N.S. researchers to put booze warning labels to the test

A team at St. Francis Xavier University will soon be testing the effectiveness of alcohol warning labels.

Kara Thompson, the director of the substance use and health in the emerging adulthood lab at the university, recently received a federal grant worth $238,951 for the research.

She and her team will have craft brewers on tap to help create and design a label that states the negative consequences of drinking too much.

"If [craft brewers] voluntarily introduce warning labels to assist our consumers in making informed decisions, it's just another great example of corporate social responsibility," Thompson said.

A report about a link between cancer and alcohol consumption was published earlier this year. It stated consuming more than two drinks a week increases the risk of several types of cancer.

Thompson said most of the studies done on warning labels in the past have been done in a lab or online and "not in a real-world setting where people are actually purchasing containers with labels on them."

The study will involve informing consumers about alcohol risks before the labels are introduced. After that, the labels will be introduced to see if behaviours changed.

Brewer supports warning labels

Thompson said she and her team will then see if the consumers drank less, learned more about the project, or if they even noticed the labels at all.

Jeremy White, the owner of Big Spruce Brewing in Nyanza, N.S., said all risks associated with alcohol should be flagged. He said getting craft breweries involved with creating a warning label is an essential step.

"We trade on artwork and brandability that exists on those labels and we're going to want to make sure this is done in a way that can coexist with the things that do assist in selling our wares," White said.