www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Binge drinking can cause permanent genetic damage especially to the unborn children of women in the earliest stage of pregnancy, according to a study which shows for the first time how alcohol destroys DNA.
Scientists have identified the precise molecular mechanism leading to the breakdown of the body’s natural defences that protect DNA against damage from excessive alcohol in the bloodstream. They believe the results demonstrate that binge drinking causes a build-up of toxins within the body, causing irreversible genetic damage, which may explain the phenomenon known as foetal-alcohol syndrome, when babies of mothers who drink during pregnancy are born with congenital learning problems. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/08/11)

Objective: To test the hypothesis that changes in alcohol-related attitudes and expectancies mediate the effect of alcohol advertising on youth drinking. Design: Longitudinal survey with a 9-month interval. Setting: Twenty-nine public schools in 3 German states….
Results A total of 581 of the students (28%) started to drink alcohol during the observation period. Alcohol use initiation was positively related to baseline alcohol advertisement exposure. This effect of alcohol advertisement exposure on alcohol use was partially mediated by a change in alcohol-related attitudes, which explained about 35% of the total effect after controlling for baseline covariates and exposure to other advertising contents. The analysis revealed similar results for binge-drinking initiation. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/07/11) archpedi.ama-assn.org, July 2011

The Amethyst Initiative, signed by more than 100 college presidents and other higher education officials calls for a reexamination of the minimum legal drinking age in the United States.
A central argument of the initiative is that the U.S. minimum legal drinking age policy results in more dangerous drinking than would occur if the legal drinking age were lower….
Does the age-21 drinking limit in the United States reduce alcohol consumption by young adults and its harms, or as the signatories of the Amethyst Initiative contend, is it „not working“?
In this paper, we summarize a large and compelling body of empirical evidence which shows that one of the central claims of the signatories of the Amethyst Initiative is incorrect: setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 clearly reduces alcohol consumption and its major harms. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/06/11)

Welcome to Global Actions, your briefing on our efforts around the world as part of Global Actions on Harmful Drinking. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/07/11) Comment: Active social marketing by the alcohol industry.

Poverty is often cited as contributing to poor health. Now, in an unusual approach, researchers have calculated how many people poverty kills and presented their findings, along with an argument that social factors can cause death the same way that behavior like smoking cigarettes does.
In an article published online for the June 16 issue of The American Journal of Public Health, scientists calculated the number of deaths attributable to each of six social factors, including low income.
To estimate the number of deaths caused by each factor, the scientists reviewed 47 earlier studies on the subject, combining the data in a meta-analysis. The studies were generally based on large national surveys like the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey, a continuing study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (Source: Harvard World Health News, 07/08/11) nytimes.com, 07/04/11 Comment: Regularly moderate wine drinkers do not belong to this group. Many abstainers do. One more reason why studies with positive health results for moderate drinkers vs. abstainers are not correct.

The government is forging ahead with legislation that will crack down on alcohol advertising despite warnings of massive revenue and job losses.
According to a preliminary study by Chris Moerdyk, an independent marketing analyst, a total ban on the advertising of alcoholic beverages could cost media companies revenue of as much as R1.8-billion a year. …
About R800-million would be lost to sports sponsorships and development grants, and forfeited marketing expenditure.
Though the government does not plan to ban alcohol advertising outright, several state departments are determined to win the war on alcohol and drug abuse and have spearheaded a campaign that will enforce stringent restrictions on alcohol advertising. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 07/07/11) timeslive.co.za, 07/5/11

Burger King, Sonic and Starbucks are among the fast food chains experimenting with selling alcohol, according to USA Today.
Two Sonic restaurants in South Florida will soon be selling beer and wine along with burgers, the newspaper reports. Burger King “Whopper Bars” that sell beer have opened in Miami, Kansas City and Los Angeles. Several Seattle Starbucks are now selling local wine and beer. These chains are adding alcohol to the menu in an attempt to boost sales during evening hours, the article notes. … (Source: Join Together, 07/5/11)

International News on alcohol politics, 07/04/11

The Church of England could threaten to pull its investments from British-listed supermarkets that fail to meet its minimum ethical standards on the sale of alcohol, in an attempt to stem the sale of cheap alcohol and reduce binge drinking.
The Ethical Investment Advisory Group, the investment body that makes recommendations to the Church’s three national investing bodies, said it wants to tighten its policy because of concerns about ‚corporate complicity in the misuse of alcohol, including through inappropriate pricing and promotions.‘ (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/04/11) lse.co.uk, 06/29/11

Swedes are drinking less alcohol than before. The trend is visible among the younger generation; older people drink as much
The alcohol consumption in Sweden was 13% lower in 2010 compared with 2004 when the consumption peaked. This development has come as a surprise for many researchers since the import restrictions for private use was liberalized in 2004.
-When the quotas were liberalized in 2004 and the alcohol consumption reached record levels, not many people foresaw this development. It seems like the mechanisms are more complex than we thought; said Mats Ramstedt, researcher about alcohol at SoRAD (Centre for research on Drugs and Alcohol) to the news site forskning.se. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/04/11) stockholmnews.com, 06/27/11