THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, December 6, 1994 TAG: 9412060016
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A22 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Editorial
LENGTH: Short : 41 lines
A federal law that dates from 1937 prohibits beer makers from printing the alcohol content of their product on the label unless required by the states.
Coors has taken on this odd law and won in the lower courts. The case reached the Supreme Court last week. The Justice Department argued for keeping the law on the grounds that some buyers with weak wills won't be able to help grabbing the highest octane beer if offered an informed choice.
This is government not as Big Brother but as Big Nanny. It's also contradictory. On virtually every other food and beverage product, the government insists on full disclosure of the ingredients, the calories, the fat content, you name it. But it wants to keep customers in the dark about how much alcohol is in beer. Not wine. Not bourbon. Beer.
Furthermore, it apparently never occurred to the government lawyers that revealing alcohol content might have the opposite effect. Instead of encouraging bingers, many consumers might choose the beers with the lowest alcohol content if they knew what they were buying.
In fact, the government's position is so peculiar that it's hard not to suspect that the lawyers just couldn't bear to see a law - no matter how silly - removed from the books.
The Supreme Court is considering the case in light of a serious constitutional question. Recently the court has begun extending greater free-speech protections to commercial speech than has traditionally been granted. But it would be refreshing if the court would simply strike down this law as an example of pointless meddling by a government that ought to have better things to do. ILLUSTRATION: Beer
by CNB