www.alkoholpolitik.ch

In 2010, the UK Government’s Responsibility Deal Alcohol Network (RDAN) was set up with representatives of the alcohol industry and health organisations. Acknowledging that RDAN does not advance public health objectives, the health groups withdrew from RDAN in 2011. This editorial argues that social responsibility deals as in RDAN and the European Alcohol Health Forum will be significantly undermined unless Corporate Social Responsibility is consistent in all activities across the whole sector. … (Editorial in „Addiction“ by DR ADRIAN BONNER &
PROFESSOR SIR IAN GILMORE)
Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/15/12) onlinelibrary.wiley.com, 05/15/12

In this issue:

NCD Alcohol Target Dropped to Placate Drinks Industry

Corporate Social Responsibility initiatives used “to undermine alcohol control policies”

Free trade agreements “threaten public health”

Global Alcohol Policy Conference – DECLARATION

Adults in Europe consume three standard alcoholic drinks per day on average New report on alcohol in European Union
and more….
THE GLOBE No. 2, 2012

Three easy ways for a stronger, more just and freer Europe
Europe celebrates today the 62nd anniversary of the Schumann Declaration, the first move towards the European Union, which still faces an unprecedented economic, social and political crisis. Young Europeans and youth organizations are disproportionately exposed to the negative effects of this crisis.
But there are three simple and effective ways towards a stronger, fairer and freer Europe, as the European youth organization Active – sobriety, friendship and peace, through the President Andrea Lavesson is outlining today:

“The first one is stronger youth organizations in Europe to harness their role and power in protecting youth, combating the crisis and achieving the EU2020 targets and in promoting innovation and democracy.” …

“The second one is a new and better EU alcohol strategy to protect children and young people from the tremendous alcohol harm in Europe, to improve the productivity of the EU and to secure the European Social Model.” …

“A new and better EU alcohol strategy will contribute to making Europe more productive, protecting the Social Model and saving and improving the lives of young Europeans,” says Andrea Lavesson.

“And last but not least, the third one is a stronger commitment to making the Human Rights of children and youth in Europe a lived reality in policy making to prevent them from growing up in poverty.” …

(Source: Press Release Active, 05/9/12)

The Makati Business Club welcomes the initiative to reform excise taxes on tobacco and alcohol products, which would allow the government to optimize its revenue potential and create a strong disincentive for excessive tobacco and alcohol use.

We especially support the restructuring of the excise tax system from a multi-tiered structure to a unitary excise tax structure for tobacco and alcohol. This will effectively improve equity across cigarette and alcohol brands, promote market-based pricing in the industry, and encourage the entry of legitimate competition. It will also demonstrate the country’s commitment to open and fair competition, as well as its respectful compliance to international agreements.

We further push for the elimination of the price classification freeze so the government is free to levy competitive excise tax rates on tobacco and alcohol products. We believe that the current system has eroded the tax base, costing the Philippine government a substantial amount of foregone revenue. To address this loophole, we urge lawmakers to raise the excise tax rates and burden of tobacco and alcohol products, taking inflation into account yearly, to adequately reflect the negative externalities of consuming these goods. ….
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/05/12) mbc.com, 05/02/12

Drinking too much alcohol can take a heavy toll, not only on a person’s health but also on his or her family relationships and work or school performance. Alcohol consumption can lead to alcohol dependence and abuse, contribute to a number of diseases and mental and behavioral disorders, and may lead to a range of injuries. In addition, drinkers and their families are subject to social harm, such as family disruption, problems at the workplace (including unemployment), criminal convictions, and financial problems. They also encounter higher health care and related costs. …
(Source: Alcohol Alert Number 83, NIAAA)

Today, HEIDI – an internet based wiki that presents reliable and comparable data about health in the EU – has been launched by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for Health & Consumers. Although Heidi has been set up by the Commission, the content is written by European health experts – who are responsible for their contributions and can directly upload and edit information.

HEIDI stands for Health in Europe: Information and Data Interface. It is a dynamic tool that collects, updates and shares information about health in Europe, for example on health status, health determinants, systems and policies. Keep up-to-date by bookmarking the site!

