www.alkoholpolitik.ch

With News from the EU-Commission, -Parliament, European Countries, from the WHO, the World, Research and Publication, the Alcohol Industry, etc.
http://eurocare.sydesy.com/press/newsletter/winter_edition_2010

The Norwegian Health Directorate has launched a campaign ”Alkoholfritt svangerskap” (Alcohol-free pregnancy) to raise awareness among the population about the risks of alcohol consumption during pregnancy.
“You give your child the best start if you abstain from alcohol during pregnancy. Research shows that alcohol may interfere with the development of the child’s brain and other organs. Think about drinking habits already when planning children”
The animation-movie “Soon to be mother” is at the moment running on Norwegian TV and cinemas and is available on YouTube and on their website:

http://www.helsedirektoratet.no/gravid/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr__u6bRBK0
(Source: Eurocare Newsletter Winter 2010)

Monitoring the Future survey shows mixed results Daily use of marijuana has increased among eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade youth, while alcohol use — at its lowest level since the survey began — and binge drinking have continued long-term declines, according to 2010 Monitoring the Future Survey (MTF) results released today.
MTF, an annual survey funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA), has measured self-reported drug use behavior and attitudes among high-school seniors since 1975 and among eighth and tenth graders since 1991.
Researchers, led by Lloyd Johnston at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research, surveyed 46,482 eighth, tenth, and twelfth grade students in 396 public and independent schools across the country. (Source: Join Together, 12/14/10)

The price of a drink: levels of consumption and price paid per unit of alcohol by Edinburgh’s ill drinkers with a comparison to wider alcohol sales in Scotland.
To compare alcohol purchasing and consumption by ill drinkers in Edinburgh with wider alcohol sales in Scotland.
Patients consumed mean 197.7 UK units/week. The mean price paid per unit was £0.43 (lowest £0.09/unit) (£1 = 1.6 US$ or 1.2€), which is below the mean unit price, £0.71 paid in Scotland in 2008. Of units consumed, 70.3% were sold at or below £0.40/unit (mid-range of price models proposed for minimum pricing legislation by the Scottish Government), and 83% at or below £0.50/unit proposed by the Chief Medical Officer of England. The lower the price paid per unit, the more units a patient consumed. A continuous increase in unit price from lower to higher social status, ranked according to the Scottish Index of Multiple Deprivation (based on postcode), was not seen; patients residing in postcodes in the mid-quintile paid the highest price per unit. Cheapness was quoted commonly as a reason for beverage choice; ciders, especially ‘white’ cider, and vodka were, at off-sales, cheapest per unit. Stealing alcohol or drinking alcohol substitutes was only very rarely reported. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/11/10) onlinelibrary.wiley.com Comment: It shows that the price is relevant for heavy drinkers. The solution are alcohol taxes combined with minimal price. Perhaps separated between pubs and retailer shops.

Youth Rights in alcohol culture – all right? Active proudly presents ALL RIGHTS booklet
Today is Human Rights Day and on this day the European community looks to the situation in China and Liu Xiaobo. While this is important, not least for the children and young people there, it is essential to assure at the same time not to loose sight of the European situation.
“In Europe we’ve developed the bad habit to always think of development countries and dictatorships when we talk about Human Rights violations. While that’s convenient, the truth is that there happen Human Rights, even Children’s Rights violations on our continent. They happen in open street. They happen in children’s rooms. Every day. We cannot afford to waste time to combat them”, says Andrea Lavesson, President of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace.
To live up to the needs and demands of millions of young Europeans, Active today launches its most recent publication: a booklet zooming in on the rights violations caused by alcohol harm and alcohol culture in Europe.
Find the booklet for download: http://www.activeeurope.org/attachedFiles/documents/allrigths_booklet.pdf.
An Active working group, consisting of 12 young Europeans, analyzed every article of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights as well as the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Not less than 15 breaches of the UDHR attributable to alcohol harm and the European alcohol culture were found. The severity of breaches is even magnified by decision-makers on all levels who ignore to primarily consider the Best Interest of children whenever deciding on policies.
Studies show that alcohol harm inflicted upon others can be found everywhere and affects children and young people disproportionately. For example, alcohol is a causal factor in 16% of child abuse and neglect. In Germany, between 2000 and 2008 the number of alcohol intoxicated youth ending up in emergency rooms increased by 170%. Alcohol is responsible for 7, 4% of disability and premature death in the EU. (Source: Press Release Active, 12/10/10)

