www.alkoholpolitik.ch

For women, this weekend’s International Women’s Day holiday is supposed to be a time to receive gifts and affection from the men in their lives. For the country, it means a welcome three-day weekend. But for all too many people, the holiday also offers an excuse to drink.
The good news is that the national drinking problem isn’t quite as bad as many thought. The World Health Organization concluded in a report last month that Russia is apparently no longer the world leader in per capita alcohol consumption. In fact, at 15.7 liters of pure alcohol per capita, Russia is not even on the medal stand of the global drinking games, just beating out Ukraine (15.6 liters) for fourth place behind bronze medalist Hungary (16.3 liters), the Czech Republic (16.5 liters) in second place, and the world-champion guzzlers from Moldova, who quaff an astounding 19.2 liters of pure alcohol per year.
But do those numbers actually mean anything? How much do Russians really drink? … (Source: Harvard World Health News, 03/10/11) themoscowtimes.com, 03/05/11

In a stunning display of insensitivity and ignorance, Belvedere Vodka and singer Usher have joined with Product (Red) to launch a special edition bottle and give half its profits to „fight HIV/AIDS in Africa,“ under the misleading tagline “Helps Save Lives.” Promoting and selling booze to fight HIV/AIDS?! There are just so many things wrong with this, we can hardly decide where to start. Let’s consider the facts that are missing from this campaign:
* Product (Red) must have conveniently missed the recent news release that alcohol kills more people annually than AIDS, tuberculosis, or violence – a sobering 4% of all deaths worldwide, according to the World Health Association.
* Alcohol use is a leading factor in the spread of HIV. Alcohol consumption is associated with two major modes of HIV transmission: high-risk sexual behaviors and injection drug use. … (Source: Marin Institute, 03/09/11)

I am sitting on the Justice and Electoral Select Committee as we hear submissions on the Alcohol Reform Bill for two days in Auckland.
There have been so many powerful and moving submissions. Some brave individuals have shared their own stories of alcohol harm. Overwhelmingly submitters are urging that a decisive leadership role is taken in dealing with alcohol harm. Submitters illustrate time and again what research has shown and that is as a drug alcohol causes greater harm to others than to self. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 03/04/11) blog.labour.org.nz, 03/04/11 our Online-Comment:
It’s really funny how many “experts” discuss this problem without knowing the facts. One of the included problems is that information is not coming to the public. In May 2010 the World Health Organization has accepted with all member states a resolution on a Global Alcohol Strategy. The harm alcohol does and the effective measures to reduce the problems are shown in detail. Did the New Zealand people got this information? In many countries the alcohol lobby is so strong that medias and government health agencies did not dare to inform the public.
The WHO calls all of us “passive drinkers” because we all suffer directly or indirectly from alcohol-related harm and we pay during a lifetime without ever being asked an awful lot of money for alcohol-related social costs. (income tax, insurance premiums)
The best measure to reduce harm is to reduce consumption by higher alcohol prices. This reduces consumption in all groups. The majority, the moderate consumers have the best profit. They pay a little more taxes but have the full profit of less social costs. And everybody has the freedom to drink as much as he likes or want to afford. Our freedom is only restricted by the alcohol industry which forces us to suffer and pay the social costs they produce. They have the profits the public has to pay the damage.
To reduce the availability is the second best measure.
To bring down the BAC-limit would be very effective. If it is combined with strong controls. In Europe the result was a reduction of 15 to 20% in mortality, alcohol related accidents and injuries. And the effect remained for years. Why not use the experience of other countries and science?

Having a drink or two a day actually does in fact decrease the risk of heart disease compared to those committed to a life of sobriety a new study shows. Persons who drink are 14 to 25% less likely to develop cardiovascular conditions compared to those who drink no alcohol at all. Of course a balance needs to be found between the public health message that consuming large amounts of alcohol is bad for you, and the one that drinking in moderation can have health benefits. Up to one drink a day for women, and one to two drinks a day for men should be the „norm“ in most cases.
However the studies point out that alcoholism is a disabling addictive disorder. It is characterized by compulsive and uncontrolled consumption of alcohol despite its negative effects on the drinker’s health, relationships, and social standing. (Source: Medical News Today, 02/23/11) our Online-Comment: For some years resveratrol has been the stuff which brings the positive effects of alcoholic drinks. Now it is alcohol in general. Did the alcohol industry succeed to have all alcoholic beverages united in the successful meta analysis? The high number of included studies remembers me the meta analysis by Kaye Fillmore who showed that most of the studies were not correct. Other studies showed other faults. It’s amazing how this Dr. Ghali propagates alcohol.
It is clear the industry needs a counterbalance to the efforts made by the WHO.

