www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Los Angeles emergency rooms are reporting a growing number of teenagers coming in drunk after drinking cheap liquid hand sanitizer. The hand sanitizers, which contain over 60% ethyl alcohol and can make a 120-proof liquid, are becoming an increasingly popular route for getting drunk.

According to the Los Angeles Times, six teens have been reportedly taken to emergency rooms in the San Fernando Valley and treated for alcohol poisoning after drinking the hand sanitizers. In some cases, salt was used to separate the alcohol, so that it could be drunk straight, like a shot. Learning how to distill the sanitizer is not so difficult if you know how to look things up online.

Public health officials in the San Fernando Valley have described these cases as possibly a signal of a dangerous trend. ….
(Source: Medical News Today, 04/24/12)

Die EU-Kommission drängt auf eine Reduzierung vor allem der durch Alkohol verursachte tödlichen Verkehrsunfälle. Das Ziel des EU-Verkehrskommissars Siima Kallas ist es, dass in allen Mitgliedsländern die Promillegrenze für den Straßenverkehr maximal 0,5 Promille betragen sollte. Außerdem wolle die Kommission Pilotprojekte wie Wegfahrsperren im Wagen bei zu viel Alkohol prüfen. Langfristig plant die EU eine „Null-Version“.
(Quelle: Google Alkohol News, 25.4.12) news.at, 24.2.12

Countries need to recognize that alcohol consumption is a big and growing public health threat and take appropriate action, experts concluded at a WHO regional meeting on the prevention and control of the noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) through reduction of alcohol-related harm.

WHO Regional Director for the Western Pacific Dr Shin Young-soo opened the four-day meeting on 10 April by calling alcohol a „chief culprit“ behind the epidemic of noncommunicable diseases, which accounts for four out of every five deaths in the Western Pacific. …
Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/24/12) wpro.who.int, 19 April 2012

An exploration of alcohol research in history is available on the Alcohol Research UK blog. It is taken from a presentation by Professor Virginia Berridge given at the launch of Alcohol Research UK.

It highlights the connection between evidence and policy and practice is relatively recent – a connection which has risen with some force since the 1970s. The post explores:

– temperance investigation and how it became science
– interest in the action of alcohol on the body
– the particular impact of the First World War
– drink driving and science
– new influences coming from the US and WHO
– new directions in Britain after the Second World War
– the rise of ‘evidence’
– international networks

(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 04/20/12)

TELL L.A. City Public Safety Committee to Stop Sitting on the Motion to Ban Alcohol Ads on Public Property. Last summer, with your help, we banned alcohol ads from 6,000 bus benches in the City of Los Angeles. Now let’s ban alcohol ads completely from all Los Angeles public property.

Councilmember Richard Alarcón introduced a motion to ban alcohol ads city-wide last year, but the Public Safety Committee is refusing to bring the motion forward.
It’s time to mobilize, and organize to protect our children from „city-authorized“ alcohol ads!

SEND your letter to the L. A. Public Safety Committee Telling them to MOVE THE MOTION to Ban Alcohol Ads from All L.A Public Property!
TAKE ACTION NOW (Source: Alcohol Justice, 04/19/12)

Last month the Nebraska Supreme Court ruled that flavored malt beverages, also known as alcopops, are distilled spirits and should be classified and taxed as such, instead of the beer tax rate the state has been using. The ruling meant 12 times more alcopops tax revenue for the budget-beleaguered state, and less access to alcopops for youth, whom producers target with these products.

A ruling like that should have policymakers celebrating, wouldn’t you think? After all, their responsibility is to serve the health and welfare of the public they represent, along with keeping a balanced budget for the state. Or is it? Just one month after the ruling, state legislators effectively overturned the Nebraska Supreme Court’s decision with LB 824. Nebraska Governor Dave Heineman approved the legislation April 6. The new law keeps the status quo intact: taxing alcopops at the beer rate and keeping the products available wherever beer is sold. …

It’s no surprise to see certain legislators going out of their way to please the powerful alcohol industry lobby at the expense of the communities they are supposed to represent. However, we don’t often see a legislature deliberately override the state supreme court in order to make alcohol companies happy. Welcome to the Doghouse, Nebraska Legislature and Governor Heineman.
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 04/17/12)

Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers.

