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Underage and heavy drinking on college campuses continue to be issues for college administrators. While some campuses, such as the University of Missouri, have made strides in efforts to reduce heavy drinking on campus, administrators are continually trying to educate students about the risks of excessive drinking. Now, two MU psychologists have found that students who viewed images of beer cans packaged and displayed in university colors believed that drinking beer was less dangerous than those students who saw images of regular beer cans. …(Source: Medical News Today, 11/13/10)

30 Million underage youth view beer ads on Super Bowl Sunday.
Help Marin Institute fight back against Big Alcohol advertising during TV Sports events with our Free The Bowl contest. The more alcohol ads kids see, the more likely they are to drink.
10.7 million underage youth drink; 7.2 million binge drink. Our Free the Bowl video contest empowers youth (ages 10-20) to make original „counter-beer-ads“ to speak out against bombarding youth with beer ads during TV sports events like the Super Bowl. Help us launch our 2011 Free The Bowl contest on November17th—and give youth video a voice.
Anheuser-Busch InBev spends over $14 million on Super Bowl beer ads. Your donation can help counter that power. (Source: Marin Institute, 11/11/10)

This week, CNN, CBS, and NBC covered recent disturbing events involving partying teenagers getting sick after consuming alcoholic energy drinks: sweet, high-alcohol, caffeinated, beverages, now dubbed „black-out in a can.“
After throwing up and passing out, college students are winding up in hospital emergency rooms while the federal government delays action.
Meanwhile, the manufacturers refuse to take any responsibility and continue to aggressively market these dangerous products nationwide.
Last November, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration launched an investigation into the safety of adding caffeine to alcohol. After nearly a year, what are they waiting for?
Tell the head of the FDA, Commissioner Margaret Hamburg (a medical doctor), and her boss, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius that it’s time to ban these products once and for all. (Source: Marin Institute, 11/08/10) Take Action!

Supporters of a successful Massachusetts ballot initiative to repeal the state’s year-old 6.25 percent sales tax on alcohol outspent opponents by more than 10 to 1, the Boston Globe reported Nov. 4.
The Beer Distributors of Massachusetts alone donated more for Question One on the state ballot than did opponents of the measure. In all, supporters of eliminating the tax raised more than $2 million, while the Committee Against Repeal of the Alcohol Tax raised not quite $200,000. (According to the No on 1 Campaign, the fundraising margin between supporters and opponents was 15 to 1.)
The fundraising led to an ad blitz that helped narrowly win repeal; supporters garnered 52 percent of the votes on Nov. 2. (Source: Join Together, 11/05/10)

Four Loko. The onslaught of national attention to Alcohol Energy Drinks (AEDs), dubbed „blackout in a can“ by many, continues to pick up steam. After a series of national media reports from the New York Times, ABC, CBS and other major outlets about several recent alcohol poisoning cases linked to AEDs, the products are back in the news full-force.
In 2008, a group of state attorneys general, aided by The Center for Science in the Public Interest and other groups, successfully pressured Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors to drop premixed, sweetened alcohol energy drinks from their product lines.
Since then, AEDs with even higher alcohol concentrations, such as Joose and Four Loko, have gained popularity with college-age and younger youth as a cheap and easy way to get drunk. The sugary, fruit-flavored beverages mask the flavor of alcohol, and the caffeine fuels a dangerous perception of being able to „party all night“ — that is, drink harder and longer. … (Source: Join Together, 11/05/10)

First evidence-based model to evaluate alcohol marketing regulations. The FASE project (Focus on Alcohol Safe Environments) coordinated by the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy
(STAP), resulted in the development of an evidence based framework to evaluated existing alcohol marketing regulations from a public health perspective. (visit www.faseproject.eu)
Ireland: Renewed call for a total ban on alcohol marketing practices. The College of Psychiatry of Ireland repeats their call for a ban from 2008. They state that alcohol advertising and
sponsoring should be banned, because of multiple breaches of the self regulation codes, often found without consequences. (press release College of Psychiatry of Ireland, September 12th 2010)
Finland: Task Force against “alcohol-friendly culture” to ban alcohol advertising in Helsinki.
A working group of Helsinki is proposing radical measures to curtail what is seen as an “alcohol-friendly culture” that reigned in the city. “Alcohol has become a part of everyday living and on-drinkers tend to cause consternation” the working group says. (Helsinki Sanomat – October 22th 2010) (Source: EUCAM Newsletter November 2010 No. 2)

