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Please note that the question below will be answered at the next plenary session.
Last spring, a report was presented by the Science Group at the request of the Alcohol and Health Forum entitled ‚The impact of marketing communication on the volume and patterns of consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially by young people‘.
The report reveals that twelve of thirteen studies examined show that alcohol advertising affects the point at which young people start drinking alcohol and persuades those who already drink to increase their consumption. The studies also show that there is a direct link between how much advertising young people are exposed to and how much they increase their consumption. Moreover, a report produced by the Commission shows that self-regulation on alcohol advertising, as advocated by the alcohol industry, does not produce particularly good results. Strict regulations are more effective.
The rules already in existence stipulating that alcohol advertising must not be aimed directly at young people are, in practice, ineffective. A total ban on alcohol advertising is the best way of reducing drinking among young people, as also shown by a study published in the scientific journal ‚The Lancet‘.
In the light of the above, would the Commission consider banning alcohol advertising, in the same way as tobacco advertising, on health grounds? (Source: Eurocare Newsletter October/November 09) (European Parliament, Anna Hedh, 11/26/09)

HELP US MEET OUR GOAL – FOR FREE THE BOWLTM
Marin Institute created the Free The BowlTM contest last year to raise awareness around SPORTS and ADVERTISING by Big Alcohol companies. Anheuser-Busch InBev spends over $14 million a year creating the hottest beer ads to launch on Super Bowl Sunday. This event boasts over 100 million television viewers and is a CASH COW for the alcohol industry. The PROBLEM with SPORTS and BIG ALCOHOL ADS is that our children love watching professional sports as much as parents do! On Super Bowl Sunday, 20 million youth under the age of 21 will be sitting with their families watching these pervasive and excessive ads. … (Source: Marin Institute, 12/16/09)

Texas youth can report alcohol overdoses or other problems without fear of being charged with underage drinking under a new policy announced by the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC). (Source: Join Together, 12/9/09)

The document consists of three parts: The report by the secretariat, including a draft resolution for consideration by the WHO Executive Board; Annex 1 – the draft strategy itself; and Annex 2 – a two page summary of the evidence for the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of interventions. In addition there is also a Bibliography on evidence on harmful use of alcohol published as a separate document on the WHO-web page: Follow the process for implementing the WHA 61.4 resolution and preparing a draft global strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol Comment: One of the most important papers on alcohol politics.

A study looking at the effects of harmful drinking by parents on the lives of children in Scotland. The study highlights children’s accounts of the severe negative impacts of harmful parental drinking on their lives including emotional stress, physical abuse and neglect.
Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems (SHAAP) and the NSPCC’s ChildLine in Scotland have just published a report that explores children and young people’s experiences of harmful parental drinking and the concerns they express about the impact this is having on their lives.
The study found that children provide accounts of multiple negative impacts associated with harmful parental drinking including severe emotional distress, physical abuse and violence and a general lack of care, support and protection. (Source: Eurocare Newsletter 12/1/09) Full report

Study: Alcohol Advertising on Boston’s Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority Transit System: An Assessment of Youths’ and Adults’ Exposure: Conclusions:
Advertisers reached the equivalent of half of all Boston Public School transit passengers aged 11 to 18 years and the equivalent of nearly half of all transit passengers in the Boston area with an alcohol advertisement each
day. Because of the high exposure of underage youths to alcohol advertisements, we recommend that the MBTA prohibit alcohol advertising on the Boston transit system. (Am J Public Health. 2009;99:jjj–jjj. doi:10.2105/AJPH.2008. 149906) Source: Marin Institute, 12/2/09

„Parents who thought their preschoolers were spending time in home-based day cares, taking naps, eating healthy snacks and learning to play nicely with others may be surprised to discover they are sitting as many as two hours a day in front of a TV, according to a study published Monday. When added to the two to three hours many parents already admit to allowing at home, preschoolers in child care may be spending more than a third of the about 12 hours they are awake each day in front of the electronic baby sitter, said Dr. Dimitri Christakis, a pediatrician at Children’s Hospital and Regional Medical Center in Seattle and a researcher at the University of Washington. That’s double the TV time he found in a previous study based on parental reports of home viewing, according to findings published Monday in the journal Pediatrics. The study is the first to look at TV watching in child care in more than 20 years.“ (Source: Harvard World Health News, 11/25/09) Associated Press, November 23, 2009 Comment: And how many hours out of it are alcohol advertising?