www.alkoholpolitik.ch

…FDA Tells Drinks Makers
The FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has told four drinks companies that adding caffeine to malt alcoholic drinks is an „unsafe food additive“. The FDA Warning Letters added that federal law allows for further action, including confiscation of malt alcoholic beverages with caffeine added. These drinks are a public health concern, the FDA wrote in a communiqué.
The FDA says it looked at studies and peer-reviewed documents about the consumption of alcohol mixed with caffeine, as well as talking to toxicologists, neuropharmacologists, emergency room doctors and epidemiologists. It also examined data provided by drinks makers. Laboratory analyses of alcoholic drinks with caffeine added were also carried out independently by the FDA. (Source: Medical News Today, 11/17/10)

Energy Drinks können das Risiko für Alkoholabhängigkeit steigern. Zu diesem Schluss kam ein US-amerikanisches Forscherteam der University of Maryland und Johns Hopkins University. Die Ergebnisse der Untersuchung sind online in der Fachzeitschrift „Alcoholism: Clinical & Experimental Research“ erschienen (doi: 10.1111/j.1530-0277.2010.01352.x).
Für die Studie verwendeten die Wissenschaftler Daten von mehr als 1000 Studenten, die über ihr Trinkverhalten bezüglich Energy Drinks und Alkohol in den vergangenen zwölf Monaten befragt worden waren. (Quelle: netdoktor.de, 18.11.10)

Alcohol industry called upon to take more effective action!
Ahead of the next Alcohol and Health Forum meetings, public health experts and NGOs in the Forum have issued an Open Letter to its members calling upon the alcohol industry to take responsibility for their share of the problems caused by their products in Europe.
The EU Alcohol and Health Forum (EAHF) will meet this Thursday and Friday under the auspices of the new Director General, Ms. Paola Testori Coggi. These meetings will mark the beginning of a new era in the Forum.
There have been several positive outcomes of the Forum, in terms of discussions and reports produced. Furthermore, it has increased action and coordination among NGOs.
However, the NGOs in the Forum feel that it could achieve a lot more if the economic operators have not been continously trying to divert attention into unproductive areas. see Open Letter: eurocare_openforum20101117b

This European Youth Organisation has started with a Newsflash, reporting on new developments in alcohol politics:
Newsflash of this week brings you updates on what’s the connection between alcohol and energy drinks. Besides that you can read about Active’s premier at Alcohol and Health Forum featuring Adrian Farner Rogne; you can take a short trip to the past and visit our seminar in Berlin held in the end of October 2010 and check out what’s going on in the field of Active’s press releases.

Draft Programme datet 11/05/10
Some headlines: WHO-Resolution, FASD-actions, The RAYPRO web resource, The (mystery) buyer, EU Alcohol Strategy implementation

A statewide commission will urge legislators to create a drug czar to oversee drug and alcohol addiction programs.
Healthcare costs associated with alcohol and drug abuse amounted to $3.2 billion during 2006 in Oregon – while 70 percent of people who were incarcerated had a substance abuse problem. Attorney General John Kroger made this quite clear when he spoke to a legislative health policy committee recently. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 11/17/10) thelundreport.org, 11/15/10

Caffeinated alcoholic beverages such as Four Loko have come under fire from lawmakers and public health officials in recent weeks, following reports of hospitalizations and even some deaths tied to the potent drinks.
Now, a new study suggests that combining caffeine and alcohol can pose a risk to young people even when the substances aren’t mixed in the same can or cup. College students who consume nonalcoholic energy drinks such as Red Bull at least once a week are more than twice as likely as their peers to show signs of alcohol dependence, including withdrawal symptoms and an inability to cut back on drinking, according to the study. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 11/17/10) health.com, 11/16/10

Facing public pressure and a likely regulatory ban, the maker of Four Loko says it is dropping caffeine and two other ingredients from the alcoholic drink popular with students.
Phusion Projects announced Tuesday night that it would reformulate its energy drinks to remove caffeine, guarana and taurine. The move comes as a federal government ruling against Four Loko and some 40 to 50 drinks like it is apparently imminent. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 11/17/10) aolnews.com, 11/17/10

A Systematic Review of Interventions and Approaches. Many efforts to reduce family violence are documented in the published literature.
We conducted a systematic review of interventions intended to prevent family violence in Aboriginal communities. We retrieved studies published up to October 2009; 506 papers included one systematic review, two randomized controlled trials, and fourteen nonrandomized studies or reviews.
Read Full Article (PDF) (Source: Alcohol Report, 11/16/10)

A new report from Health Department suggests the toll is large and, by some measures, growing.
Excessive drinking kills approximately 1,500 NYC adults each year, according to the new report, Health Consequences of Alcohol Use in New York City. Alcohol also contributes to a tenth of all hospitalizations in the city – nearly 100,000 each year – and prompts 78,000 visits to hospital emergency departments, with a rate that more than doubled between 2003 and 2009. Read Full Report (PDF)