www.alkoholpolitik.ch

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)

A new Keystone Research Center report has found that states with more control of the sale and distribution of alcohol have fewer alcohol-related traffic fatalities than states with no such controls. The new analysis showed that with all else equal, a state with control characteristics like Pennsylvania has 58 fewer adult deaths per year from alcohol-related traffic accidents than it would if the state had no control over the distribution of alcohol. The findings reinforce the recent Community Preventive Services Task Force recommendations against the privatization of alcohol sales, and are particularly relevant in Pennsylvania given recent moves to privatize there. Check out Alcohol Justice fact sheets for more info on: – Effectiveness of State Control
– Dangers of Alcohol Sales Privatization
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 6/6/12)

The current EU Alcohol Strategy is coming to an end in 2012. However Europe is still the world’s heaviest drinking region-

– Alcohol is the world’s number one risk factor for ill-health and premature death amongst the 25 – 59 year old age group, a core of the working age population

– Alcohol related harm is 1 of the 4 risk factors for developing NCDs such as cancer and cardiovascular disease

– Social costs attributable to alcohol account for €155.8 billion

Due to the size of the problem and universal impact this problem requires a comprehensive, coordinated response from policy and decision makers at the European and national levels.

This event will build on the Call for Action from 88 health and social NGOs from across Europe and will be an opportunity to address the issue in the European Parliament to ensure continuation of the efforts to tackle alcohol related harm.

Draft programe

For more informaiton please conact Eurocare Secretariat
When
June 27th, 2012 9:00 AM to 12:00 PM
Location
Rue Wiertz 60
European Parliament
Brussels, B 1047
Belgium
Contact
Phone: +32 (0)2 736 05 72
Email: aleksandra.kaczmarek@eurocare.org

Results from the project Alcohol Marketing Monitoring in Europe (AMMIE) stress the need to implement a ban on sport sponsorship of alcohol brands in Europe. The project clearly shows that popular sports like football are heavily sponsored by alcohol brands, which is also the case with the UEFA Championship in Poland and Ukraine starting the coming weekend. – The AMMIE project shows how sport is being sponsored intensively by alcohol producers and that a ban is clearly needed, says Wim van Dalen, coordinator of AMMIE and Director of STAP – Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy.

More sponsoring, more drinking
Recent studies shows that sport events sponsored by the alcohol industry are associated with higher levels of alcohol consumption among the sport spectators compared to spectators at sporting events where the event is not sponsored by the alcohol industry. This is especially worrying when the UEFA Championship starts the coming weekend with Carlsberg as one of the main sponsors.

Many sport clubs sponsored by the drinks industry
The AMMIE project has made the first attempt to examine alcohol-branded sport sponsorship of the top clubs of the five most frequently performed sports teams in Bulgaria, Denmark, Germany, Italy and the Netherlands. Until now there has been no data available that gives insight in the number of sport clubs that are sponsored by alcohol brands. AMMIE shows how this is widespread and should be paid more attention to. In AMMIE, national statistics were used to select the five most frequently performed sports teams in each country. Of these sports, the ten teams that play in the highest division are rated as top clubs. Of these 50 top clubs, the club websites have been scanned thoroughly for the presence of alcohol-branded sponsors. Following is data from each AMMIE country more detailed described.

Young people exposed
Although the sport events with the famous clubs are not exclusively viewed by youth, nonetheless children and adolescents represent a significant proportion of the general viewing public. In this regard, the message to youth is clear: sport and alcohol consumption is positive and fun and famous players support the very brands advertised. Alcohol consumption is therefore connected to the healthy image of sport activities, although it is, in reality, a causal factor in more than 60 different diseases and illnesses (WHO, 2007). …

Alcohol sponsor shapes the image of the club
AMMIE provide insight into the way sponsorships shape their contributions to popular sports and their clubs in the five countries studied. Not only does the presence of an alcohol brand sponsoring a sport club stand out, but also the role of this sponsor in shaping the image of the club. When alcohol producers sponsor a sport club, not only can their logo be found on their website, the stadium or sporting hall can be named after the alcohol brand and the alcoholic beverages of this brand can be sold on the website and/or within the sporting club (canteen/bar). In this way the alcohol brand attempts to associate itself with the sport, the sport club, its sportive success, the loyalty of its fans and its positive image in society.

