www.alkoholpolitik.ch

Every year, 1.5 million people in Norway are affected by others‘ alcohol consumption.
In this frame, the government is concerned about the increasing damage of alcohol, the result of the increasing alcohol consumption.

The report presented by the government assumes that 50 000 to 150 000 children living with their parents in Norway are in risk due to alcohol consumption.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/2/12) The Nordic Page Norway, 06/25/12

The European Alcohol Policy Alliance has launched a new website to flag up the risks associated with alcohol consumption and cancer.

Alcohol is a carcinogenic (cancer causing) substance, yet only 1 in 5 people are aware of the risks that alcohol can bring. 10% of the total cancers in males and 3% of the total cancers in females are thought to be associated with alcohol consumption. A range of cancers are linked to alcohol, including liver cancer and prostate cancer. Any alcohol can increase the risk, so there isn’t a „safer“ alcoholic drink to gravitate to. …
(Source: Eurocare, 07/02/12)

TWELVE sports associations will become teetotal when it comes to alcohol sponsorship after a $25 million deal with the government.

The groups have struck a deal to promote safe alcohol consumption by adults, alcohol-free sporting environments for minors and to reduce alcohol promotion in their codes.

But the AFL and NRL were not part of the deal. Those that do have a stake include national associations for soccer, basketball, netball, swimming, cycling, hockey, athletics, skateboarding, volleyball, equestrian, triathlon and canoeing. They will be precluded from sponsorship that promotes alcohol consumption as it would be in conflict with the health campaign message of Be the Influence, Tackling Binge Drinking.

(Source: Harvard World Health News, 06/29/12) smh.com.au, 06/24/12

State Control of Alcohol: Protecting the Public’s Health

Pennsylvania Republican House Majority Leader Michael Turzai recently gave up the fight to privatize liquor sales in the state, at least for the moment. The battle to privatize Pennsylvania’s 620 state-owned liquor and wine stores, and to allow the sale of alcohol by non-state retailers, has been raging in Pennsylvania for several years. In 2010, then-gubernatorial candidate (now governor) Tom Corbett made alcohol privatization a key part of his election campaign. Since then, advocates for state control and new research findings regarding its effectiveness have helped fight off the ill-fated plan.

When the 21st Amendment repealed national prohibition in 1933, states became responsible for
regulating alcoholic beverages. While many states decided to license private businesses to sell alcohol,
18 states chose to control alcohol sales themselves. The goal was to provide a legal way for people
to obtain alcohol, but also encourage moderate consumption by reducing economic incentives for
maximum sales.

States that currently have monopolies over control either beer, wine, or spirits (or some combination)
are: Alabama, Idaho, Iowa, Maine, Michigan, Mississippi, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina,
Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Washington, West Virginia, and Wyoming. In
addition, Montgomery County, Maryland controls spirits, beer, and wine (the only jurisdiction that
controls all three). …
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 06/27/12)

Abstract
Resveratrol has shown evidence of decreasing cancer incidence, heart disease, metabolic syndrome and neural degeneration in animal studies. However, the effects on longevity are mixed. We aimed to quantify the current knowledge of life extension from resveratrol. We used meta-analytic techniques to assess the effect resveratrol has on survival, using data from 19 published papers, including six species: yeast, nematodes, mice, fruitflies, Mexican fruitflies and turquoise killifish. Overall, our results indicate that resveratrol acts as a life-extending agent. The effect is most potent in yeast and nematodes, with diminished reliability in most higher-order species. Turquoise killifish were especially sensitive to life-extending effects of resveratrol but showed much variation. Much of the considerable heterogeneity in our analysis was owing to unexplained variation between studies. In summary, we can report that few species conclusively show life extension in response to resveratrol. As such, we question the practice of the substance being marketed as a life-extending health supplement for humans.
(Source: rsbl.royalsocietypublishing.org, 06/20/12)

In Focus
Launch of Eurocare recommendations for a future EU alcohol strategy
Estonia is developing an alcohol policy green paper

News from Eurocare
Actis (Norway): The Government says no to curbing serving hours
Alcohol and Society (Denmark) challenges Carlsberg over the promotion of alcohol in Denmark
Alcohol Focus Scotland: Scottish policy developments
SLAN (Sweden): Summer updates

News from the European Union Institutions
Presentations from the 10th meeting of the Committee on National Alcohol Policy and Action
EU Health Programme – Annual report 2010
Health-EU Portal survey ….

