www.alkoholpolitik.ch

New Article Documents Alcohol Industry’s Vested Interests in State Regulation
In a peer-reviewed article in the February 2012 issue of Addiction, Sarah Mart, director of research at Alcohol Justice, has documented the alcohol industry’s excessive involvement in the annual National Conference of State Liquor Administrators (NCSLA) that took place in June 2010. More than two-thirds (72%) of the 187 meeting attendees, and 65% of the panelists, were from the alcohol industry. The rest represented state alcohol control systems and federal government agencies. Mart was the only participant representing public health policy. “Big Alcohol panelists sent regulators a warning message: Be industry-friendly. Don’t rock the boat of commerce with public health concerns, or your job may be on the line,” reported Mart. “The Federal officials that were present also spoke about supporting the industry, instead of protecting public safety.” Click here for the press release, and email info@alcoholjustice.org to request the full article.
(Source: Newsletter Alcohol Justice, 01/25/12)

Press Release IOGT-International, 01/21/12
Fifa, football’s world governing body, keeps insisting that alcohol must be sold at all venues hosting matches in the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. Fifa even speaks of a right to sell beer. But alcohol is currently banned from Brazilian stadiums as part of measures to reduce violence in football and to improve public health in general. The country’s health minister has urged Congress to maintain the ban in the new “World Cup law”.

But Fifa is not willing to accept these arguments and Secretary-General Jerome Valcke says: “Alcoholic drinks are part of the Fifa World Cup, so we’re going to have them. Excuse me if I sound a bit arrogant but that’s something we won’t negotiate.”

“No, we do not excuse your arrogance,” says Mr. Sven-Olov Carlsson, President of IOGT International, “and we cannot accept that Fifa is willing to jeopardize the fun of the game, the safety of children and families and the positive social development in Brazilian society.”
“We suggest Fifa to take a good, hard look at its own Corporate Social Responsibility because words should be followed by deeds,” urges Mr. Carlsson.

Fifa writes on its webpage: “Ensuring that the game of football reflects the highest values of society is essential to Fifa. Through its regulations and actions on and off the pitch, Fifa fights negative influences on the game and ensures that the fundamental values are respected.”

A WHO study carried out in (among others) Brazil, showed that about 46% of violence-related cases included alcohol use. The study also demonstrated that violence related injuries increase with alcohol use. Global evidence shows that alcohol marketing, like sports sponsorship, causes earlier onset of alcohol use among youth and heavier alcohol use for those already consuming. All over the world, alcohol is an obstacle for development and human dignity. It is the socially the most harmful drug.

“That’s why IOGT International strongly supports the Brazilian Health Minister and calls on the Brazilian Parliament to keep football stadiums free from alcohol,” says Mr. Carlsson and continues:
“Football is about creativity and freedom. Alcohol is not. So, why does Fifa force them together and knowingly accept that people will suffer? For the profit? We demand from Fifa to take its own words seriously and put people before profit. Let’s set football free.”

16-year-olds can currently buy beer and wine in stores, but must wait until they are 18 to be served in bars.
In an Opinion poll of 1,126 Danes conducted for Retail Institute Scandinavia, 73 percent said it was “a good idea” or “a very good idea” to forbid the sale of alcohol to individuals under 18.
Sharing that opinion was the health minister, Astrid Krag of the Socialistisk Folkeparti (SF).
“Danes’ high alcohol consumption is to blame for poor health and a lower life span, and especially among the younger population we have a problem that we must tackle,” Krag said to Berlingske newspaper. “Therefore, I’m happy to the see the opinion results and I believe that the age limit is one of the things we should adjust.” … (Source: Alcohol Reports – News, 01/09/12) theCopenhagenpost, 01/06/12

EUROPEAN COMMISSION, HEALTH & CONSUMERS DIRECTORATE-GENERAL, Directorate C – Public Health and Risk Assessment
Unit C4 – Health Determinants, Brussels 17 November 2011
Summary Report, 12/22/11

Addressing harmful use of alcohol is essential to realising the goals of the UN Resolution on non-communicable diseases (NCDs) And many other actual items, e.g.:
UNITED NATIONS ADOPT POLITICAL DECLARATION ON NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES
GAPA gives qualified Welcome to the Declaration
Conflict of Interest Coalition Statement of Concern
Alcohol consumption guidelines ‘inadequate for cancer prevention’: “No level of alcohol consumption without risk”
The Size and Burden of Mental Disorders and Other Disorders of the Brain in Europe – “It’s worse than we thought”
Valuable alcohol resource free to good home
Health Officials Advocate Measures to Curb Harmful Use of Alcohol in the Americas
(Source: ias.org.uk)

Warning labels aimed at pregnant women will be added to all alcohol products in New Zealand and Australia.

