“No safe level” ed etichettatura precauzionale degli alcolici: una questione da affrontare

[Machine translation] The recent Irish legislation on precautionary warnings in the labeling of alcohol has given rise to numerous controversies regarding the risk that an excessive demonization of alcohol consumption could destroy the market for products that for millennia have contributed to the construction of the cultural, social and economic identity of European peoples. The article is based on some recent scientific data, which have indicated the difficulty (if not, the impossibility) of identifying a “safe level of consumption” to evaluate whether regulatory initiatives such as the one described may be legitimate in the light of the complex division of competences between Member States and the European Union in the field of labeling, presentation and advertising of food, as well as on what principles the precautionary action of national legislators intending to protect the health of their citizens from the risk of alcoholism should be based. The article closes with some de jure condendum reflections on the future possibilities of avoiding conflicts (legal, commercial and cultural) that this regulatory fragmentation could determine, urging the restart of a dialogue at European level that failed in 2021 when a majority was not reached in the European Parliament on a specific regulatory proposal put forward by the EU Commission.