www.alkoholpolitik.ch

The Home Office has released guidance to help pubs and doorstaff spot and deal with ID that’s used fraudulently to buy alcohol.
The 44-page guidance, accessible on-line, includes detailed advice on how to identify legitimate passports, driving licences and PASS (Proof of Age Standards Scheme) cards. It outlines some commonly-used counterfeit ID such as the „international driving permit“ and „provisional motorcycle licence“. The guidance warns operators to be wary of the growing trend for youngsters to use genuine ID belonging to older siblings. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 03/01/11) morningadvertiser.co.uk, 02/24/11

A report by economic experts Oxford Economics shows that 980,000 jobs in the UK depend on the beer and pub trade. The report was commissioned by the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA), who in a press release said the figures will fuel concerns over plans for huge beer tax hikes in the Budget this month. BBPA Chief Executive Brigid Simmonds said: „These figures show how vital the beer and pub trade is to the UK economy, with huge numbers of jobs dependent on the sector.“ Highlighting expected duty rises in the forthcoming budget, Simmonds called for a freeze in beer duty. Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 03/02/11) beerandpub.com, 02/16/11

Denmark’s health minister has called for free sterilisation for female alcoholics and drug addicts to help prevent birth defects in children. Bertel Haarder is proposing that the DKK 13,000 (EUR 1,744) fee for surgical sterilisation should be waived for certain vulnerable groups.
Haarder claims that drug addicts and alcoholics run a significantly higher risk of giving birth to deformed babies, which would cost society more in the long run than the sterilisation fee. “We’re talking about relatively few women here, so I hope we can find the means to help them,” he said.
Socialist People’s Party spokesperson, Ozlem Cekic, also said it is contradictory that costly abortions are free to addicts on the public health service but sterilisation is not. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/28/11) icenews.is, 02/25/11 Comment: At the end of the 19th and beginning of 20th century the idea of sterilisation was in discussion. The Swiss psychiatrist and leading international specialist on alcoholism, Prof. August Forel (1848-1931), wrote on this subject: Eugenik. In the 1980th there was criticism about this comparing with Nazi-ideology.

Alcohol must be made less accessible and more expensive to minimize public health damage, according to Norwegian MP and former Minister of Health Dagfinn Høybråten, speaking at the Second Northern Dimension Parliamentary Forum in Tromsø on February 22nd. The Nordic countries set the agenda in the global fight against alcoholism, he claims.
Alcohol is the second biggest life style related killer in the developed world and we need to change that, Mr. Høybråten said.
– Higher prices and less access to alcohol has been proven to minimize alcohol consumption. Campaigns and education cannot do it alone. Upwards of 600.000 Europeans die annually from alcohol related causes. And nine million children are affected by alcoholism. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/28/11) norden.org, 02/23/11

Ignition devices that stop drivers from starting their vehicles if they are over the alcohol limit help prevent people convicted of driving under the influence from re-offending, according to a new study.
Re-arrest rates for alcohol-impaired driving decrease by 67 percent after the ignition interlocks are installed compared to drivers with suspended licenses, said the study by researchers at the Community Guide branch of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
Around 200,000 vehicles in the United States are fitted with interlock devices that are used to prevent drunken driving by people convicted of such offenses. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/28/11) reuters.com, 02/22/11

We all know that high cholesterol, obesity and high blood pressure can increase the risk of having a heart attack. On the behavioral side, triggers include getting angry, exerting yourself and feeling stressed. But none of these individual risk factors account for as many heart attacks as population-level influences like the quality of the air we breathe, a new review study finds.
To calculate how population-wide environmental factors stack up against more individual risks for heart attacks, researchers in Belgium and Switzerland extrapolated data from 36 studies that analyzed various triggers, including caffeine, physical exertion, heavy meals, anger and even cocaine use. The study authors then came up with a rough ranking of which factors contributed the most to heart attacks in a population. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/28/11) healthland.time.com, 02/24/11 Comment: Air pollution has never been a confounding risk in alcohol research. An other factor to question the validity of positive health results.

Pubs caught serving drink to under-age customers in Northern Ireland twice will be closed. A Bill has been passed by the Assembly to reduce alcohol consumption. The measures were included in the amended Licensing and Registration of Clubs Bill and are expected to be in place by September.
Pubs, clubs, hotels and off licences convicted of selling alcohol to minors will be awarded five or six penalty points – once they have accumulated 10 they will face a closure of anywhere from a week to three months. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/01/11) belfasttelegraph.co.uk, 02/22/11

Displaying alcohol in supermarkets should be treated in the same way as dirty movies are displayed in a video store, the Alcohol Reform Bill select committee was told today. Alcohol Action said the proposals adapted by the Government from a Law Commission report into alcohol reform did not go far enough.
Alcohol should not easily accessible and should not be displayed at the front of stores or with other products such as fruit and vegetables, the group said today.
„Supermarkets are treating alcohol like it’s a commodity rather than a drug,“ spokeswoman Professor Jennie Connor said. „It should be treated like dirty movies, they should be in one corner of the supermarket at the back.“
The group opposed the continuation of supermarkets being allowed to sell alcohol and said it was not fair for children or those trying not to drink to be constantly exposed to it.
The bill, drafted last August, would affect bar hours, off-licence trading, liquor advertising and the purchase age. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/01/11) voxy.co.nz, 02/24/11

There’s a big snag with Ontario’s plan to make the province a hotbed for all-inclusive Caribbean-style vacations: booze prices, tour operators and resort owners say.
They’re pleased Premier Dalton McGuinty’s government, in a tough fight to win the Oct. 6 election, wants to loosen liquor laws allowing alcohol to be included in package deals with rooms and meals. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/01/11) thestar.com, 02/24/11 Comment: That’s not acting responsibly. The damage is exported.

Our knowledge of the association between alcohol intake and alcohol-related health outcomes depends, to a large extent, on the validity and reliability of self-reported alcohol intake. Weekly drinking measures are frequently used in epidemiological surveys, but it has been shown that respondents have problems in correctly reporting intake for a full week. The aim of this study is to investigate whether a beverage-specific question implies better recall and, thereby, eliminates or diminishes the previously reported association between the recall period and the self-reported weekly alcohol intake. Conclusions:
It seems problematic to recall alcohol intake even when the recall period is as short as 1 week. Weekly drinking measures should primarily be used when the main aim of the study is to assess the average volume of alcohol intake in a specific population. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 03/01/11) nature.com/ejcn, 02/16/11 Comment: Validity and reliability of alcohol research: One more big question.