Article content continued

A third label is in the works that will explain what constitutes a standard drink — five ounces of wine, 12 ounces of beer or 1.5 ounces of spirits.

Because Yukon is a relatively tiny jurisdiction that could not dictate labelling to most suppliers, Yukon Liquor Corporation staff — and Hobin — had to affix the stickers to thousands of bottles for the rollout in Whitehorse.

A spokesman for Canada’s liquor industry said it is good to provide consumers with accurate information, but questioned why the warning labels discuss only cancer and other risks, and not the possible benefits for heart health.

“Simply presenting all the negatives all the time, and not the positive, is I’m not sure terribly helpful,” said Jann Westcott, president of Spirits Canada. “You have to have both messages there, because otherwise it comes off as a kind of scare message. You mention the word cancer, and people freak out. And rightfully so.”

But Hobin said the evidence of health benefits is “very conflicting,” a view echoed by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and other groups. A 2014 report by Swedish medical organizations concluded that the science suggesting moderate drinking can prevent some heart disease is “weak” at best, while the known harms far outweigh any arguable benefits.

One of the recent label studies by Hobin, University of Victoria’s Kate Vallance and others reported on focus groups held in the territory, concluding there was “strong support” for warnings, with participants favouring larger ones that included pictograms.