The abundance of health data and indicators in the HEIDI wiki is constantly being added to and updated. The data can be sorted per year, by country and by region, allowing at-a-glace comparisons across the years and between Member States and regions in the EU. For a selection of health topics, the tool allows for the data to be presented in a variety of graphs – line chart, bar chart, map chart and table chart.

For more information on EU health indicators:
http://ec.europa.eu/health/indicators/policy/index_en.htm

Summary:
Drink responsibly” messages function as one tool in the alcohol industry’s marketing toolbox to promote, grow loyalty to and build credibility for its brands. The “drink responsibly” slogan also serves as a public relations distraction for alcohol corporations fighting evidence-based, effective policies such as increasing alcohol taxes, restricting alcohol advertising, and maintaining state control of alcohol sales. There is no evidence to show that “drink responsibly” messages are an effective strategy for reducing alcohol consumption or related harm. Much like Big Tobacco’s anti-smoking campaigns, alcohol industry facades like “drink responsibly” are counterproductive and could backfire, increasing intent to use the product instead of decreasing alcohol-related harm. …
(Source: Alcohol Justice, 05/01/12)

Background: Response rates for surveys of alcohol use are declining for all modes of administration (postal, telephone, face to-face). Low response rates may result in estimates that are biased by selective non-response. We examined non-response bias in the NZ GENACIS survey, a postal survey of a random electoral roll sample, with a response rate of 49.5% (n = 1924). Our aim was to estimate the magnitude of non-response bias in estimating the prevalence of current drinking and heavy episodic (binge) drinking.
Methods: We used the ‘‘continuum of resistance’’ model to guide the investigation. In this model the likelihood of response by sample members is related to the amount of effort required from the researchers to elicit a response. First, the demographic characteristics of respondents and non-respondents were compared. Second, respondents who returned their questionnaire before the first reminder (early), before the second reminder (intermediate) or after the second reminder (late) were compared by demographic characteristics, 12-month prevalence of drinking and prevalence of binge drinking.
Results: Demographic characteristics and prevalence of binge drinking were significantly different between late respondents and early/intermediate respondents, with the demographics of early and intermediate respondents being similar to people who refused to participate while late respondents were similar to all other non-respondents. Assuming non-respondents who did not actively refuse to participate had the same drinking patterns as late respondents, the prevalence of binge drinking amongst current drinkers was underestimated. Adjusting the prevalence of binge drinkers amongst current drinkers using population weights showed that this method of adjustment still resulted in an underestimate of the prevalence.
Conclusions: The findings suggest non-respondents who did not actively refuse to participate are likely to have similar or more extreme drinking behaviours than late respondents, and that surveys of health compromising behaviours such as alcohol use are likely to underestimate the prevalence of these behaviours.

(Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/26/12) Open source

School of Humanities and Cultural Industries, Bath Spa University, Newton Park, Bath BA2 9BN, UK

Aims: To provide a snapshot content analysis of social media marketing among leading alcohol brands in the UK, and to outline the implications for both regulatory policies and further research. Methods: Using screengrab technology, the complete Facebook walls and Twitter timelines for 12 leading UK alcohol brands in November 2011 were captured and archived. A total of 701 brand-authored posts were identified and categorized using a thematic coding frame. Key strategic trends were identified and analysed in the light of contextual research into recent developments in marketing practice within the alcohol industry…..
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 04/25/12) alcalc.oxfordjournals.org, 04/23/12

Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers.

Last week, major producers from the alcohol industry together with the World Federation of Advertising presented The Responsible Marketing Pact which scales up self-regulation[1]..

As a response, Civil Society Organisations with diverse backgrounds are now reminding policy makers at European and Member State level about the need for better regulation and co-regulation, and urge the European Commission and Member States officials not to jump on easy solutions in a new EU Alcohol Strategy 2013-2020.

“It cannot be left to the producers of a harmful product to decide how, when and where it will be marketed. Policy makers must not rely on self-regulation, but rather follow up through more statutory measures to protect the consumers. The content of this pact is basically the old ineffective measures of self-regulation in a new package. What we are witnessing are two powerful industries formally coming together to fight regulation- this is alarming”, says Mariann Skar, Secretary General of the European Alcohol Policy Alliance. …
Source: Eurocare.org, 04/25/12)
also: press release Active, 04/25/12)