www.alkoholpolitik.ch

This statistical report acts as a reference point for health issues relating to alcohol use and misuse, providing information obtained from a number of sources in a user-friendly format. It covers topics such as drinking habits and behaviours among adults (aged 16 and over) and school children (aged 11 to 15), drinking-related ill health and mortality, affordability of alcohol and alcohol-related costs. The report contains previously published information and also includes additional new analyses. The new analyses are mainly obtained from The NHS Information Centre’s Hospital Episodes Statistics (HES) system and Prescribing data. The report also include up to date information on the latest alcohol related government policies and targets and contains links to further sources of useful information. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/27/11) NHS Information Center, 2011

Background: Alcohol and drug prevention is high on the public health agenda in many countries. An increasing
trend is the call for evidence-based practice. In Sweden in 2002 an innovative project portfolio including an
integrated research and competence-building strategy for non-governmental organisations (NGOs) was designed
by the National Board of Health and Welfare (NBHW). This research strategy case study is based on this initiative.
Methods: The embedded case study includes 135 projects in 69 organisations and 14 in-depth process or effect
studies. …
Conclusions: This research strategy case study shows that it is possible to integrate research into alcohol and drug
prevention programs run by NGOs, and thereby contribute to a more evidence-based practice. A core element is
developing a trustful partnership between the researchers and the organisations. Moreover, the funding agency
must acknowledge the importance of knowledge development and allocating resources to research groups that is
capable of cooperating with practitioners and NGOs. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/26/11) substanceabusepolicy.com, 4/14/11

Lunch Seminar, Hosted by MEPs Anna Hedh (S&D) and Marian Harkin (ALDE), European Parliament (Brussels)- A3E-2Tuesday 21 June 2011 12h00 – 14h30
Alcohol is one of the most heavily marketed products on our shelves.
Young people are an important target audience for the alcohol industry and they are exposed to unprecedented levels of sophisticated marketing, from mass media advertising to sponsorship of events, product placement, internet, merchandise, social networks etc.
Alcohol marketing has a powerful impact on young people’s drinking behavior and undercut the efforts by public health authorities to reduce harmful drinking among youth.
The speakers will analyze the scientific evidence on the cumulative impact of alcohol marketing and will present the results of two recent European projects on how to better regulate the content and volume of marketing in order to protect young people.
Please click here to register (People who DO NOT have a pass to the European Parliament need to register before 14 June 2011).
If you need any further information please contact Eurocare’s office at ruth.ruiz(at)eurocare.org or 02 736 39 76.

The maker of the popular Tilt malt beverage is lowering the drink’s alcohol content from 12 percent to 8 percent for a 24-ounce container. Anheuser-Busch announced that the new drinks will be sold starting this summer.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Sparks flavored malt beverages made by MillerCoors also have a maximum of 8 percent alcohol by volume. The article notes that the changes to Tilt come as malt beverages such as Four Loko are being criticized for encouraging underage and binge drinking. … (Source: Join Together, 5/25/11)

Confronting family poverty needs evidence-based alcohol policies.
In his message on the International Day of Families 2011 the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon says: “On this International Day of Families, let us resolve to support families as they nurture the young, care for the old and foster strong communities”.
The UN has a long history of efforts to protect families, especially women and children. This year’s theme is very important as it allows development organizations and governments to direct the spotlight on a hidden but key issue – the impact of alcohol abuse on families. Effective action here will radically improve the conditions and future prospects of children, women and families in general. … (Source: IOGT International, 5/16/11)

The European Week Against Cancer is back!
Between 25 and 31 May each year organizations in Europe will join forces to identify ways to prevent cancer. Under the leadership of the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) and the European Partnership Action Against Cancer, the European Week Against Cancer (EWAC) will give new impetus to cancer prevention and healthy lifestyles in Europe by promoting the European Code Against Cancer. “We’re really glad that the EWAC is back,” says Andrea Lavesson, president of Active – sobriety, friendship and peace, a European youth organization. “And we support the leadership of ECL in its efforts to prevent cancers because we know that around 40% of all cancer cases could be prevented, if screening policies and prevention methods were improved and if Europeans would lead healthier lifestyles.”
Every year more than 3 million Europeans are diagnosed with cancer, making cancer the most common cause of death in Europe after heart disease. Over the years evidence has been accumulated by scientists from all over the world clearly showing that the use of alcohol increases the risk of cancer. The greater the amount of alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancers of the mouth, larynx, breast, liver and colorectum. Thus the European Code Against Cancer 1 states that ‘If you drink alcohol, whether beer, wine or spirits, moderate your consumption to two drinks per day if you are a man or one drink per day if you are a woman’. However ”even these levels incur a certain amount of risk, it is important that the general public, policy makers and alcohol producers are aware of the risks and do everything they can to minimize them,” says Emma Woodford from European Cancer Leagues. … (Source: Press Release activeeurope.org, 5/25/11)

Background: To avoid strong declines in the quality of life due to population ageing, and to ensure sustainability of the health care system, reductions in the burden of disability among elderly populations are urgently needed. Life style interventions may help to reduce the years lived with one or more disabilities, but it is not fully understood which life style factor has the largest potential for such reductions. Therefore, the primary aim of this paper is to compare the effect of BMI, smoking and alcohol consumption on life expectancy with disability, using the Sullivan life table method. …
Results: Life expectancy at age 55 differed by 1.4 years among groups defined in terms of BMI, 4.0 years by smoking status, and 3.0 years by alcohol consumption. Years lived with disability differed by 2.8 years according to BMI, 0.2 years by smoking and 1.6 by alcohol consumption. Obese persons could expect to live more years with disability (5.9 years) than smokers (3.8 years) and drinkers (3.1 years). Employing information on time to death led to lower estimates of years lived with disability, and to smaller differences in these years according to BMI (2.1 years), alcohol (1.2 years), and smoking (0.1 years). … (Source: biomedcentral.com, 5/24/11)

This surveillance report, prepared by the Alcohol Epidemiologic Data System (AEDS), National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), presents data on underage drinking for 1991–2009.
This is the fourth of a series of reports to be published every two years on underage drinking and related attitudes and risk behaviors. Data for this series are compiled from three separate nationally representative surveys: the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, and the Youth Risk Behavior Survey (YRBS).
The following are highlights of trends from 1991 through 2009. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/23/11)

Every so often at Marin Institute, we get a complaint from someone about an alcohol advertisement they’ve seen in their community they think shouldn’t be there. Most of the time, they’re right. In our role as industry watchdog, I’ve taken on the responsibility to report such complaints to the industry directly to get the ads removed as soon as possible.
However, we have made a deliberate decision to not use the industry’s official complaint process, because as we demonstrated with our report in 2008, it’s a failure and a charade. … (Source: Marin Institute, 5/17/11)

– a systematic review of the literature
Abstract
Objective: The most recent scientific literature indicates that alcohol advertising influences behavior, particularly early and higher alcohol consumption by children and adolescents. From a public health perspective, alcohol advertising should be restricted. In many countries, as well as in Brazil, limits to alcohol advertising are established by industry self-regulation (e.g. controlled by the advertising community itself). We examined in this review all papers on the subject of industry self-regulation of alcohol advertising published in the international literature. … Discussion: The set of papers obtained indicates that industry self-regulation of alcohol advertising does not show evidence of efficacy. In other
words, such a regulation does not prevent, for instance, alcohol advertising directed at children and adolescents. Conclusion: Further measures should be considered for the control and the broadcast of alcohol advertising, such as independent monitoring, legal control. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/18/11) scielo.br