More than 100 members of Congress have called on the US government to “suspend” an influential study about the health risks of alcohol – as beer, wine and liquor manufacturers raise concerns that the panel that conducted the research will include anti-alcohol activists. Are employed.
one in Letter This week, US lawmakers, including Representatives Nicole Malliotakis and Mike Lawler of New York, noted the fact that the study is being conducted by a group called the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking – or ICCPUD.
Alcohol officials fear the study could include stricter recommendations against alcohol use as it does advice on the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines for Americans, which are due for regular five-year updates in 2025.
“If the guidelines change and consumers can reduce their alcohol consumption it will have a massive impact,” said Michael Kaiser, executive director of the trade group. WineAmericatold The Post. “People will buy fewer bottles for consumption at home and may wait until they go out on the weekend.”
HSS has not commented publicly on its decision to hire ICCPUD for the study, and did not respond to The Post’s requests for comment.
“HSS has provided no explanation, and that is the crux of the problem,” Kaiser said. “All signs point to an anti-alcohol movement.”
The lawmakers – many of them from beer, wine and liquor producing states including California, Washington and Kentucky – blasted the “secret process at ICCPUD” and claimed the group’s researchers were “not properly screened for conflicts of interest.” Was done”. Monday’s letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra and USDA Secretary Thomas Vilsack.
The researchers also include Dr. Tim Namey, who previously recommended that adult men consume no more than one drink a day — up from the two drinks a day recommended by the U.S. government’s dietary guidelines for Americans since 1980. is less. The DGA recommends one drink per day for women.
Others on the six-member DGA panel include Jürgen Rehm, senior scientist at the Center for Addiction and Mental Health; and Kevin Shields, a scientist who runs the World Health Organization center on addiction.
Last year, a WHO report It concluded that “no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health” – the first serious warning of this kind from the influential global non-profit.
Signers of the letter also include Rep. James Comer (R-Ky.), who subpoenaed documents from the USDA on Sept. 30 and demanded more transparency from the agency about how the ICCPUD findings were collected and the new dietary guidelines. This will be used to determine.
A week later, 110 members of Congress asked both the USDA and HSS to cancel the ICCPUD study altogether, noting that another group – the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine, or NASEM – had long Has conducted and is also conducting research on alcohol consumption. A study that was authorized by Congress.
He also said that “Interested stakeholders had limited opportunities to comment and observe at all except one public meeting held in early August.”
Another trade group representing wine manufacturers –Distilled Spirits Council of the United States – Accused ICCPUD of “exaggeration” and pushing the agenda of “biased anti-alcohol advocates”.
“We want to do it the way it’s always been done,” Kaiser said of NASEM’s decades-long role in shaping wine recommendations.
The entire scientific community is not against alcohol.
“It is tempting to assume that because heavy alcohol consumption is so bad, moderate amounts must be at least slightly harmful. But the science isn’t there,” according to one Harvard Public Health Editorial in August.
While in the 1980s and 1990s the wine industry – especially red wine – had benefited from research showing that drinking wine was healthy, “now the pendulum has swung so far in the opposite direction that contemporary narratives suggest that wine Every ounce is dangerous,” according to the editorial.
“Now, we’re told one glass at lunch can kill you,” complained wine importer Michael Yurch in an interview with The Post. “Why did it suddenly become so bad for you?”
Industry experts say worldwide wine consumption fell 4% last year to a 27-year low as consumers fretted about high prices fueled by inflation and spirits eroded wine’s market share.
Spirits consumption in the US is down 3% and beer consumption is down 3.5% in the first seven months of 2024, according to global beverage data and analytics firm IWSR.
Young people drink less alcohol than previous generationsAccording to the report, while NAlcoholic beverages are seen as a rapidly growing niche market, legalization of marijuana Experts say that it has also contributed in reducing the sale of liquor in many states.
