A recent study conducted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) suggests that a higher tax on beer relates to a decreasing rate of gonorrhea, one of the most common sexually transmitted diseases among young adults.
Many, however, are skeptical about the CDC findings.
“It sounds very peculiar,” University health educator Annie Dochnahl said. “Unless it was purposely set up to compare apples and oranges … it’s crappy science.”
The CDC report, “Gonorrhea Rates Decline with Higher Beer Tax,” is based on a national study of 36 states where the alcohol tax increased from 1981 to 1995. The results were compared to the changes in gonorrhea rates among people aged 15 to 24 in the states that raised the tax vs. states that did not, said Cynthia Glocker, spokeswoman for the CDC sexually transmitted disease division.
Both Glocker and Dochnahl said that there are numerous studies that correlate alcohol consumption with unprotected sex and sex with multiple partners.
“Alcohol has been linked to risky sexual behavior,” Glocker said. “More particularly, alcohol is associated with high risk sex that can cause STD transmission more easily.”
Glocker said that the beer tax increase is associated with a 75 percent decrease in the STD rate among 20- to 24-year-olds.
“CDC researchers estimate that a 20-cent state tax increase per six-pack of beer could reduce the U.S. gonorrhea rates by almost 9 percent,” according to the report.
CDC also reported that gonorrhea rates dropped in the states that increased the legal drinking age.
“The Department of Health and Human Services has highlighted higher alcohol prices and improved enforcement of the minimum legal drinking age regulations as potential strategies to further reduce teenage alcohol consumption,” the report suggested.
University Health Center director Dr. Gerald Fleischli said there are many variables that must be considered when this type of study is conducted and it doesn’t appear that the CDC results reflect all of the possibilities.
“I think this is a case where correlation is not the same as causation,” Fleischli said.
An editor’s note appears at the end of the CDC report that states there are limitations to the discovery.
“Given these limitations, the study findings … are consistent with but do not prove a causal relation between higher taxes and declining STD rates,” the footnote stated.