Anyone who drinks too much will become 'ill' the following morning. Image Credit: sxc.hu
A court dealing with a case against an anti-hangover drinks company has ruled that hangovers are an 'illness'.
The next time you drink too much and have to go in to work with a thumping headache the following morning, it should be fine to tell your boss that you are genuinely ill and should take the day off... that is, at least, according to the verdict of a recent court case in Frankfurt, Germany.
The case had involved an unnamed company that had been making allegedly illegal health claims about its anti-hangover shots and drink powders.
Food and drink cannot be marketed as a treatment for illness, the court ruled.
"Information about a food product cannot ascribe any properties for preventing, treating or healing a human illness or give the impression of such a property," the ruling stated.
"By an illness, one should understand even small or temporary disruptions to the normal state or normal activity of the body."
So no food, or drink, can claim to help any illness... at all? Gluten free food comes to mind. As well as products with no tree nuts. Eating vegan, or any one of dozens of other diets, are supposed to provide various benefits. Can we sue now if they make any claims at all??
I'm not sure if you missed it, but it specifically states that 'Food And Drink' cannot claim to improve your health. Toothpaste and antiperspirants, to the best of my knowledge, are not 'Food And Drink'. I would assume, but am not sure, that as long as the packaging of the 'vegan food' or whatever does not say 'Will improve your health and you won't get cancer' or so on, it is fine. So, no, you can't sue. The reason this was a case is they claimed that drinking the product would cure their hangover. The company then would have said 'Well, hangover isn't an illness, so your law doesn't apply' a... [More]
Oh I did not miss it. THIS - "In its ruling, the court said illnesses included even small or temporary changes to the body's normal state." That is called setting Legal Precedent and all attorneys around the world use it when their courts make it. Get the joke now?
Perhaps a step in the right direction bringing some visibility. WHO estimates that as of 2010 there were 208 million people with alcoholism worldwide or 4.1% of the population over 15 years of age. Consider too, that alcoholism is a risk factor for suicide.
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