For more information contact:
The Dutch Institute for Alcohol Policy (STAP)
PO box 9769
3506 GT Utrecht
The Netherlands
Tel: 0031 30 6565041/ 0031 6 53295544

Limiting alcohol to half a unit per day is best for health, say Oxford University researchers who analyzed the link between alcohol consumption and 11 chronic diseases and concluded 4,600 more lives would be saved every year if people in England were to cut the amount they drink to within this level.

They write about their findings in a BMJ Open paper that was published online on 30 May.
The lead author of the study was Dr Melanie Nichols of the BHF Health Promotion Research Group, in the Department of Public Health, at Oxford University. She told the press:

„People who justify their drinking with the idea that it is good for heart disease should also consider how alcohol is increasing their risk of other chronic diseases. A couple of pints or a couple of glasses of wine per day is not a healthy option.“ …
(Source: Medical News Today, 06/01/12)

In 2011 we organized the First European Conference on Alcohol Law Enforcement in Rotterdam. The conference was a successful start of a network on alcohol law enforcement in Europe. This year we are continuing the network initiative with a conference in Stockholm at 15 and 16 November 2012. Theme of the second conference is Reducing public drunkenness and over-serving related violence. Every European city is facing this problem and every law enforcer that is active at night-time will recognize this issue. There are some very interesting best practices on reducing alcohol related violence in Europe and there is a lot of research on evidence based interventions. In November we will present those best practices and bring the specialists on this topic in Europe together with the members of the European Network for Alcohol Law Enforcement.

Signing in for the conference is possible by this link: http://www.fhi.se/conf20121115
(Source: European Network for Alcohol Law Enforcement, 05/31/12)

The Scottish Government have today announced plans to almost half the drink-drive limit with a new scheme being implemented “as soon as possible”.

Justice Secretary Kenny MacAskill said that plans to bring the limit down, from 80mg of alcohol per 100ml of blood to 50mg, are set to be brought forward.

The announcement comes less than a week after Scotland became the first part of the UK to implement a minimum price for a unit of alcohol under a new binge-drinking bill.

MacAskill said, “The Scottish government has long called for a reduction in the drink-driving limit to 50mg.

“We strongly believe that reducing the drink-driving limit will save lives, and evidence from across Europe shows that alcohol-related road deaths drop dramatically where the limit has been reduced.”

Scottish road safety campaigners have welcomed the plans and said it was a step in the right direction.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, News, 05/28/12) independent.co.uk, 05/27/12

our Online-Comment: It is really interesting what funny reasons are given against this new limit. We have heard them as well when in Switzerland, after a long fight, parliament did this step. It is so simple, even after five years and more the amount of alcohol related accidents and deaths dropped by more than 20%. How anybody can be against this new rule?
Important is of course that many controls by the police are done and especially controls without suspicion. And that punishments with lost driver licences are strong enough.

In Focus
Alcohol harms you, others and the society – why does Europe need an alcohol strategy? 27 June 2012, European Parliament, Brussels
Finland takes important steps to restrict alcohol marketing
News from Eurocare
Alcohol Focus Scotland: Minimum pricing
NordAN: Conference reminder
EHYT: Cannabis Connotations of an Alcohol Ad cause a stir in Finland
Eurocare Italy: Partnership between Diageo and Italian Automobile Club
DHS: Focus on alcohol and cancer
News from the European Union Institutions
Report from the Chair of the European Alcohol and Health Forum
Presentations from the High Level Conference on EU Health Programmes
Question from MEP: Alcohol consumption in Europe
Question from MEP: Benefits of red wine
Question from MEP: Foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS)
Question from MEP: Wine imports: possible tax increase and imposition of quotas
News from across Europe
Scottish minimum price at 50p per unit
Ireland – Minister to end alcohol sponsorship of sports
Germany – Public Transit Pub: Will Alcohol Bans Stop Party Trains?
News from the World Health Organization
World Health Statistics
New research and reports
ALICE RAP Policy Brief on alcohol: ‘Alcohol – the neglected addiction’
Study on the affordability of alcoholic beverages in the EU
Research shows high level of serving alcohol to inebriated customers
Call for Papers Special Issue on International Perspectives on Alcohol Control Policies in Low- and Middle-Income Countries
Upcoming Events ….
(Source: Eurocare, 25/05/2012)