www.alkoholpolitik.ch

PRESS RELEASE

Brussels, Belgium, 21^st September 2018

We are still number one but hopefully not for long – Europe’s alcohol consumption
WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2018

More than 3 million people died as a result of harmful use of alcohol in 2016, according to a report released by the World Health Organization (WHO) today. This represents 1 in 20 deaths. More than three quarters of these deaths were among men. Overall, the harmful use of alcohol causes more than 5% of the global disease burden.

Europe continues to have the highest per capita consumption in the world. The good news is that per capita consumption has decreased by more than 10% since 2010. However, Europe has the highest rates of current drinking among 15–19-year-olds, followed by the Americas (38%) and the Western Pacific (38%). School surveys indicate that, in many countries, alcohol use starts before the age of 15 with very small differences between boys and girls.

European Alcohol Policy Alliance (Eurocare) wants to remind the European Institutions of the Council Conclusions on Cross-border aspects in alcohol policy – tackling harmful use of alcohol during the Estonian Presidency in December 2017.

Mariann Skar, Secretary General of Eurocare said:
“Juncker’s Commission has neglected and ignored alcohol policy. We are still waiting for decision on such, one might imagine, simple issue as whether consumers should have calories on the labels. Not to mention the missed opportunity of Audiovisual Media Services Directive to reduce exposure to alcohol advertising. Last but not least, we still have minimum excise duties from 1992. The progress we are seeing in Europe is because of courageous actions at a Member States level, countries such as Estonia, Lithuania, Poland, Scotland, Finland have implemented progressive alcohol policy solutions’‘.

Member States have clearly shown that there is a will to do more to tackle alcohol related harm. Juncker’s Commission has to quickly increase its efforts to find a way to actualise these Council Conclusions.
Conclusions highlighted several areas of action and call on the European Commission to:

• Produce and adopt a new EU Alcohol Strategy
• Monitor and evaluate the adequacy of the current measures in the online advertising of alcoholic beverages
• Support Member States in the framework of a new Joint Action – RARHA
• Support research and studies in areas such as for instance cross-border purchases
• Propose better provisions for alcohol labelling by the end of 2019

WHO’s Global status report on alcohol and health 2018 presents a comprehensive picture of alcohol consumption and the disease burden attributable to alcohol worldwide. It also describes what countries are doing to reduce this burden.

Source: Eurocare, 18/09/21

Folgen des niedrigen Alkoholkonsums: Die Publikation „Alcohol and Society 2014; Theme: The Effects of Low-Dowse Alcohol Consumption“ steht zum Download bereit. Ein Forschungsbericht der IOGT-NTO Schweden und der Schwedischen Gesellschaft für Medizin. In English and Swedish.
Kommentar: Die bisher ausführlichste Zusammenstellung der Forschungsergebnisse zu diesem Thema. Die Medien, die vor Jahren nicht genug über angeblich alkoholpositive gesundheitliche Vorteile berichten konnten, werden dazu wie bisher grösstenteils schweigen.
Quelle: Infoset

Eurocare_Press_Release_Alcohol_can_cause_cancer

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Content:
65th World Health Assembly – Non-communicable Diseases – Alcohol Target Missing
Also in this issue:

– NCDA Global Platform faces opposition from COI coalition
– One in eight deaths in Europe between the ages of 15 and 64 “is caused by alcohol”
– German medical students not taught about alcohol problems
– Leading alcohol beverage producers agree to extend common marketing standards and reinforce selfregulation across the EU
– Study on the affordability of alcoholic beverages in the EU
– Irish Republic and Northern Ireland come together to hold first All-Island conference on alcohol
– French Breathalyser Law
etc.
THE GLOBE, Issue 3 2012

The WHO Global Information System on Alcohol and Health (GISAH) provides easy and rapid access to a wide range of alcohol-related health indicators. It is an essential tool for assessing and monitoring the health situation and trends related to alcohol consumption, alcohol-related harm, and policy responses in countries. For country profiles, maps, reports, and links please see the theme page by clicking on the „Analysis“ tab above.

GISAH is overseen by a Steering Committee comprised of representatives from the WHO Department of Mental Health and Substance Abuse, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (Canada). The financial support from the Valencian Autonomous Government, Spain is gratefully acknowledged.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 08/2/12)

The Federal Department of Foreign Affairs FDFA and the Federal Department of Home Affairs FDHA have published a declaration of the Swiss Health Foreign Policy. It was found in the Monthly e-Newsletter of the World Federation of Public Health Associations. Link: (31 pages, pdf)
Comment:
page 7: „Safeguarding of interests and coherence
In both domestic and foreign policy, Switzerland has a variety of objectives to pursue. For example, Switzerland wishes to reconcile its commitment to a liberal economic order with the interests of solidarity and global health. In the measures designed to achieve these objectives, therefore, the greatest possible coherence should be sought, synergies should be developed, and inevitable conflicts of interests should be openly addressed and re-solved via the existing political decision-making mechanisms.“

Comment: In domestic policy Switzerland has big problems pursuing these objectives. Regarding alcohol policy the inevitable conflicts between the liberal economy and the interest of the people is not openly addressed. The existing political decision-making mechanisms are not working because of a sort of „alcohol-dependency“ of the majority of politicians.

page 12: „Area of interest 1: Governance
Since its establishment, WHO has been the key agency and dominant international forum for health issues, especially in the normative area. However, the last ten years have seen the emergence of a large number of new state, private and mixed institutions, which have rapidly developed into significant actors in the health field, sometimes with massive financial resources. As a result, the global health architecture has become more complex, and governance at the global level more difficult. Switzerland has a substantial interest in an improvement of the effectiveness of global and international health cooperation. It is therefore seeking to promote more coherent interaction among the relevant actors from the sectors of health, development cooperation, humanitarian aid, human rights and other health-related policy areas, be it at the bilateral level – especially in relations with the EU, but also in bilateral development cooperation –, in multilateral bodies or in the context of the WHO reform process. …“

Comment: It seems as if the coordination between the two departments doesn’t work so well. Switzerland signed the Resolution at the WHO General Assembly 2010 on a Global Alcohol Strategy. But the department of Home Affairs didn’t act accordingly. Very few people in Switzerland know about this resolution. The medias didn’t report. In the new Law on Alcohol which is going to parliament there are no articles with effective measures included as proposed in that resolution. Responsible for this law is the Department of Finance.(!) The WHO-Declaration on Non-Communicable Diseases in 2011 didn’t reach the people either. If the „existing political decision-making mechanisms“ are dominated by the interests of the alcohol industry, the population has no chance getting better alcohol related harm reduction.

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)

Alcohol consumption among Dutch 11 and 13-year-olds has decreased substantially in the past five years. Dutch kids are also the happiest in both Europe and North America.

This is the conclusion of a major international survey into the health and welfare of children between the age of 11 and 15, the results of which were published on Wednesday.

The survey, entitled Health Behaviour in School-Aged Children (HBSC), shows that young Dutch teenagers drink less, smoke less cannabis and tobacco and engage less often in unsafe sex than most of their peers in the 39 countries covered by the HBSC report. Just five years ago, they were still among the top ten.
(Source: Alcohol Reports, 05/10/12) Radio Netherlands, 05/02/12

In Focus
Self-regulation is not an answer
AMMIE Final Report: European alcohol industry fails in protecting young people towards alcohol marketing
News from Eurocare
Actis: Loss of income if the pubs close one hour earlier

News from the European Union Institutions

News from across Europe

News from the World Health Organization

Upcoming events

(Source: Eurocare, 05/03/12)