I know girls who get an hangover if they drink 2 glass of wine.

That's not a valid reason for omitting any recommended safe dosage. Average or median values derived from statistics could be used. Any substance can become dangerous if too much is consumed.

One effective way of raising the average IQ of the population would be to remove all the warning labels and let nature take its course.

One problem with that appraoch is that the people who engage in dangerous drug consumption behavior may affect the health or lives of other innocent people, especially in the case of driving a vehicle whilst experiencing the effects of recreational drugs such as ethanol. Should there be a safety guideline on ethanol products that suggests not to drive within x hours of consumption? Such a written guideline may at least cause some consumers to rethink their decision to drive a vehicle and then change their mind.

Like a lot of you, I don't agree with having ugly pictures being displayed all over the packaging of your much-loved drug ethanol. But do you agree that some safety guidelines should be included for such a powerfully psychoactive drug? You may not need them, but there are others in society who could be better informed.

Edited September 18, 2014 by hyperdimension

[nisakiman]

Well the safe dose depends on the person.....there are people who drink a bottle whiskey per day until they are 80, than they reduce it a bit. While I know girls who get an hangover if they drink 2 glass of wine.

That's not a valid reason for omitting any recommended safe dosage. Average or median values derived from statistics could be used. Any substance can become dangerous if too much is consumed.

One effective way of raising the average IQ of the population would be to remove all the warning labels and let nature take its course.

One problem with that appraoch is that the people who engage in dangerous drug consumption behavior may affect the health or lives of other innocent people, especially in the case of driving a vehicle whilst experiencing the effects of recreational drugs such as ethanol. Should there be a safety guideline on ethanol products that suggests not to drive within x hours of consumption? Such a written guideline may at least cause some consumers to rethink their decision to drive a vehicle and then change their mind.

Like a lot of you, I don't agree with having ugly pictures being displayed all over the packaging of your much-loved drug ethanol. But do you agree that some safety guidelines should be included for such a powerfully psychoactive drug? You may not need them, but there are others in society who could be better informed.

I would have thought that unless they've been living on another planet, everyone these days is aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, and also know that it is against the law. I seriously doubt that putting warnings on the label will make any difference at all.

[hyperdimension]

That's not a valid reason for omitting any recommended safe dosage. Average or median values derived from statistics could be used. Any substance can become dangerous if too much is consumed.

One effective way of raising the average IQ of the population would be to remove all the warning labels and let nature take its course.

One problem with that appraoch is that the people who engage in dangerous drug consumption behavior may affect the health or lives of other innocent people, especially in the case of driving a vehicle whilst experiencing the effects of recreational drugs such as ethanol. Should there be a safety guideline on ethanol products that suggests not to drive within x hours of consumption? Such a written guideline may at least cause some consumers to rethink their decision to drive a vehicle and then change their mind.

Like a lot of you, I don't agree with having ugly pictures being displayed all over the packaging of your much-loved drug ethanol. But do you agree that some safety guidelines should be included for such a powerfully psychoactive drug? You may not need them, but there are others in society who could be better informed.

I would have thought that unless they've been living on another planet, everyone these days is aware of the dangers of drinking and driving, and also know that it is against the law. I seriously doubt that putting warnings on the label will make any difference at all.

I understand your point of view. However we shouldn't simply make assumptions about other peoples' awareness. Some people, particularly those of low IQ that member halloween refers to, need to be repeatedly reminded. Even if putting such a safety guideline on a strongly psychoactive drug product reduces deaths on the road by 1%, would it have been worth it?

Drugs that you can buy from pharmacies come with a lot of information, including dosage and timing, expected effects and side effects, and warnings. Not everyone reads them, but there are many who do in order to consume the drug in the most effective and safest way. Recreational drug manufacturers should do the same in order to ensure an optimally high enjoyment-to-harm ratio in their customers.