Small breweries across Canada say a proposed Senate law forcing cancer warning labels on alcohol would saddle them with massive costs and needless red tape.Blacklock's Reporter says Bill S-202, introduced in the Senate as an amendment to the Food and Drugs Act, would require all alcohol products to display health warnings about the risks of consumption. But craft brewers say the move is costly, confusing, and unnecessary.“In the Canadian marketplace there are about 1,200 craft breweries,” said Brad Goddard, chair of the Canadian Independent Craft Brewers and vice president of Big Rock Brewery in Calgary. “It would cost my business more than $100,000. We just went through this when we had to add an allergen warning telling people beer contains barley — something it’s contained for hundreds of years.”.Goddard told the Senate social affairs committee that beer drinkers already understand the risks. “I’ve never met anybody who thought beer was health food,” he said. “Nobody believes a glass of beer a day will make you faster, better, or stronger.”While craft brewers voiced their concerns, larger alcohol industry groups stayed silent. Committee chair Sen. Rosemary Moodie said Spirits Canada, Wine Growers of Canada, and several other organizations — including Beer Canada and the Canadian Chamber of Commerce — declined to appear before the committee..Health advocates, however, say the labels are needed. Dr. Margot Burnell, president of the Canadian Medical Association, testified that alcohol is one of the top three preventable causes of cancer, behind smoking and obesity. “Alcohol is linked to more than 200 health conditions and diseases,” said Burnell, including liver disease, heart problems, and complications in newborns.A similar proposal, Bill S-254, failed to pass in 2023. Critics of the new bill say forcing breweries to reprint all their labels again would hit small producers hardest — with little evidence it would change consumer behaviour.
