Now they want to regulate our drinking glasses

UK researchers have studied the shape of drinking glasses. Their conclusion is:

Our data indicate that the shape of a drinking glass influences the rate of drinking of an alcoholic beverage, but not a non-alcoholic beverage. Specifically, alcoholic beverages were consumed more slowly from a straight glass than a curved glass when a full glass was presented.

Naturally we need to be protected from ourselves, so they recommend legislators look at regulating drinking glasses. First they complain:

Other restrictions on availability, such as increased drinking age, reduced hours and days when alcohol may be purchased, and reduced number, density and type of alcohol outlet, have also been shown to reduce consumption levels [1]. Unfortunately, despite evidence for the effectiveness of these alcohol control measures and apparent public support for implementation targeted controls [7], most governments have been unwilling to adopt many or all of them [8].

That’s because not all alcohol consumption is bad.

Anyway they come up with a new regulatory idea:

There may be other potentially modifiable factors which may influence alcohol consumption and drinking rate. These might  include marketing signals (i.e., branding), and vehicles for these signals such as the glasses from which beverages are consumed.

So they’re effectively saying Governments could regulate the design of glasses, banning curved glasses as people drink more quickly from them!

What we’re seeing over time is all the measures that have been implemented or proposed for tobacco, getting extended to alcohol and then fast food.