Last week, major producers from the alcohol industry together with the World Federation of Advertising presented The Responsible Marketing Pact which scales up self-regulation[1]..

As a response, Civil Society Organisations with diverse backgrounds are now reminding policy makers at European and Member State level about the need for better regulation and co-regulation, and urge the European Commission and Member States officials not to jump on easy solutions in a new EU Alcohol Strategy 2013-2020.

“It cannot be left to the producers of a harmful product to decide how, when and where it will be marketed. Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers. The content of this pact is basically the old ineffective measures of self-regulation in a new package. What we are witnessing are two powerful industries formally coming together to fight regulation- this is alarming”, says Mariann Skar, Secretary General of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance. …
Source: Eurocare.org, 04/25/12)
also: press release Active, 04/25/12)

Conclusion new research: Introduction of a legal ban on alcohol advertising is the only real solution

Young people in Europe are regularly confronted with alcohol advertising on television. New European research shows that the functioning of the so called self-regulation of alcohol marketing does not protect young people against the exposure of alcohol commercials.

This conclusion is in conflict with recent statements of the alcohol industry. This industry claims that self-regulation is functioning perfect and has to be expanded. The AMMIE researchers conclude that only a total ban on alcohol advertising can prevent the harmful impact of alcohol advertising on the drinking levels of young people.

The new research is a part of the AMMIE project (Alcohol Monitoring Marketing in Europe); the project is co-financed by the European Commission and coordinated by the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy (STAP). The research has been implemented in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands in cooperation with the John Hopkins Bloomberg School for Public Health in the US.

The summary report of the AMMIE project ‘Commercial promotion of drinking in Europe’ will be presented Thursday the 26th of April at the European Alcohol and Health Forum of the European Commission. …
(Source: EUCAM, Press release, Wednesday 25th of April 2012)

Über die Hälfte aller jungen Autofahrer ignorieren die Gefahren von Suchtmittel wie Alkohol oder Drogen am Steuer. Das ist das Ergebnis einer repräsentativen Umfrage im Auftrag von Goodyear. Knapp 58 Prozent der Befragten gab an, dass sie auch nach dem Genuss von Alkohol oder Drogen selbst Autofahren oder bei einem betrunkenem Fahrer einsteigen würden.

„Es wird schon gut gehen“, war die häufigste Begründung der Befragten (42 Prozent), wenn es um das Fahren unter Alkohol- oder Drogeneinfluss geht. 24 Prozent gaben zu, dass sie gar nicht über die Konsequenzen nachdenken, zehn Prozent behaupteten, sie könnten selbst gut einschätzen, ob sie nach ein paar Drinks noch fahrtüchtig seien oder nicht. Die Zahlen sind umso bedenklicher, da 26 Prozent angaben, bereits in einen Unfall verwickelt gewesen zu sein, bei dem Alkohol oder Drogen im Spiel waren. …
(Quelle: Google Alkohol News, 18.4.12) motorvision.de, 18.4.12

Europe’s eight biggest drinks makers have agreed to introduce continent-wide rules on the marketing of alcohol.
AB InBev, Bacardi, Brown-Forman, Carlsberg, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and SAB Miller will work with the World Federation of Advertisers (WFA) and national trade associations to establish and implement common standards on social media marketing and age appropriate advertising and scheduling in each of the 27 member states (see below).

Although a voluntary agreement, the move follows pressure from the European Commission’s flagship alcohol harm reduction initiative, the European Alcohol Health Forum (EAHF) to establish a set of harmonised rules across the European Union following concern that standards were fragmented. …
(Source: Alcohol Reports, News 16/2012) marketingweek.co.uk., 04/16/12