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Health Warning Statements

Our mission at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) istwofold. We protect the public from misleading or improperly labeled alcoholproducts, and we collect tax revenue from the alcohol, tobacco, and firearmsindustries. We carry out these responsibilities by developing regulations,testing product samples, and conducting investigations and audits to ensure thatindustry members follow all Federal laws.

The Federal Alcohol Administration (FAA) Act requires TTB to review and approve all alcohol labels and advertising. The law requires that we take stepsto do three things:

Prevent consumer deception,
Provide the consumer with adequate information about the product, and
Prevent product statements that are false or that may mislead the consumer.

In addition, Congress passed a law, the Alcoholic Beverage Labeling Act of1988, to require a Government warning statement on all containers of alcoholbeverages. Congress required the warning label to "inform and remind theAmerican public of the health hazards that may result from the consumption orabuse of alcoholic beverages."

This law specifies how the label should appear and the exact words to use. TTB must provide specific format requirements, such as the size of the letters,and to ensure that the alcohol labels we approve for the industry conform tothose requirements.

TTB is responsible for monitoring the warning statements that members of thealcohol and tobacco industry place on their product labels.