www.alkoholpolitik.ch

It’s considered a rite of passage among young people – acting out their independence through heavy, episodic drinking. But a new University of Cincinnati study, the first of its kind nationally, is showing how binge drinking among adolescents and young adults could be causing serious damage to a brain that’s still under development at this age.
Researcher Tim McQueeny, a doctoral student in the UC Department of Psychology, is presenting the findings this week at the 34th annual meeting of the Research Society on Alcoholism in Atlanta. … (Source: Medical News Today, 06/28/11)

An analysis of three years worth of data from the California Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) shows that the vast majority of alcohol sales to minors occur at locations other than the full-service supermarkets and specialty grocers that use assisted self-checkout stands.
The examination of disciplinary actions from January 1, 2008 to March 11, 2011, all public data found on the ABC website, shows that the ABC filed almost 2,300 accusations against off-sale license holders (which include supermarkets and liquor stores) throughout California for selling alcohol to minors.
Of these accusations, fewer than 7 percent were lodged against specialty grocery stores and big box retailers, most of which do not yet use assisted self-checkout technology.
Large, chain supermarkets that do increasingly use assisted self-checkout stands accounted for less than 4 percent of the accusations. Fresh & Easy stores, which use only self-checkout stands, accounted for only 2 accusations. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 06/28/11) trading-house.net, 06/28/11

On October the 27th the Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy (STAP) will host the first European network conference on reducing youth drinking by law enforcement. Law enforcement experts and professionals from all over Europe will be able to exchange knowledge and experiences during a conference specifically focussed on enforcing alcohol legislation. Although regulations, policies and responsibilities differ by country, there are similar enforcement topics that apply to all. Effective enforcement of legal age limits is one of the main themes of the conference. Because the knowledge about law enforcement in Europe has grown substantially over the last decades it is the right moment to organise the first European alcohol enforcement meeting. … (Source: stap.nl, 6/27/11)

79 NGOs from various sectors have issued a statement of concern to the President of the UN General Assembly. The NGOs are concerned about the lack of clarity of roles for the industry sector in the recently held UN interactive hearing for civil society and the UN High Level Meeting on non-communicable diseases (NCD) in September.
2011-06-23
The statement was addressed to Dr. Joseph Deiss, President of the UN General Assembly, Ambassador Sylvie Lucas, Permanent Representative of Luxembourg, and Ambassador Raymond Wolfe, Permanent Representative of Jamaica. All are key actors in the ongoing process on NCD in UN.

The 79 signatories draws from various fields of interest, including Baby Milk Action, alcohol, tobacco, essential medicines, consumers groups and various health groups. While the organisations strongly support the objective of raising the profile of NCDs globally they express concerns over the lack of clarity regarding the role of the private sector. … (Source: add-resources.org, 06/23/11),

Analysen natürlicher Wirkstoffe scheitern oft daran, dass keine ausreichenden Mengen zur Verfügung stehen. US-amerikanischen Wissenschaftlern ist es jetzt erstmals gelungen, einige komplexe Substanzen aus Rotwein im Labor zu synthetisieren, um sie in der medizinischen Forschung einzusetzen. Bisher konnten diese Stoffe nur sehr aufwendig aus Weintrauben isoliert werden, wie die Fachzeitschrift «Nature» in ihrer aktuellsten Ausgabe (doi:10.1038/nature10197) berichtet. Der Durchbruch in der Organischen Chemie macht es unter anderem möglich, das Geheimnis des sogenannten Französischen Paradoxons zu untersuchen: Woran liegt es, dass die Franzosen relativ wenig Herzkrankheiten haben, obwohl sie viel Rotwein trinken und häufig fett essen? … (Quelle: NetDoktor News, 24.6.11)

