Tiquilla Warning Label

The big emotional issue seems to be guns- yet over a dozen people  are killed in the U.S. by drunk driving in the time span of a typical school day. Maybe instead of restricting guns just to the Government, they should put labels on them as they do cigarettes?  I cannot figure out why people smoke even with warnings on the package telling of cancer danger (but they do)? I highly doubt if a warning on each bottle of alcohol would help either. Someone made a spoof commercial of what a warning label could sound like- I added photos several years ago- I could have added more dangers than they list. (ruined careers, broken marriages, ruined lives,,,,) To me it’s not funny- it’s sad and sick. Why not just say no, and just do not even try the first one. Maybe I could bring a student to the next fatality accident that is caused by drinking- it’s not a pretty scene. I have been called out to flag too many.       “Values are caught, not taught. 

Americans take 233 billion trips in cars each year. Of those, about one out of every two thousand trips are taken by those who are driving under the influence of alcohol.  Yet, almost one out of every three traffic deaths involve drunk driving.

Every 53 minutes on average, someone is killed in a drunk driving crash (9,878 people in total in 2011).  Every two minutes, someone is injured by a drunk driver.

Before you dive in, you should know that a number of factors affect the real odds of something, most especially your specific behavior. A surfer has a greater likelihood of being attacked by a shark than someone who never goes into the water. That being said, we rounded up some interesting general stats.

Odds of being diagnosed with cancer — 1 in 2

Turns out, cancer is only something that happens to someone else for 50 percent of us.

Odds of being a victim of a serious crime — 1 in 20

Serious crimes include things like murder, assault, robbery and rape.

Odds of being called to “Come on down!” on The Price is Right — 1 in 36

Given the stats on becoming a billionaire or winning the lotto, which we cover later, this is pretty good news.

Odds of being audited by the IRS — 1 in 175

We wish this one would switch places with some others on the list. As Charlie Brown would say, “good grief!”

Odds of being arrested while drunk driving — 1 in 200

With a designated driver, your chances are zero! Way better odds.

Odds of being born with 11 fingers or toes — 1 in 500

This means that if you follow 1,000 people on Twitter, one or two of them were probably born with an extra appendage.

Odds of dying from an injury in the next year — 1 in 1,820

We tend to think of injuries as minor, but they can be deadly.

Odds of dying in a car accident — Between 1 in 4,000 and 1 in 8,000

If you text while driving, you increase you chances by six times — the same as driving after four beers.

Odds of winning an Oscar — 1 in 11,500

Keep in mind, though, your odds are zero if you aren’t in the industry.

Odds of finding a pearl in an oyster — 1 in 12,000

Given how hard it is to shuck an oyster, we hardly think it’s worth it.

Odds of becoming a professional athlete — 1 in 22,000

We were hoping for the odds of marrying a pro athlete, but this will do.

Odds of going blind after laser eye surgery — 1 in 85,714

From our research, it seems this stat must be related to legal blindness, rather than total blindness, but consider whether it’s worth the risk.

Odds of dating a supermodel — 1 in 88,000

We'd venture a guess that these stats don't hold up when Leo DiCaprio is your competition. On the bright side, someone finally managed to take Adam Levine out of the equation.

Odds of dying in an airplane crash — 1 in 354,319

Not too bad as compared to cars... or bikes, on which you have a 1 in 4,147 chance of dying.

Odds of getting killed by fireworks — 1 in 616,488

About 66 percent of those occur on the Fourth of July.

Odds of being struck by lightning — 1 in 700,000

Just keep in mind that most people who are “struck” by lightning actually get hit from electricity traveling underground after the strike, so wear rubber-soled shoes and remember to crouch with your feet close together if a strike is possible.

Odds of becoming a billionaire — 1 in 7,000,000

Just keep in mind that some of the stats below show you how unlikely it is to become one by accident.

Odds of becoming President of the U.S. — 1 in 10,000,000

Considering the president is only elected every four years and may serve two terms, those ain’t bad odds.

Odds of getting attacked by a shark — 1 in 11,500,000 (that’s five a year)

Not even close to the animal that kills the most people per year.

• Cows — 22
• Ants — 30 
• Jellyfish — 40 
• Deer — 130 
• Hippos — 2,900 
• Humans — 16,260 

Shark Week will never be the same.

Odds of winning $1,000 in the McDonald’s Monopoly game — 1 in 36,950,005

You’re better off betting a financial-savvy-challenged friend a grand on a real game.

Odds of winning the Mega Millions lottery — 1 in 135,145,920

At least you can still be president, right?

Sources: Popular Science, Injury Prevention, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Ask the Odds, KGB Answers, Wikipedia, The Trauma Foundation

On December 10, 2012, five inmates incarcerated at the Idaho Correctional Institution filed a lawsuit against several nationally known beer and wine companies, claiming that their addiction to alcohol lead to their crimes.  The defendants included Miller Brewing Company, Anheuser-Busch Co., Adolph Coors Co., Brown-Furman Co., American Brands Inc., Pepsi-Cola, RJR Nabisco, Gallo’s Winery, Ernest Gallo and Julio Gallo.  The five inmates sought over $1 billion in damages.  The lawsuit is a product liability claim based on the theory that the companies failed to adequately warn that their products were addictive.

Failure-to-Warn

Manufacturers of products have a duty to provide adequate warnings to consumers about the dangers their products present.  If a product manufacturer knows or should have known about a risk of injury and fails to adequately disclose it, then under the product liability law theory of “failure-to-warn” the manufacturer may be liable to a consumer who is injured by the product.  However, an exception to a duty to warn is that manufacturers have no duty to warn consumers of commonly known dangers.

Lawsuits against Tobacco Companies

Since the 1950s thousands of people, who developed lung cancer from smoking cigarettes, filed  lawsuits against tobacco companies.  One of the  centerpiece claims for many of these lawsuits was that for years the tobacco industry was aware of the addictive qualities of cigarettes, as well as the health risks associated with cigarette smoking, and they failed to warn the public.  As a result, people developed lung cancer and other diseases.  However, early lawsuits against tobacco companies failed as tobacco companies disputed claims that cigarettes are harmful to health and hid evidence that proved that they knew otherwise.   Plaintiffs only started to win cases against tobacco companies when evidence proving that tobacco companies had knowledge of the dangers of cigarette companies for years and hid it.

Lawsuit against Alcohol Companies

While the Idaho lawsuit is reminiscent of the lawsuits against tobacco companies where plaintiffs claimed that tobacco companies failed to warn the public of known dangers of cigarette smoking, there remains an important difference.  In the tobacco cases, the claim was that tobacco companies hid that they knew of dangers associated with cigarette smoking, and in fact marketed cigarettes as being safe.  On the contrary, in the Idaho alcohol case the plaintiffs acknowledge that it is commonly known that alcohol is addictive.  However, the Idaho plaintiffs contend that alcohol use presents dangers beyond what is commonly known and the alcohol companies failed to warn of these dangers.  The danger is that there is a segment of the population that is predisposed to alcohol addiction and even one drink may lead to addiction.

A Flawed Argument?

The flaw in this argument is that it is impractical for alcohol companies to create a warning label that would adequately address all of the possible dangers that could affect people based on their genetic makeup.  In January, 2014, the United States District Court for the District of Idaho dismissed the complaint with prejudice.  However, the questions remain as to the impact of known dangers that could potentially affect only a small portion of the population.  What duty should a company have to warn in this type of case?
Alcohol addiction can increase the likelihood of drunk driving accidents. If you feel you have an addiction to alcohol or any other substance please seek help in your area.