“WARNINGS” & TAXES ON ALCOHOLIC BEVERAGES AND NO MORE COMMERCIALS: ASSOUTENTI- ITALIAN ASSOCIATION OF ALCOHOLISM’S POPULAR INITIATIVE, “BECAUSE THE WORLD HEALTH ORGANIZATION SAYS THAT ALCOHOL CAUSES CANCER” BUT THE WINE WORLD SAYS IT DOES NOT

“We’re not saying you can’t drink wine, but that who drinks alcoholic beverages should be informed of the risk they’re running”, explained Furio Truzzi, vice-president of Assoutenti in Liguria. The idea of the “Proposal of a popular initiative: information about the use and taxation of alcoholic beverages” created by Gianni Testino, vice-president of the Italian Association of Alcoholism is to tax alcoholic beverages according to their alcohol content, indicating clearly on the bottle label “Alcohol is dangerous to your health and causes cancer”, and put a tax on publicity equal to 3% of yearly revenue until 2022, when it will be prohibited in any form.
“We have just begun collecting signatures; the goal is to bring the proposal to Parliament by summer. And the motive is that the World Health Organization has inserted alcohol among the most harmful substances that cause cancer together with benzene and asbestos, and therefore the problem is not abuse but informed consumption: it is no longer possible to let a toxic substance circulate without informing the consumer. I myself am a wine drinker, but aware that I'm drinking a harmful substance, and accept the risk. And even though I know I live in a culture that for centuries has made alcohol an important part of its diet, it is important to be careful”.

And, how do those who point out the many studies that demonstrate the many benefits of alcohol, especially wine, consumed in moderate quantities, respond? “The official figures and the WHO figures of the