The warnings – with images as graphic as those now on cigarette packets – will, it is proposed, cover 25 per cent of the bottle surface.
Permanent Secretary for Public Health Dr Narong Sahamethapat – now acting as minister – said the number of teenagers and women consuming alcohol has been on the rise. Eighty per cent of all road fatalities have also been linked to alcohol consumption.
The ministry is therefore determined to tackle this problem seriously in a bid to reduce the death toll.
The warnings must inform consumers of the dangers of alcohol consumption. They must also carry the phone number 0-2590-3342, which is for the complaint centre for cases involving cigarettes and alcohol, as well as the hotline for the centre, 1422.
The proposal to put warnings on alcohol is not new. It dates back at least four years, and has been strenuously opposed by alcohol companies, particularly in the large international groups, who put pressure on politicians not to back the idea.