Early responses to the new 2010 Drugs Strategy have been released by Drugscope, Addaction and the NTA. Reports from the BBC, Guardian and a Telegraph comment. Follow DS Daily for more.
Following the release of the public health White Paper, a summary of alcohol references have been highlighted on the ALC. An article in the Independent asks whether Lansley’s policies are ‚Nudge or Fudge‘, the Telegraph reporting ’no more nanny state‘. The Guardian published a supportive GP comment and a radical critique on responding alcohol misuse. The Conservative MP Sarah Wollaston expressed support for minimum pricing in an outspoken interview on public health policy. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 12/10/10) alcoholpolicy.net, 12/10/10

Cheap supermarket deals on alcohol are short-termist and damaging to alcohol brand building, while helping to reduce the value of Christmas to the alcohol industry.  That’s the view of research company Mintel as a new study showed that spending on alcohol in the fourth quarter declined from £11.5bn in 2009 (probably 2008, htm) to £10.4bn in 2009, costing the industry over a billion pounds in lost revenue. It forecasts a bigger drop this year…. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 12/03/10) morningadvertiser.co.uk, 12/03/10

Three federal agencies — including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — recently acted in concert to halt the sale and distribution of caffeinated alcoholic drinks such as Four Loko and Joose. Agency officials made their decisions based on research into the effects of combining caffeine and alcohol, and several recent incidents linked to the beverages where individuals (mostly young people) have been hospitalized or killed.
In response, David L. Rosenbloom, who directs Join Together, published an editorial in The New York Times arguing that caffeine isn’t the only problem with sweetened high-alcohol drinks. Rosenbloom pointed out three looming concerns: … (Source: Join Together, 11/30/10)

Giant multinational brewer SABMiller – the company that owns Grolsch, Peroni, Miller and Castle – is avoiding an estimated £20m of taxes in Africa and India every year, enough money to educate a quarter-of-a-million African children, according to a new report released today by the international anti-poverty agency ActionAid. The report, ‘Calling Time: Why SABMiller should stop dodging taxes in Africa’ reveals for the first time how the company, the world’s second biggest brewer, uses a complex system of  tax havens to siphon profits out of subsidiaries in developing countries, depriving those governments of significant amounts of tax. Martin Hearson, a tax specialist at ActionAid and the co-author of the report, said: “SABMiller conducts its tax affairs behind a veil of secrecy. The company and its subsidiaries siphon money away from African countries and into tax havens in Europe, where the tax rates are far lower. SABMiller is playing the system to avoid paying its fair share of tax in developing countries.” (Source: Tages-Anzeiger, 30.11.10) actionaid.org Comment: They take it from the poorest. May be that is also our development aid we send to Africa. It comes back to Europe (Netherlands and Switzerland) as their profit. And it is legal!

Abstract: The knowledge of racial and ethnic variations in alcohol abuse among US immigrants is limited. We compared the prevalence and correlates of alcohol abuse among US foreign-born versus US-natives by race-ethnicity using data from the National Epidemiological Survey on Alcohol and Related Conditions. Alcohol abuse outcomes included clinical diagnosis, excessive drinking, and intoxication. The foreign-born respondents had lower rates of alcohol abuse than the US-born, but some variations were noted by race-ethnicity. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 11/29/10) springerlink.com, 11/28/10