BUSINESS: BEER EXECUTIVE'S COMMENTS DRAW FIRE FROM MADD

ST. LOUIS -- The chairman of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. is drawing criticism for suggesting it might be time to rethink the legal age for drinking.

August A. Busch III broached the sensitive topic in a speech last month at a convention of beer wholesalers in New Orleans. His comments have since appeared in industry newsletters.

Busch didn't specifically endorse lowering the legal drinking age, which has been 21 in every state for at least a dozen years.

He was quoted as saying: "We need to listen to those who say that a law that makes it illegal for college students to drink a beer is wrong and that it results in the very behavior that we are trying to fight. Bottom line: Instead of pretending that prohibition on college campuses is realistic, we should be investing in helping those young people learn to make healthy and responsible choices."

When a spokeswoman for Mothers Against Drunk Driving found out this week about Busch's comments, she was appalled.

"We would relentlessly fight any attempt at repeal or even any talk of repeal," Brandy Anderson said. "A large group of public health, medical and traffic safety groups would fight this tooth and nail."

A spokeswoman for the St. Louis-based brewery said the matter was an industrywide issue and offered no further comment.

According to the newsletter Alcohol Issues Insights, Busch also said: "We need to listen to those in the college administrative ranks who have said that part of the problem of abusive drinking by students may be caused by the fact that we have split the student body in two with the age 21 minimum drinking law. We have taken behavior that used to be permissible on college campuses, and we have driven it off campus and we have driven it underground."

But there's no groundswell of support among administrators to lower the drinking age, said Helen Stubbs of the Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention in Newton, Mass.

"It's pretty widely accepted this is an effective law, has saved lives and that it's going to stay that way," she said.