The brightly colored labels began appearing on bottles and cans of beer, wine and liquor in a government-owned store in Yukon Territory a month before Christmas.

The brainchild of a research project financed by the Canadian government on how to prevent excessive drinking, the labels warned of the health risks of alcohol consumption and were meant to be in place for eight months as an experiment.

But within a month, the experiment was halted.

The government stopped affixing the labels after several alcohol industry lobbying groups challenged both the research study and the legality of the government’s participation.

John Streicker, the member of the Yukon government’s cabinet responsible for the territory’s liquor stores, said he believed that the government faced litigation if it continued to use the researchers’ labels.