www.alkoholpolitik.ch

The Coalition to Ban Alcohol Ads from Public Property organized a lively grassroots rally in Los Angeles City Hall Plaza this morning to send a message to the L.A. Board of Public Works that promoting alcohol on city-owned bus benches was a really bad idea. The Board heard the concerns and agreed by asking for a full ban on all alcohol ads in the new contract. The contractor, Martin Outdoor Media, LLC quickly agreed. There will be no alcohol ads on 6,000 L.A. city-owned bus benches. This will reduce youth exposure to messages that are feeding an epidemic of underage alcohol consumption and harm. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11) prnewswire.com, 06/10/11

More than two dozen West Virginia youth from Cabell, Greenbrier and Kanawha counties will star in new public service announcements (PSAs)
designed to raise awareness of and prevent underage drinking. Earlier this year, the teams of youth from Cabell County’s Substance Abuse
Prevention Coalition, the Marshall University Ad Club, Greenbrier East High School and the South Charleston Housing Authority submitted draft scripts for this year’s 2011 PSA Challenge. This month, the youth will fine-tune their scripts and work with the Tri-State CW and WV Radio Corporation to produce the television and radio spots. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/13/11) prevnet.org, 06/13/11 Comment: This could be an idea for other regions too.

Alcohol use, depression, schizophrenia and bipolar disorder together account for 45 percent of disabilities among young people ages 10 to 24 worldwide, about four times as much as that caused by unintentional injuries, according to a study of data from the World Health Organization.

The study researchers added up years of healthy living that were lost due to a disability and death. The Los Angeles Times reports that the study found alcohol accounted for 7 percent of lost healthy years. The article notes that the study is the first of its kind to give a comprehensive picture of young people’s global health. (Source: Join Together, 06/08/11)

A bill under consideration by the California Senate would ban retailers from selling alcohol through self-service checkouts. The bill has already been approved by the state Assembly.
The bill aims to make it more difficult for minors or already-intoxicated customers to purchase alcohol. Supporters say it would also reduce theft. Similar bills have been considered twice before by the California Legislature, the Oakland Tribune reports. In 2009, a similar bill was approved by the Legislature but vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.
The bill is supported by United Food and Commercial Workers Union, Mothers Against Drunk Driving, several police organizations and anti-drug and anti-alcohol groups, the article notes. … (Source: Join Together, 06/08/11)

The Bishop of Stafford has criticised the government for „doing little“ to prevent alcohol abuse. The Rt Rev Geoff Annas has described alcohol misuse as „one of the major sins of our time“. Writing in a pastoral letter, published in parish magazines across the Diocese of Lichfield, he called for a „seismic shift“ in attitudes towards drinking. The government has said it is tackling alcohol-related crime „at its source“ through a variety of measures.
He said charities were left to tackle the effects of „this drug abuse“, with government action not going far enough.
In the letter, Mr Annas said: „One definition of ’sin‘ is anything that comes between us and God and makes us less than the person God created us to be.
„Alcohol abuse is one of the major ’sins‘ of our time – and it is one that governments do very little to prevent.
„Instead, it is left to amazing organisations like Alcoholics Anonymous or in the inspirational O’Connor Gateway Charitable Trust, of which I am proud to be a trustee, to tackle the effects of this drug abuse.“ … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 06/07/11) bbc.co.uk, 06/01/11 Comment: It is far too seldom we here from a Churchman such words. To be drunk means the human dignity has gone.

Since the term was coined about 40 years ago, fetal alcohol syndrome has slowly become recognized as a public health issue. Alicestine October reports from South Africa’s Western Cape province, which has the highest reported rate in the world.
“When I was pregnant with my son I drank a lot – mostly on weekends,” says Marion Williams, a 45-year-old mother who lost two of her five children in childbirth.
Williams lives in one of South Africa’s famous wine-growing areas in the Western Cape. She started drinking as a teenager and was taken out of school, she suspects, to work to buy wine for her parents. … (Source: Bulletin of the World Health Organization 2011;89:398–399. doi:10.2471/BLT.11.020611)

Alcohol Concern Cymru have released a briefing paper on alcohol and older people:
Hidden harm? Alcohol and older people in Wales [pdf]
An Alcohol Concern page states:
‚To make sure older people in Wales receive the support they need to enjoy alcohol healthily, Alcohol Concern is recommending that professionals working with older people need to be aware of alcohol misuse; better joint working is needed between local older people’s services and alcohol treatment services; and research is needed into whether current unit guidance and screening methods for alcohol misuse are relevant to older people.‘ (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 06/06/11)

The influence of „Big Alcohol“ in the health arena deserves as much scrutiny as Big Pharma and Big Tobacco, especially in light of evidence of bias in funded research, unsupported claims of benefit, and inappropriate promotion and marketing by the alcohol industry, says a new editorial in this week’s PLoS Medicine. The PLoS Medicine editors argue that the statistics about problem drinking are troubling enough, but what also demands more attention and research is the influence of the alcohol industry on health research, government policy, and public perceptions of the harms and benefits of alcohol. … (Source: Medical News Today, 05/31/11)

Lansley wants supermarket action on ‚front of store‘ promotions
The Health Secretary, Andrew Lansley, has written to supermarkets to re-iterate requests that supermarkets pledge to remove alcohol promotions from front of stores, reports The Telegraph.
Department of Health (DoH) officials said Ministers were frustrated that more supermarkets had not made further commitments, with only Asda applying discretion to the location of alcohol promotions. In the letter, Lansley called on the supermarkets to „do more“, requesting „all major alcohol retailers‘ full participation in this effort“.
Earlier this year Alcohol Concern realeasd a report calling for separate alcohol aisles in supermarkets. The report claimed abundant alcohol displays were normalising alcohol as an everyday commodity, reducing recognition of it as a potentially harmful drug. (Source: Alcohol Policy UK, 5/30/11) alcoholpolicy.net, 5/30/11

11-12 October 2011, Poznan Poland
The State Agency for Prevention of Alcohol Related Problems is organising an expert conference which will continue on the themes touched upon at the Swedish Presidency Expert Conference. It will be an opportunity to discuss the future of the Alcohol Strategy among policy makers at European, national and municipality levels as well as scientist, public health experts and representatives of the civil society.
The main themes of the conference will include:
– alcohol and cancer – alcohol and heart disease – alcohol and liver – alcohol and violence – economic aspect of alcohol related harm
– FASD diagnosis and prevention
Conference will focus on evidence based policy recommendations and recent research findings (Source: Alcohol Reports, 5/26/11)