A 12-Country European Study in Progress.
Beginning with France in the 1950s, alcohol consumption has decreased in Southern European countries with few or no preventive alcohol policy measures being implemented, while alcohol consumption has been increasing in Northern European countries where historically more restrictive alcohol control policies were in place, even though more recently they were loosened. At the same time, Central and Eastern Europe have shown an intermediate behavior. We propose that country-specific changes in alcohol consumption between 1960 and 2008 are explained by a combination of a number of factors: (1) preventive alcohol policies and (2) social, cultural, economic, and demographic determinants. This article describes the methodology of a research study designed to understand the complex interactions that have occurred throughout Europe over the past five decades. These include changes in alcohol consumption, drinking patterns and alcohol-related harm, and the actual determinants of such changes. Read More (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/22/11)

A report from the Royal College of Psychiatrists advises people over 65 should not drink more than 1.5 units of alcohol a day – at least half the standard adult daily guidelines. The reduced amount advised for older adults is the equivalent of about half a pint of lager (5%) or a small glass of wine. See the full RCP report Our Invisible Addicts. ….(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/22/11)

Key points of the fact sheet are:
* Effective alcohol marketing regulations are an essential control measure in a comprehensive alcohol policy that aims to decrease alcohol-related harm and to protect young people.
* Effective alcohol marketing regulations are recommended to restrict the volume of alcohol marketing practices to protect harmful exposure to alcohol advertising among young people.
* When alcohol marketing practices are allowed, also content restrictions are recommended to allow alcohol advertisements that contain solely product information.
* Volume and content restrictions are only effective when a strong regulatory system supports the enforcement of the regulation.
* Alcohol marketing regulations in France and Norway can be seen as best practices in Europe: here strong volume or content restrictions go together with a strong supportive regulation system.
* Legislation is significantly more effective than self-regulation systems in ensuring the combination between strong restrictions and an effective supporting system.
De Bruijn and Van den Broeck (2011) have developed a framework to evaluate the effectiveness of existing alcohol marketing regulations and have used this to analyse which European countries have the best and worst regulations. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/20/11) eucam.info, 06/17/11

Monitoring Alcohol Marketing in Africa – MAMPA Project is a new report released by the Africa Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO). The study on alcohol marketing was commissioned by the WHO Regional Office for Africa in 2010. The background was an intention to support governments decide on what measures to take regarding alcohol advertising. In order to inform such decisions insight into the impact of advertising, specifically in terms of volume, frequency, and content of alcohol advertising and promotion is essential. …
Among the recommendations of the report is for governments to recognize that a comprehensive ban on advertising, promotion and sponsorship would reduce alcohol-related harm, and that selfregulation is an ineffective mechanism to reduce alcohol related harm, effective legislation is necessary to strictly regulate alcohol marketing activities. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/20/11) WHO-Report, 06/20/11

In the United States, the blood-alcohol limit may be 0.08 percent, but no amount of alcohol seems to be safe for driving, according to a University of California, San Diego sociologist. A study led by David Phillips and published in the journal Addiction finds that blood-alcohol levels well below the U.S. legal limit are associated with incapacitating injury and death.
Phillips, with coauthor Kimberly M. Brewer, also of UC San Diego, examined official data from the Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS). This dataset includes information on all persons in the U.S. who were involved in fatal car accidents – 1,495,667 people in the years 1994 to 2008. The researchers used FARS because it is nationally comprehensive, covering all U.S. counties, all days of the week and all times of day, and, perhaps most important, reports on blood-alcohol content in increments of 0.01.
All the accidents included in FARS are, by definition, severe. But the authors looked at different levels of accident severity by examining the ratio of severe injuries to minor ones.
„Accidents are 36.6 percent more severe even when alcohol was barely detectable in a driver’s blood,“ Phillips said. Even with a BAC of 0.01, Phillips and Brewer write, there are 4.33 serious injuries for every non-serious injury versus 3.17 for sober drivers.
… We hope that our study might influence not only U.S. legislators, but also foreign legislators, in providing empirical evidence for lowering the legal BAC even more,“ Phillips said. „Doing so is very likely to reduce incapacitating injuries and to save lives.“ (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/20/11) eurekalert.org, 06/20/11