www.alkoholpolitik.ch

NEW DELHI: India will soon crack the whip on binge drinking through higher taxes and tighter marketing regulations against alcoholic products.
For the first time, delegations from all 193 member states of the World Health Organization reached consensus at the World Health Assembly on a resolution to confront the abuse of alcohol. Target areas were identified for policy options, including community action, pricing policies and reducing the public health impact of illicit alcohol and informally produced alcohol.
WHO says that every year, the abuse of alcohol kills 2.5 million people, including 3.2 lakh young people between 15 and 29 years of age. It is the eighth leading risk factor for deaths globally. WHO estimates there are two billion alcohol consumers worldwide.
India has a lot to worry about as far as alcohol consumption is concerned. The average age of alcohol consumption in the country has fallen by nearly nine years over the past decade. At present, on an average, Indians take their first sip of alcohol at the age of 19 compared to 28 in the 1990s. Studies now say that in another 5-7 years, a majority of Indians will start consuming alcohol at the age of 15.
Nearly 62.5 million people in India at present drink alcohol with the per capita consumption being around four litres per adult per year. For every six men, one woman drinks alcohol in India. Over 40% of road crashes occur in India during the night, with one-third of them being due to drunk driving. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 5/27/10) timesofindia, 5/23/10

Marin Institute’s Charge for Harm campaign aims to hold Big Alcohol accountable for the tremendous harm its products cause. Appropriately taxing alcohol in each state and at the federal level will help reduce over-consumption, as well as provide much-needed funds for prevention and health care. Marin Institute highlights the various efforts states are engaged in to increase taxes and fees. See list of states that currently charge for harm.
Marin Institute has published two new colored-coded maps that illustrate the gross negligence of beer taxes, state by state. (Source: Marin Institute, 5/25/10

Adolescents are being bombarded with alcohol marketing online as firms exploit new-media tools and lax regulation to put their brand images and information in front of young drinkers, according to a new report.
HealthDay News reported May 19 that American University professor Kathryn Montgomery — author of the report, Alcohol Marketing in the Digital Age (PDF) — said that alcohol is being sold through „a multiplicity of platforms throughout the day and night that includes online, offline, mobile, digital, music, video — a whole range of different ways that consumers interact with new digital marketing.“ (Source: Join Together, 5/21/10) our online-comment: Ridiculous is the fact that we allow an industry at all to advertise and promote their products which damage our health, reduce our quality of life and cost us billions each year in social costs. To say the state is making money from alcohol is ridiculous as well, when we compare the very small alcohol taxes with the enormous alcohol related social costs.
To speak with the children is a nice suggestion, often heard from the alcohol industry. A very small percentage of parents does it, the rest will use TV and the Web as babysitters as before.

The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol was adopted by consensus at the annual assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO) on Thursday 20 May. According to news agency Reuters health ministers agreed to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing regulations.
The WHO estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and various cancers — 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities worldwide.
„Alcohol is usually not perceived as a killer, though it is,“ Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, told a news briefing.
Despite growing abuse and youth drinking at an earlier age in many countries, half of WHO members do not have a national alcohol policy, according to WHO expert Vladimir Poznyak.
„The biggest changes might happen in those countries which have no alcohol control institutions or regulatory framework for alcohol consumption,“ he told Reuters. The global strategy is available in the documentation from the World Health Assembly here: http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_wha63.html (A63/13)
The revised text of the resolution will be available on the same web page shortly. The original version recommended by the WHO Executive Board (EB126.R11) is available here: http://apps.who.int/gb/e/e_eb126.html#Resolutions

Tusingwire Patrick is slouched in a chair at the Victory Rehabilitation Center on the outskirts of Kampala, recalling his time as a maker of homemade banana gin. „I knew it could be dangerous, but I didn’t know it could kill so many people,“ says the 34-year-old former primary school teacher.
Patrick is referring to the more than 100 people who have died in western Uganda since early April after ingesting a methanol-laced version of a homemade gin known as waragi. The popular drink, easy to make and cheap to buy, has been blamed for causing blindness and death before, but never so many in such a short span of time. Illegal production of hard liquor is a problem across much of Africa, but it may be worst in Uganda. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 5/20/10) time.com, 5/19/10 Comment: This alcohol problem may also destroy many results in development aid.

WHO seeks bans on alcohol discounts in anti-abuse. The World Health Organisation on Thursday said it made a „breakthrough“ against alcohol abuse. – The World Health Organisation is calling for discounts on drinks to be banned and for advertising targeting young people to be scrapped as part of a strategy to cut alcohol abuse approved on Thursday.
The strategy drawn up by the UN health agency and approved by its 193-member states at an annual meeting of health ministers also pushes for an end to flat rates for unlimited drinking and for sponsorship to be regulated.
With some 320,000 young people aged 15 to 29 years dying from alcohol-related causes in 2004, the strategy took aim at the marketing of beverages which contributes to getting young people hooked.
„The transmission of alcohol marketing messages across national borders and jurisdictions on channels such as satellite television and the Internet, and sponsorship of sports and cultural events is emerging as a serious concern in some countries,“ it said. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 5/20/10) news.yahoo.com, 5/20/10 our Online-Comment: I am very glad about this WHO-Resolution on an alcohol-strategy. I hope that all countries which have signed it will introduce now effictive measures to follow the advice of this resolution. And I congratulate and thank all those scientists and public health professionals who have done such an extreemly good job. This milestone in public health history should be the beginning of a more worthy life for millions of people now and in the future.

Marin Institute has created a new resource containing links to websites that house reliable data sources you can use to find alcohol-related statistics for the U.S. and your state. (Source: Marin Institute, 5/11/10) – – – Reliable Resources

The budget crises afflicting many states has finally caused legislators in Washington State to realize their tax rates needed an overhaul. Included in the current budget is a beer tax increase that triples the tax rate on domestic brands (micro-brews are exempt). The new beer tax adds about 28 cents on a six-pack. We estimate this increase will raise about $55.6 million per year in new revenue, allowing the state to avoid painful cuts in services. It’s time for California and other states to follow suit and increase their alcohol tax rates to help save vital programs. (Source: Marin Institute, 5/11/10)- – – Washington Governor Signs Package of Tax Hikes, 4/23/10 – – – Tax Calculator

The Massachusetts House of Representatives has rejected Republican-led efforts to roll back a recent state sales-tax increase that included alcoholic beverages, the Associated Press reported April 27.
A pair of amendments to the state budget would have repealed the increase in the state sales tax from 5 percent to 6.25 percent, passed in 2009, and restored a previous sales-tax exemption on alcohol sales.
House lawmakers sent both proposals to study committees. (Source: Join Together, 4/29/10)

Improves Health Gains. A volumetric alcohol tax in Australia, which applies the same rate of tax per litre of alcohol across all beverages, would provide greater health benefits and cost savings to the health sector than the existing taxation system, according to research published in the Medical Journal of Australia. (Source: Medical News Today, 4/19/10)