The Australian and New Zealand Ministerial Council on Food Regulation agreed to introduce labelling telling of the risks of drinking alcohol during pregnancy at a Melbourne meeting last week in response to the recommendations of the independent Food Policy and Labelling Review.
The labelling will be regulated in two year’s time. …
(Source: Alcohol Reports, News, 12/20/11) nzherald.co.nz, 12/16/11

Research that claims lifting the price of alcohol will not curb binge drinking has been denounced by a leading alcohol health promotion group.

The research, from Australia’s Griffith University, found there was no significant change to the number of occasions people engaged in binge drinking when the price of liquor rose.

However, price rises did increase the number of days people went alcohol-free, while the the number of days people consumed between one and four drinks (non-binge drinking) also fell.

But Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams said overall research had shown that price was one of the best tools available to reduce overall consumption and harm.

“Price is probably the sharpest tool in the shed as a mechanism for affecting harm. The overall research is very, very clear that it does target the things we need to target, which is the early drinking in young people, and the heavy drinking.”

The Law Commission recommendations on alcohol reform included a 50 per cent increase in excise tax, which would increase the price of alcohol by about 10 per cent on average.

The Griffith University research analysed household surveys of almost 80,000 people and asked them how their behaviour would change with a 1 per cent increase in the price of alcohol.

“There may be a need to broaden the net and better identify what policies can and cannot do and investigate alternatives to price increases,” researcher Joshua Byrnes said.

Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/20/11) stuff.co.nz, 12/18/11

Comment: No wonder they didn’t find a significant change when asking about an increase of 1 per cent. Even a 10% increase could be too little.

The financial crisis in Europe is affecting young people’s overall emotional well-being and capacity to learn. A report from Glasgow City Council highlights how pupils’ emotional stability underpins their ability to learn. In Estonia a notable rise in abuse of alcohol among youth is reported. However, EU countries report that social spending is bearing the heaviest austerity burden: e.g. the German “savings package” requires 37% of the savings to be taken from social spending.

At the same time the President of the European Commission Mr. Barroso finds the time to attend a gala of the alcohol lobbyist Brewers of Europe, to join their special interests by recognizing the “important contribution to European economy. And the value added of the sector to the economy is estimated at €50 Billion.”

The costs of the social harm caused by alcohol every year in the EU, however, are more than twice of that sum: €125 Billion.
“Mr. Barroso displays exactly the kind of thinking that got us into the crisis in the first place. Short-term profit thinking instead of long-term vision rooted in sustainable policies”, says Andrea Lavesson, President of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace.

The EU is the heaviest alcohol consuming region in the world. Only the economic consequences, let alone the social and democratic harm, are enormous: productivity losses because of alcohol (absenteeism, unemployment and premature death) amount to €59 Billion per year.
In the face of these facts, it remains a riddle how the President of the European Commission can say things like: “And indeed the Commission looks to your industry as a key partner in pushing forward our growth agenda towards a more smart, inclusive and sustainable Europe, our Europe 2020 agenda.” … (Source: JOINT PRESS RELEASE by Active and The European Youth Forum (YFJ), 25.11.11)

High level meeting, Brussels, 17 November 2011. The 9th meeting of the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action
(CNAPA) took place on 17 November 2011. For the first time Member States were represented at senior level, in addition to regular CNAPA members. Attendance was very high. The meeting was chaired by Despina Spanou, Principal Advisor with DG Health and Consumers and Chair of the European Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF). … (Source: EU-DG for Health and Consumers, 11/21/11)

Dear grown-ups, decision-makers in the European Parliament, in the national peoples’ representations, in the national governments and ministries, in the European Commission, We hope this letter finds you well.

We are not well. We are concerned because it looks like our future (is) broke.
In our organizations and for many of the young people and youth organizations we are cooperating with, the picture is clear: young Europeans are concerned, often even scared. We are extremely aware of the tremendous burden that is being put on each and every single young European, who will have to make huge efforts, work relentlessly to master the debt challenges collected and piled up by the grown-ups who have been making decisions in the past and do so today.
Millions of young Europeans – in youth organizations, schools, universities and the public places all over the continent – ask: how are we ever going to be able to pay back these paramount debts that exceed any form of imagination?

With this question came another realization: we, Europe’s youth, need the best possible conditions, tools and qualifications to be able to tackle the debt piled up by yesterday’s and today’s grown-ups. In that sense and in many other ways, it is wrong to cut and try and save money on education, youth facilities, culture. It is especially wrong when other measures go largely unnoticed. Therefore Active and (only) 30 of its members collected during 2 hours in Rome last weekend more than 130 postcards from people whom they met. 130 ideas what €125 Billion could be spent on – instead of paying for alcohol related harm every year. … (Source: Press Release activeeurope.org, 11/16/11)
Comment: This could be an essential part of the Occupy-movement.