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The First Global Ministerial Conference on Healthy Lifestyles and Non-Communicable Disease (NCDs) Control was held in Moscow in the end of April. On this global platform India and the world community achieved a big success for the future fight against NCDs. It is thanks to the strong efforts of the Indian delegation that from now on Mental Disorders are included in the list of NCDs .
“The members of IOGT International and surely millions of affected people and their families all over the world congratulate the WHO for this resolution and express our special thanks to the stern efforts of the Indian delegation. NCDs are a major threat to global health and societal development, killing three out of five humans in the world,” says Mr. Sven-Olov Carlsson, President of IOGT International. “We need as comprehensive a strategy as possible to tackle this problem and the Indian efforts truly contributed to this.” … (Source: Press release IOGT International 5/5/11: Press release_mental health and NCDs-2)

Fourteen colleges and universities announced this week they have banded together to fight binge drinking. The institutions, including Dartmouth, Cornell, Duke, Boston University, Northwestern, Princeton and Stanford, plan to test and measure new strategies and share their results with other colleges.
The initiative, called the Learning Collaborative on High-Risk Drinking, will begin meeting this summer. Dartmouth President, Jim Yong Kim, says he hopes at least 20 colleges will be a part of the collaborative by then, The Washington Post reports. (Source: Join Together, 5/4/11)

In an attempt to find yet another way to target the young female demographic, spirits producers have sprung new lines of premixed drinks designed and marketed to associate drinking their products with weight loss. This new trend toward spirits marketed as “low-cal” even has its own industry label: The “Thin-dustry.” This move by the spirits industry marks an obvious attempt to follow in the footsteps of the Big Beer duopoly, where for the past several years MillerCoors and Anheuser Busch InBev have seen success through marketing low-cal and low-carb beer lines targeted to both men and women. (Source: Marin Institute, 5/4/11)

In a new report entitled The High Cost of Cheap Alcohol, Pam Erickson from the Campaign for a Healthy Alcohol Marketplace examines the public health dangers associated with low-cost alcohol availability. The report „is designed to educate the public about the alcohol regulatory system and how it works. It focuses on one of the most powerful tools available to control alcohol problems: price. Time and again, research has shown that when prices go up, alcohol consumption and its attendant social problems go down.“ (Source: Marin Institute, 5/4/11) Comment: Very interesting history of American alcohol policies.

SAN FRANCISCO, CA (APRIL 21, 2011) – Alcohol industry watchdog Marin Institute applauded 17 state attorneys general and San Francisco City Attorney Dennis Herrera for their quick action to stop the latest supersized alcopop – Blast by Colt 45.
„State law-enforcers heard the national outcry,“ said Bruce Lee Livingston, executive director of Marin Institute. “Supersized alcopop Blast is too big, too potent and marketed to youth.”
The sickly sweet, 12% alcohol fruity-flavored beverage is sold in 23.5 oz. cans, which the attorneys general deemed “impossible to drink responsibly.” Marin Institute had mounted a petition campaign before the product’s official release on April 5, targeting the Metropoulos family – new owners of Colt 45 parent Pabst Brewing Company. Activists drew public attention to the dangerous brew and its exploitative viral marketing to young fans of hip-hop/rap star Snoop Dogg, the spokesperson and public face of the new product.
Minister Paul Scott, of Durham, NC-based Messianic Afrikan Ministry said, “We must stop these corporations from using the beautiful art of Hip Hop to destroy young minds. Music should instead be used to strengthen them.” … (Source: Marin Institute, 4/25/11)

Prom and graduation should be a time of pure joy for high school seniors and the people who love them. But every year, this season can also be a time of sadness for too many families. That’s because along with these important milestones come many opportunities for underage drinking and driving.
Each year, communities across the country mourn the deaths of teenagers involved in a car crash that resulted from underage drinking at a prom or graduation party. A survey of more than 2,500 high school juniors and seniors conducted in 2010 found that 90 percent believed their peers are more likely to drink and drive on prom night and 79 percent believe the same is true of graduation night. However, only 29 percent of teens say that driving on prom night is very dangerous; 25 percent believe the same is true for graduation night. … (Source: Join Together, 5/3/11)

There is an urgent need for a comprehensive and well funded global response to the activities of transnational corporations (TNCs) which are increasing global demand for alcohol by means of sophisticated supply and marketing techniques, and to the TNCs’ front organizations which are working to impede the development of effective policy.
Alcohol-related harm is a global issue requiring a strong global response. While some brands of alcohol retain local and national imagery, the reality, particularly for spirits and beer, and increasingly for wine, is very different. These are now the output of enormous transnational corporations, which for the past two decades have engaged in a process of consolidation and expansion, with the result that the global alcohol market is now dominated by a handful of large corporations. (by Sally Casswell, Auckland, one of the leading public health specialists on alcohol.) Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/2/11) onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Drivers in South Africa could soon be banned from drinking any alcohol at all before getting behind the wheel.
John Motsatsing, chief director of road transport regulation in the Department of Transport, said the government was seriously considering a zero alcohol limit for all drivers.
“Irrespective of how many drinks you’ve had, you cannot judge if you are over the alcohol limit, because you are not an expert,” he said. “So why can we not say no drinking at all if you are driving?
“We are going to do away with the alcohol limit. We are drafting a document and will put it out for public comment.”
At least 203 people were killed in road accidents during the Easter weekend, according The Road Traffic Management Corporation. It is estimated that almost half of all weekend motor vehicle crash victims at public hospitals are injured as a result of abuse of alcohol. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/2/11) iol.co.za, 5/1/11

Bangkok, May 2 (TNA) A new ban on alcohol trade and consumption at factories during working hours will soon be imposed across Thailand to promote a healthy workforce and reduce alcohol-related problems, seen as a gift to mark the National Labour Day and the International Workers‘ Day, known as the May Day. A recent survey conducted by Somdet Chaopraya Institute of Psychiatry in Bangkok found that local factory workers–who were alcohol-addicts–appeared to be 1.7 times more suicidal than an average healthy person, particularly females. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/3/11) ibnlive.in.com, 5/3/11

A fresh analysis of cancer rates published in Australia on Monday suggests alcohol is to blame for many more cases than previously thought—with 5.6 percent likely to be triggered by regular drinking even at moderate levels.
More than 2,600 breast cancers—or more than one in five of total cases—nearly 1,300 cancers of the mouth and nearly 600 cancers of the esophagus a year are now thought to be due to Australian patients‘ drinking habits.
The upward revisions appear in a new position statement on alcohol by Sydney-based non-government organization Cancer Council Australia, which warned there was no safe level of alcohol intake, and that the estimates provided another reason for people to stay within official healthy drinking guidelines. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/3/11)
foxnews.com/health, 5/2/11