SENATOR TARGETS WINE INSTITUTE

Thurmond calls for probe after labels are approved

SANTA ROSA -- One month after the wine industry won a stunning victory in
its battle to tout the health benefits of moderate wine consumption, Sen.
Strom Thurmond, R-S.C., has called for a federal investigation into whether
the Wine Institute in San Francisco ``conspired'' with friendly government
officials to promote alcohol.

The Senate's senior Republican, long a critic of the alcohol industry, said
Monday that he was concerned that the 1995 federal dietary guidelines were
improperly influenced by the Wine Institute, the wine industry's largest
trade group.

The 1995 guidelines were the first to refer to possible health benefits of
moderate alcohol consumption, and they were the basis for federal approval
46eb. 5 of two hotly debated wine labels that allude to those benefits.

After the guidelines were released Jan. 2, 1996, they became a centerpiece
of wine-industry promotions.

``Ever since the wine industry began using these dietary guidelines to
promote their product as part of a healthy lifestyle, I have been gravely
concerned that public policy was manipulated for the purposes of marketing a
potentially dangerous product,'' Thurmond said in a statement.

Wine Institute President John De Luca denied exerting improper influence on
the officials who set the guidelines.

``The changes in federal nutrition policy he deplores actually derive from
the latest scientific research findings and not from `political subterfuge,'
as he charges,'' De Luca said in a statement.

The bitter debate, building since the guidelines were released three years
ago, broke into open warfare after the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms finally approved the two educational labels sought for three
years by the industry.

One label urges consumers to consult with their family doctor about the
health effects of wine consumption. Another points consumers to the federal
government's ``Dietary Guidelines for Americans'' for information on the
health effects of wine.

46urious, Thurmond last week introduced legislation that would ban the two
new labels, nearly triple federal taxes on table wine to raise money to
finance studies of alcohol's effects, strip the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and Firearms of its power to approve wine labels and transfer that authority
to the Food and Drug Administration.

Monday, Thurmond called on the inspectors general at the departments of
Health and Human Services and of Agriculture to investigate whether the Wine
Institute had too much influence on key government officials charged with
developing the dietary guidelines.

De Luca defended the Wine Institute, saying it offers public comment each
time the guidelines are revised, as do many groups, and it expects to do so
again soon for the 2000 Dietary Guidelines.

Thurmond said he expected a reply from the inspectors general within about
two weeks and was optimistic they would launch an investigation, Thurmond
staff member John DeCrosta said.

Thurmond asked investigators to look into the relationship between Philip
Lee, a key official involved in developing the guidelines as assistant
secretary of health, and De Luca. Thurmond said Lee deleted references to
the ``drug effects'' of alcohol, inserted by an advisory committee, and
Thurmond wanted investigators to find out why.

Lee, who now heads the Institute for Health Policy Studies at UC-San
46rancisco, could not be reached for comment. But when the 1995 guidelines
were released, Lee said, ``In my personal view, wine with meals in
moderation is beneficial.''

De Luca said he has known Lee for many years.

``He is one of the most eminent public-policy academicians and
administrators,'' De Luca said.