Australia: Alcohol Lobby Pushes to Weaken Public Health (Again)

In July, last year the Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation adopted mandatory pregnancy warning labeling for alcohol products, recommended by the Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ).
The latest attack of the alcohol lobby is to push for Food Standards Australia New Zealand (FSANZ) to be moved from the Health Department to the Agriculture portfolio. This could significantly weaken the regulator and could affect the rollout of the pregnancy warning labels by 2023.
Attacking institutions that prioritize the public interest and threaten the private profit interests of the alcohol industry is one strategy. Other strategies have come under scrutiny through ABC News reporting about Big Gambling – and even here Big Alcohol is entangled.