We are, unfortunately, used to seeing booze ads during sports. (Baseball: the nation’s pasttime. Alcohol: the nation’s poison?) And, come October, we’re used to seeing baseball players celebrate playoff series‘ wins with televised champagne sprays.
So, this playoff season when the Texas Rangers won the American League Divisional Series, and then the A.L. Championship Series (ALCS), the Ale of choice — Ginger Ale — was a welcome surprise.
The Rangers gave dual celebrations — one nonalcoholic — out of respect for their ALCS MVP center-fielder Josh Hamilton, who is sober and in ongoing recovery. They also gave a separate champagne party for players. (Source: Join Together, 11/02/10)

Eurocare (European Alcohol Policy Alliance) has issued today an open letter of support for the Thai government for its plans to introduce alcohol health warnings labels on packages of alcoholic beverages.
In January this year Thailand has notified the WTO (Committee on Technical Barrier to Trade) about plans to introduce rotating pictorial warnings on alcoholic beverages contained in different types of containers. The proposal includes:
* picture printed in 4 colours and 6 types of which one of them is required to be rotated at 1,000 package intervals.
* 6 types of health warning messages
* they should cover at least 30% of package
* prohibition of suggesting on labels that alcohol can improve better health
In the open letter Eurocare expressed its support for the initiative of placing health warning labels on alcoholic beverages and congratulated the Thai government for its courage and willingness to take this step to tackle alcohol related harm.
The significance of the economic costs of ill health has been acknowledged not only by public health community but also economic agencies such as the World Economic Forum in its publication “Global Risks 2010”. Chronic diseases were placed as one of the top most severe risks facing the world. They scored very high on likelihood and severity indicators . Alcohol is the 3rd main contributory factor globally to chronic diseases (it ranks 2nd in middle income countries and 1st in high income countries) . … (Source: Eurocare, 10/28/10)

Today, in reaction to calls from their Thai partners and friends, young Europeans send an urgent call to the European Commission, the Member States of the EU and the broader public: alcohol is no ordinary commodity!
Andrea Lavesson, president of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace, explains the background: “We have received calls for support from our Thai friends in protecting the health and social safety of young people in Thailand, where right now the European Commission is conducting negotiations with the Thai government about mutual Free Trade Agreement. The problem is, and that bothers many young people in Thailand, that the European Commission puts pressure on the Thais to include alcohol into the Free Trade Agreement even though the Thai government is against it for the simple reason – to protect public health.”

In fact, the negotiations have been put on halt for the Thai government to consult with civil society and assess the health and social impacts if alcohol be included as trade commodity in the Free Trade Agreement (FTA). While civil society protests against an inclusion, the business sector of importers, hotels, tourism enterprises, restaurants and alcohol industry mount heavy campaigns to get alcohol from Europe into the country.

Alcohol costs the Europeans 125 Billion tax payers € per year, an amount that is more than four times higher than what alcohol production, retail and consumption contribute to the economy. A disproportionate amount of the medical, psychological and social costs has to be shouldered by young Europeans under 25. Despite these facts and the apparent economical imbalance, the European Commission labels alcohol as an important agro-food export commodity.

“This alarms both Thai and European youth – and together we say: alcohol is not like oat. It’s surely no ordinary commodity,” says Andrea Lavesson, “even the WHO global alcohol strategy reflects that truth by stating that Public health should be given proper deference in relation to competing interests. We demand that the European Commission protects the integrity of that document that all EU Member States have ratified this year.”

“In Europe we make the experience every day that the alcohol industry makes its way to the decision makers”, tells Andrea Lavesson, “therefore it is important to understand that the alcohol industry’s business methods in developing countries are – and I’m not exaggerating – highly immoral. Alcohol industry violates their own codes of conduct wherever possible and target young people. Beer girls are, among other methods, used to promote alcohol drinks and increase sales.”
Andrea Lavesson sends a clear message to the European Commission and Member States: “Such an industry should not be invited to the table of diplomatic negotiations! If not the European Commission, who is to safe guard the interests of young people and to be a role model in public health protection?”

Kind regards and we, wish you a great day!
press release. For immediate release 28th October 2010

A United Kingdom charity group has asked the government to ban alcohol ads from television prior to 9 p.m. and to remove them entirely from the internet, the Guardian reported Oct. 20.
The government-funded agency, Alcohol Concern, proposed the ban after research found more than a million four- to 15-year-olds were exposed to alcohol promotions during England’s participation in World Cup soccer. The total could go as high as five million if all live games, not just England’s, are taken into account. (Source: Join Together, 10/27/10)