www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Itransition Software Development Company, an international software development company, along with the World Health Organization (WHO), the Dutch Ministry of Health, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Netherlands Institute of Mental Health and Addiction (the Trimbos), have launched a new pilot project with the objective to prevent alcohol and substance abuse in Brazil, India, Mexico and Belarus. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/06/10) healthcare.tmcnet.com, 12/06/10

The major drink driving initiative launched in Hanoi as part of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking (www.global-actions.org) will be
co-implemented by ICAP and the National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC).
The International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) and Vietnam’s National Traffic Safety Committee (NTSC) today launched a Joint Initiative on Drink Driving to be carried out in Vietnam through 2012 as part of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking
Global Actions on Harmful Drinking is the result of a collective commitment made by the chief executives of major international beverage alcohol producers to make a significant effort to address harmful drinking in the 2010-2012 time frame. Global Actions efforts in 18 low- and middle-income countries are currently addressing three critical areas: Drink Driving, Self-Regulation of Advertising and Marketing, and Noncommercial Alcohol. ICAP is the lead coordinating organization for this series of
initiatives. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 11/29/10) icap.org, 11.23.10 Comment: ICAP, the institute of Big Alcohol, gets in contact with governments of developing countries. It’s aim is not to reduce alcohol consumption but to avoid that governments introduce effective measures. At least governments are aware that there is an alcohol problem. Will there be a honest evaluation of results?

Giant multinational brewer SABMiller – the company that owns Grolsch, Peroni, Miller and Castle – is avoiding an estimated £20m of taxes in Africa and India every year, enough money to educate a quarter-of-a-million African children, according to a new report released today by the international anti-poverty agency ActionAid. The report, ‘Calling Time: Why SABMiller should stop dodging taxes in Africa’ reveals for the first time how the company, the world’s second biggest brewer, uses a complex system of  tax havens to siphon profits out of subsidiaries in developing countries, depriving those governments of significant amounts of tax. Martin Hearson, a tax specialist at ActionAid and the co-author of the report, said: “SABMiller conducts its tax affairs behind a veil of secrecy. The company and its subsidiaries siphon money away from African countries and into tax havens in Europe, where the tax rates are far lower. SABMiller is playing the system to avoid paying its fair share of tax in developing countries.” (Source: Tages-Anzeiger, 30.11.10) actionaid.org Comment: They take it from the poorest. May be that is also our development aid we send to Africa. It comes back to Europe (Netherlands and Switzerland) as their profit. And it is legal!

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

Alcohol makers worldwide don’t want Thailand to set a precedent by requiring large, graphic warning labels on all wine, beer, and liquor sold there, the Wall Street Journal (subscription required) reported Sept. 27.
If the Thai government approves the plan, 30 percent of every alcohol bottle’s surface would be covered by a label warning about health impacts. Pictures of diseased livers, a bloody traffic accident, a suicide, and a man hitting his wife have been proposed, along with text such as, „Alcohol consumption could harm yourself, children and family.“ (Source: Join Together, 10/5/10)

Article by Thomas F Babor, a. Department of Community Medicine, University of Connecticut School of Medicine, Farmington, CT, 06030, United States of America.
Science plays an increasingly important role in the development of international health policy and this has certainly been true in the case of a global response to alcohol-related problems. In May 2010, the World Health Assembly adopted resolution EB126.R11, Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol,1 based in part on an impressive amount of evidence on both alcohol’s contribution to the global burden of disease and the policies capable of ameliorating the harm it causes.2 Now that the strategy has been adopted, it is time for public health science to take on two new challenges. The first is to expand the evidence base so that it applies not just to the developed countries where most of the world’s alcohol consumption is concentrated, but also to the low- and middle-income countries where alcohol consumption is increasing and where the policy response is still weak. The second challenge is to use scientific research to guide the adoption of effective alcohol policies at the national and international levels. …. (Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2010;88:643-643. doi: 10.2471/BLT.10.081729

NEW FORCES SHAPING WORLD TRADE SCRUTINIZED AT WTO’S PUBLIC FORUM
What is needed to make trade contribute to the Millennium Development Goals? How can women reshape the global economy? These are just two of the 43 topics to be discussed by some 200 panellists and over 1,500 participants in this year’s annual WTO Public Forum, 15-17 September 2010.
> > Press release: http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres10_e/pr615_e.htm

People in developing economies just aren’t drinking enough beer. That’s the argument analysts at Credit Suisse have laid out in a series of reports touting the beer and the alcoholic beverage sector. But there’s hope for thirsty Brazilians and Chinese, the analysts say: It’s just a matter of time before they start guzzling almost as much beer as Americans and Europeans. (Source: Marin Institute) npr.org, 8/18/10

During the 60th session of the Africa Committee of the WHO on Monday, Luis Sambo, regional director of the WHO for Africa, proposed the creation of a public health emergency fund to provide financial support to African countries in emergency situations, Agencia AngolaPress reports (8/30).
Also during the meeting, Sambo proposed a strategy to drive down the rates of „harmful use of alcohol and related problems in the Africa Region,“ according to a second WHO press release. „In the African Region, the alcohol-attributable burden of disease is increasing with an estimated total of deaths attributable to harmful use of alcohol of 2.1% in 2000, 2.2% in 2002 and 2.4% in 2004,“ according to the release, which adds that high rates of alcohol use are believed to contribute to the spread of infectious disease.
The „priority interventions proposed in the strategy include developing and implementing alcohol control policies; strengthening leadership, coordination and mobilization of partners; generating awareness and community action; providing information-based public education; improving health sector response; and strengthening strategic information, surveillance and research systems,“ the press release states (8/31). (Source: Medical News Today, 9/02/10)