Australian group calls for alcohol ad ban

SYDNEY, April 3 (UPI) -- The head of the Australian Medical Association says the alcohol industry should stop advertising its products on television until late night.

AMA Federal President Dr. Rosanna Capolingua said all alcohol product companies should follow the example set by the distilling industry, which is set to impose a ban on all TV advertisements before 9 p.m., the Australian Broadcasting Corp. said online Friday.

"It's welcoming to see that one part of the alcohol industry has taken some responsibility and decided to ban television advertising before 9 p.m.," Capolingua said of the ban, set to go into effect July 1.

"But they represent only 20 percent of the total alcohol industry; there's 80 percent left out there that are still going to be heavily influencing the market with advertising."

Steve Fielding, a senator for the state of Victoria, told ABC the government should become more active in fighting binge drinking by targeting alcohol advertisements.

"I think this just exposes the government, that they're hiding behind a blatant tax grab rather than actually getting in there and actually putting real actions in place and stopping the crazy link between alcohol advertising and sport," Fielding said.