www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Police officers will be out in force throughout June to detect drink and drug drivers across the country, reports the Association of Chief Police Officers (ACPO). A similar 30 day scheme ran last year in which just under 101,000 people were stopped and tested, with 5.6% testing positive or refusing a test. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 6/2/11) Also:
Minimum pricing posed to BBC Question Time panel
Trade and industry news
Local Authorities in Scotland could soon be taking measures to ban under 21s from purchasing alcohol from supermarket and off-licenses

Sweden’s state-run alcohol retail monopoly Systembolaget has demanded an extra tax on box wine equating a price hike of up to 25-30 percent in order to curb the thirst for bag-in-box wines.
A wine box typically contains the equivalent of four bottles of wine, but typically costs as much as three – a discount that the Systembolaget wants to see removed.
„We want to look over the possibilities for adapting alcohol taxes so that the quantity discount on box wine declines,“ said Systembolaget’s press spokesperson Lennart Agén to the TT news agency. The idea was described as „interesting“ by a spokesperson for public health minister Maria Larsson. Agén observed that a boxed wine is 15-30 percent cheaper than the equivalent quantity in bottles. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/30/11) thelocal.se, 5/26/11 our online-comment: I am sure, many public health specialists in other countries would be glad if they could have such a system which reduces alcohol consumption to such an extent. In any case cheap alcohol by special sales reductions should be avoided.

International News from Sweden, UK, USA, Canada, Malaysia, India etc. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/30/11)

Local authorities have been given the green light to ban individual outlets from selling alcohol to people aged between 18 and 21 where the stores have previously fallen foul of the law by selling to under 18s, or where there is a problem with teenage drinking.
The move comes as the majority SNP Government signals its intent to tackle Scotland’s unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Power to restrict sales only to those drinkers aged 21 and over would be a powerful tool in the arsenal of the local licensing boards who police the retailers. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/30/11)

The influence of „Big Alcohol“ in the health arena deserves as much scrutiny as Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, especially in light of evidence of bias in funded research, unsupported claims of benefit, and inappropriate promotion and marketing by the alcohol industry, says a new editorial in this week’s PLoS Medicine. The PLoS Medicine editors argue that the statistics about problem drinking are troubling enough, but what also demands more attention and research is the influence of the alcohol industry on health research, government policy, and public perceptions of the harms and benefits of alcohol. … (Source: Medical News Today, 05/31/11)

Lansley wants supermarket action on ‚front of store‘ promotions
The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has written to supermarkets to re-iterate requests that supermarkets pledge to remove alcohol promotions from front of stores, reports The Telegraph.
Department of Health (DoH) officials said Ministers were frustrated that more supermarkets had not made further commitments, with only Asda applying discretion to the location of alcohol promotions. In the letter, Lansley called on the supermarkets to „do more“, requesting „all major alcohol retailers‘ full participation in this effort“.
Earlier this year Alcohol Concern realeasd a report calling for separate alcohol aisles in supermarkets. The report claimed abundant alcohol displays were normalising alcohol as an everyday commodity, reducing recognition of it as a potentially harmful drug. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 5/30/11) alcoholpolicy.net, 5/30/11

Lunch Seminar, Hosted by MEPs Anna Hedh (S&D) and Marian Harkin (ALDE), European Parliament (Brussels)- A3E-2Tuesday 21 June 2011 12h00 – 14h30
Alcohol is one of the most heavily marketed products on our shelves.
Young people are an important target audience for the alcohol industry and they are exposed to unprecedented levels of sophisticated marketing, from mass media advertising to sponsorship of events, product placement, internet, merchandise, social networks etc.
Alcohol marketing has a powerful impact on young people’s drinking behavior and undercut the efforts by public health authorities to reduce harmful drinking among youth.
The speakers will analyze the scientific evidence on the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing and will present the results of two recent European projects on how to better regulate the content and volume of marketing in order to protect young people.
Please click here to register (People who DO NOT have a pass to the European Parliament need to register before 14 June 2011).
If you need any further information please contact Eurocare’s office at ruth.ruiz(at)eurocare.org or 02 736 39 76.

– says BBPA: European Brewery Convention, Glasgow 2011.
At a major European conference on the brewing industry which opened this morning in Glasgow, a leading industry figure has raised concerns over key aspects of Scottish alcohol policy and called for a new dialogue with the SNP government over key issues.
In the opening keynote session of the 33rd European Brewery Congress & Exhibition Centre in Glasgow, Brigid Simmonds OBE, Chief Executive of the British Beer and Pub Association, said:
“The beer and pub trade is worth £1.5 billion to the Scottish economy every year, and 71,000 Scots depend on beer and pubs for work – you might be surprised to know that’s double the number that depend on Scotch Whisky for work, on a comparable basis. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/24/11) beerandpub.com, 5/23/11

The maker of the popular Tilt malt beverage is lowering the drink’s alcohol content from 12 percent to 8 percent for a 24-ounce container. Anheuser-Busch announced that the new drinks will be sold starting this summer.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Sparks flavored malt beverages made by MillerCoors also have a maximum of 8 percent alcohol by volume. The article notes that the changes to Tilt come as malt beverages such as Four Loko are being criticized for encouraging underage and binge drinking. … (Source: Join Together, 5/25/11)

Sales of alcohol to underage drinkers are going down, but one in four underage teenagers is still able to buy alcohol at shops and restaurants.
In test purchases in 23 cantons, 5.8 per cent fewer underage buyers were able to buy alcohol in 2010 than in 2009, according to figures released on Monday by the Swiss Alcohol Board.
In the past decade, illegal alcohol sales to underage test buyers has dropped from 83.5 per cent to 26.8 per cent. In seven of the 23 cantons doing the tests, the rate has even fallen below 20 per cent. Between 2000 and 2010, 15,000 tests were carried out. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/23/11) swissinfo.ch, 5/23/11