News from across Europe

New research and reports

Upcoming events
(Source: Eurocare, 06/19/12)

Two types of state laws can help reduce the risk of teens’ drinking and driving, a new study suggests. Graduated driver licensing laws, which help new drivers gain experience in less risky situations, and use-and-lose laws, which allow the suspension of a teen’s driver license if they are caught using alcohol, were both found effective.

Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis looked at the drinking and driving behaviors of more than 220,000 teens ages 16 and 17, HealthDay reports.

“The key finding of our study was that states with restrictive [graduated driver licensing] laws and use-and-lose laws had less youth who reported driving after drinking any alcohol or riding in a car with a driver who had been drinking alcohol,” study author Patricia Cavazos-Rehg said in a journal news release. “In other words, a student in a state with the strongest [graduated driver licensing] and use-and-lose laws would be approximately half as likely as a student in a state with the weakest laws to drive after drinking.” …
(Source: Join Together, 06/19/12)

ICan_postern Lancashire, Community Alcohol Networks (CANs) have been developed by the Trading Standards Alcohol and Tobacco team, in conjunction with Lancashire Constabulary, to adopt a partnership approach to reduce alcohol-related crime and problems amongst young people.

Lancashire have released a CAN Practitioner Toolkit and a CAN Problem Oriented Partnership report.

The project was established with the aims of reducing young people’s access to alcohol in order to reduce risky drinking and alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour. It also aimed to reduce problems by tackling proxy purchasing through enhanced enforcement activity in identified hotspots. In addition it aimed to raise awareness of alcohol related health and social issues amongst young people, parents and the wider community.

Over 12 weeks the Community Alcohol Networks were claimed to have achieved :

51 per cent reduction in alcohol fuelled anti social behaviour
violent crime has reduced by 22 per cent
criminal damage has seen an 11 per cent reduction ….
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/18/12)

Consultation on the methods used to estimate alcohol-related hospital admissions for England has been opened by the North West Public Health Observatory (NWPHO).

It was announced that the hospital admissions data would be reviewed when the Public Health Outcomes Framework was released earlier this year, stating ‚the preferred option is for an indicator based on just alcohol-related primary diagnoses, to minimise the risk of perverse consequences from any changes in coding practice so the indicator rewards local areas for good performance.‘

Hospital admissions data was formerly used to monitor ‚National Indicator (NI) 39‘ performance under ‚Local Area Agreements‘ (LAA). However LAAs were scrapped under the Government’s Localism agenda, although areas can still monitor hospital admissions data through the Local Alcohol Profiles for England (LAPE) site and are reviewed in the annual national alcohol statistics.

The Morning Advertiser reported that the trade is concerned that such data influences Government alcohol policies. Kate Nicholls, strategic affairs director at the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers said „Too often in the past we have seen alcohol-related statistics over-stated and over-played or used as a public health political football.“

Concerns may reflect alcohol-related admissions figures which now top over a million attributable admissions per year, attracting media headlines. Primary alcohol diagnosis admissions are however less than 200,000 per year. Alcohol-related admissions account for the impact of conditions such as hypertension where alcohol plays a key role in many cases. …

Download the consultation document here [pdf] and response form. NWPHO
(Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/13/12)

Comment: The industry isn’t pleased, let’s change the rules.

Sport is not an arena for alcohol promotion

This weekend, UEFA Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw. During the next weeks 1.4 million fans are expected at the stadiums, and millions of people will follow the championship from more than 200 territories around the world. This is a brilliant opportunity to promote sport, physical activity and a healthy lifestyle. However, looking at the sponsors to UEFA Euro 2012, healthy lifestyle is not the message put forward when exposing the audience with sponsors such as Coca Cola, McDonalds and Carlsberg. Carlsberg is one of the leading breweries in the world, and is one of the official sponsors to the UEFA Euro 2012.

In 2009, global sponsorship spending was estimated for 44.8 billion USD; compared to 5.6 billion in 1987. It must be working and paying off. ‘It is extremely disappointing that with such an unique platform UEFA with silent blessing of political leaders is choosing to promote alcohol over health. To associate and brand football together with alcohol is more than problematic. It is simply lack of any long term consideration of the impact bad health will have on the population.’ says Mariann Skar- Secretary General of European Alcohol Policy Alliance. …
(Source: Eurocare, 06/7/12)