The 2011 edition of the Global status report on alcohol and health confirms that alcohol is a major threat to global public health and welfare. Drinking alcohol kills more people than HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis or violence. The new edition of the report was released in Geneva last Friday. This third edition of the Global status report on alcohol and health is yet another milestone in WHO’s efforts to document alcohol consumption, related harm and policy responses worldwide. The report is essential for all who work in alcohol prevention, nationally and internationally, and for governments and NGOs alike.
The report contains, among other things, the following:
* Latest figures on alcohol and health from the Global Burden of Disease material;
* Global trends in alcohol consumption, both recorded and unrecorded beverages;
* Consumption data for all countries of the world;
* Overview of recommended policies and interventions and how interventions have been applied in WHO members states;
* Country profiles for more than 100 countries.
(Source: WHO News release)

In 2010 the World Health Assembly endorsed the Global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. A global network of WHO national counterparts is established to ensure effective collaboration and consultations with Member States on implementing the global strategy.
The WHO Secretariat was hosting the first meeting of this global network with the aim of discussing and elaborating implementation mechanisms and plans for the strategy on 8-11 February 2011 in Geneva.
Specific objectives of the meeting are to:
* inaugurate the global network of WHO national counterparts for implementation of the global
strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol;
* establish the working mechanisms and plans for the global network;
* elaborate priority areas and implementation plans for reducing the harmful use of alcohol at the global level;
* discuss priority areas and plans for implementing the global strategy at the regional level;
* discuss monitoring and reporting on the implementation of the global strategy at different levels;
* launch the Global status report on alcohol and health 2011. (Source: WHO)

The government’s „responsibility“ deal on alcohol looks likely to fall apart as health experts, angered by the limited concessions required of the drinks industry, consider walking away from the table.
The deal, between the industry, the government and health experts – including the chiefs of groups such as Alcohol Concern and the British Liver Trust, as well as senior doctors working on alcohol-related health problems – was billed, when launched last summer, as a fresh, collaborative approach to a serious public health problem. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 02/17/11) guardian.co.uk, 02/17/11 Comment: This could be foreseen. Some years ago, the World Health Organization declared, that alcohol prevention should be planned without the help of the alcohol industry. The industry only agrees with measures which will not reduce their profits. Such discussions are a waste of time and manpower an give the industry a moral acceptance.

For the first time, delegations from all 193 Member States of World Health Organization (WHO) reached consensus at the World Health Assembly on a global strategy to confront the harmful use of alcohol. Since 2008, WHO has been in the process of drafting a global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. On Friday 21 May 2010 the Sixty-third session of the World Health Assembly adopted by consensus resolution WHA63.13, which endorses the global strategy. (Source: WHO) Comment: Now the final text is available here. (pdf)

…AIDS Second
Today the World Health Organization (WHO) announced that alcohol is to blame for just about 4% of, or 2.5 million deaths worldwide annually. Alcohol attributable injuries are of a growing concern to the public health community, with alcohol-related injuries such as road traffic accidents, burns, poisonings, falls and drownings making up more than a third of the disease burden attributable to alcohol consumption. AIDS was a close second with 2.1 milion deaths in 2009.
Yet alcohol control policies are weak and remain a low priority for most governments despite drinking’s heavy toll on society from road accidents, violence, disease, child neglect and job absenteeism. … (Source: Medical News Today, 02/11/11) WHO: Global status report on alcohol and health analyses our Online-Comment: For those persons who don’t like them, figures from other sources are always incorrect. But nobody can deny that governments do not care enough about them. And that is the main sorrow of the WHO. The alcohol industry could not hinder that in May 2010 the WHO General Assembly accepted a resolution on a global alcohol strategy. Now it puts pressure on the national governments that they don’t implement the proposals in their legislation. The civil societies come off a loser.

Alcohol abuse is killing 2.5 million people each year and governments must do more to prevent it, the World Health Organization said Friday.
Some 4 percent of all deaths worldwide are attributable to alcohol, the U.N. body said. The main causes of alcohol-related deaths are injuries incurred when drunk, cancer, liver cirrhosis, heart disease and strokes.
„It’s a killer and it’s not good from a public health point of view,“ Melvin Freeman of South African’s Ministry of Health and a contributor to the report, told reporters in Geneva.
Worldwide, over 6 percent of male deaths are related to alcohol, but only just over 1 percent of deaths in women. Almost one in 10 deaths among young people aged 15-to-29 is from alcohol-related causes — about 320,000 each year — WHO said. (Source: Google Alcohol News, 02/11/11) Washington Examiner: 02/11/11