Australia to bottle up binge-drinking: minister

0 Comments | AFP, March, 2008

SYDNEY (AFP) — Australia's Health Minister Nicola Roxon Monday said the government was considering placing graphic warning labels on alcoholic drinks to combat the nation's urge to drink heavily.

The newly elected Labor government has already made fighting binge drinking among young people a priority, with Prime Minister Kevin Rudd saying he hoped to "scare the living daylights" out of boozing teenagers.

Roxon said labels, such as those on cigarette packets in Australia which carry photographs of the diseases linked to smoking such as gangrene, were being considered as part of an overall strategy.

"This is getting the balance right, it's about what we need to do with our laws and regulations but it's also about what we need to do within the community," she...