Originally Posted by Attilio

Well you can't really trust anything but as a mechanism anything that is able to grab people's attention has at least some nugget of truth behind it. What is less certain and variable is to be able to tease out that nugget of truth and what the propaganda spin is behind it, the latter is where the lies tend to be. Perhaps the best question to ask then is the legal Cui Bono which is normally how the courts start prosecuting white collar crime, who benefits usually explains what is going on. It's not the be all and end all of answers but but looking for conflicts of interest in any headline, story or say "piece of science" is a start. And with the alcohol thing I really don't see any conflicts of interest except against big liquor and government tax revenues! Perhaps the insurance industry might benefit as a whole but that is reaped from a benefit of the general public so it's most certainly not a conflict of interest.