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The EU European Alcohol and Health Forum has published new documents. 4/24/09

Fourth meeting of the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action, Luxembourg, 17-18 February 2009
Summary report pdf(70 KB) and Presentations
e.g. – Alcohol consumption and risk communicationpdf(105 KB) Department of Health – United Kingdom
– Recommendations about sensible drinking amounts – Results of a survey pdf(845 KB) P. Anderson. etc.

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Marin Institute Publishes Critical Tool for Advocates and Policymakers to Protect Youth.
The country’s first guide to restricting out-of-home (OOH) alcohol advertising will help policymakers draft effective state and local laws to minimize youth exposure to ubiquitous alcohol advertising in the 21st Century.
The guide includes examples of current local and state alcohol advertising laws that can serve as models, as well as an explanation of commercial speech and the First Amendment. The OOH guide also describes the difference between public and private property and how advocates can push for legally-defensible laws in their communities.
Click here to download a copy from the Marin Institute website to learn how to protect your community from exposure to egregious alcohol advertising.

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Understanding the link between alcohol affordability, consumption and harms, by LILA RABINOVICH, PHILIPPBASTIAN, BRUTSCHER, HAN DE VRIES, JAN TIESSEN, JACK CLIFT, ANAIS REDING
Prepared for the European Commission DG SANCO (Source: Eurocare, 3/30/09)

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ECOSOC, THE UNITED NATIONS ECONOMIC COUNCIL, has informed about the key summary recommendations that came out of your valuable contributions to the e-discussion Phase 2 on emerging and future health challenges (January 12 to February 26). They are pleased to inform you that this will be put forward to the ECOSOC Annual Ministerial Review process. This includes the preparation for the Secretary-General’s report, the AMR regional and national review processes, and the AMR held during the high-level segment of the annual session of ECOSOC. Recommendations are intended to help Member States strengthen their efforts to address the various global health challenges covered in the discussion. Please also be informed that the full contribution can be accessed at this AMR website, and the full summary of the e-discussion is available at the AMR summary page.
One of the recommendations: Develop and implement evidence-based alcohol policies to reduce population-wide alcohol consumption by building on successful measures, including taxation, limits on availability, and drunk-driving counter-measures. (Source: ECOSOC, 3/28/09)

Cheap Alcohol Is Killing Us And Our Quality Of Life, Says Chief Medical Officer, UK. Sir Liam Donaldson, Chief Medical Officer, published his 2008 Annual Report, in which he called for society to recognise the effect of ‚passive drinking‘ on society. He wants to see a shift in public opinion on alcohol similar to the move to smoke-free public places, so that being drunk is no longer an aim of drinking nor socially acceptable. (Source: Medical News Today, 3/17/09) Statement On Sir Liam Donaldson’s Comments On Alcohol Reduction. RCP Welcomes The Chief Medical Officer’s Stance On A Minimum Unit Price For Alcohol guardian.co.uk, 3/17.09 guardian.co.uk, 3/16/09

On this website: http://ec.europa.eu/health/ph_overview/health_forum/policy_forum_en.htm?resolution

Does marketing communication impact on the volume and patterns of consumption of alcoholic beverages, especially by young people? – a review of longitudinal studies.
Scientific Opinion of the Science Group of the European Alcohol and Health Forum. The report
has been unanimously accepted by the Science Group, with no minority opinions. The findings of
the review are clear, namely that commercial communications increase the likelihood that
adolescents will start to use alcohol and to drink more if they are already using alcohol. EU-Science Group

Welcoming the Scottish Government’s framework for action on alcohol, published today [Monday 2 March 2009], Dr Peter Terry, chairman of the BMA in Scotland, said: „Tough action is needed to tackle alcohol misuse in Scotland. BMA Scotland supports this wide-ranging framework which tackles price and availability, and in particular proposes measures to end the deep discounting of alcohol where it is sold for ridiculously cheap prices. “ (Source: Medical News Today, 3/2/09) Scottish Government’s framework for action on alcohol Comment: Let’s hope, there is a political will to realize a lot of it.

In October-November the WHO Secretariat held a web-based public hearing to provide an opportunity to everyone to give their views on the best ways to reduce harmful use of alcohol. 340 contributions were sent in. The report from this hearing, with all the submissions, has now been added to the WHO web site. This volumnious report is divided into several downloadable volums:
:: Volume I: Summary of submissions [pdf 3.52Mb]
:: Volume II: WHO Member States, Government Institutions, Intergovernmental Organizations and Academia-Research [pdf 3.45Mb]
:: Volume III: Nongovernmental organizations [pdf 7.77Mb]
:: Volume IV: Alcohol industry, trade and agriculture [pdf 5.45Mb]
:: Volume V: Other organizations and entities [pdf 3.49Mb]
:: Volume VI: Individuals [pdf 3.79Mb] (Here is our contribution: page 169/Full text No. 200)
You may find the report and the submissions here: http://www.who.int/entity/substance_abuse/activities/hearing/en/index.html