www.alkoholpolitik.ch

HEALTH warnings will appear on most beer, wine and spirit products as a result of a liquor industry decision to take voluntary measures after years of government dithering.
The warnings, aimed at young people, pregnant women and problem drinkers will be carried by alcohol products representing 80 per cent of the market, including supermarket chain brands. The interchangeable warnings are: “Is your drinking harming yourself or others?“, “Kids and alcohol don’t mix“ and “It is safest not to drink while pregnant“. An image discouraging drink when pregnant is also available. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/13/11) theage.com.au, 07/11/11

We examined the association between pre-teen alcohol use initiation and the victimization and perpetration of bullying among middle and high school students in Georgia. …
Pre-teen alcohol use initiation is an important risk factor for both the perpetration and victimization of bullying among boys and girls in Georgia. Increased efforts to delay and reduce early alcohol use through clinical interventions, education and policies may also positively impact other health risk behaviors, including bullying. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/12/11)

The California Assembly moved Monday to prohibit the production and sale of beer laced with caffeine and join other states concerned the beverages are aimed at young people and make it easy to drink too much.
The ban was approved on a 43-24 vote. It passed the state Senate in April but that chamber must now reconsider changes made by the Assembly before the bill can be sent to the governor.
The bill, SB39, would ban the import, production, distribution or retail sale of beer and related alcoholic beverages that have caffeine added. At least six other states have passed similar bans. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/11/11) sacbee.com, 07/11/11

Drinking and engaging in water sports can be a deadly mix, warns the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). Half of all water recreation-related deaths of teens and adults involve alcohol, the NIAAA says.
HealthDay reports that the institute is warning against a number of dangerous scenarios as the weather heats up and more people take to the water. For example, swimmers who drink alcohol may have impaired judgment, and swim out farther than they should. Drunk swimmers in a pool can jump into too-shallow water, or crash into the diving board. Surfers who have been drinking may try to ride a wave that is too difficult for them to handle. Drinking and boating is an especially dangerous combination. The NIAAA says that alcohol may be involved in up to 60 percent of boating deaths. … (Source: Join Together, 07/12/11)

Objective: To test the hypothesis that changes in alcohol-related attitudes and expectancies mediate the effect of alcohol advertising on youth drinking. Design: Longitudinal survey with a 9-month interval. Setting: Twenty-nine public schools in 3 German states….
Results A total of 581 of the students (28%) started to drink alcohol during the observation period. Alcohol use initiation was positively related to baseline alcohol advertisement exposure. This effect of alcohol advertisement exposure on alcohol use was partially mediated by a change in alcohol-related attitudes, which explained about 35% of the total effect after controlling for baseline covariates and exposure to other advertising contents. The analysis revealed similar results for binge-drinking initiation. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/07/11) archpedi.ama-assn.org, July 2011

The Amethyst Initiative, signed by more than 100 college presidents and other higher education officials calls for a reexamination of the minimum legal drinking age in the United States.
A central argument of the initiative is that the U.S. minimum legal drinking age policy results in more dangerous drinking than would occur if the legal drinking age were lower….
Does the age-21 drinking limit in the United States reduce alcohol consumption by young adults and its harms, or as the signatories of the Amethyst Initiative contend, is it „not working“?
In this paper, we summarize a large and compelling body of empirical evidence which shows that one of the central claims of the signatories of the Amethyst Initiative is incorrect: setting the minimum legal drinking age at 21 clearly reduces alcohol consumption and its major harms. … (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/06/11)

International News on alcohol politics, 07/04/11

Swedes are drinking less alcohol than before. The trend is visible among the younger generation; older people drink as much
The alcohol consumption in Sweden was 13% lower in 2010 compared with 2004 when the consumption peaked. This development has come as a surprise for many researchers since the import restrictions for private use was liberalized in 2004.
-When the quotas were liberalized in 2004 and the alcohol consumption reached record levels, not many people foresaw this development. It seems like the mechanisms are more complex than we thought; said Mats Ramstedt, researcher about alcohol at SoRAD (Centre for research on Drugs and Alcohol) to the news site forskning.se. (Source: Alcohol Reports, 07/04/11) stockholmnews.com, 06/27/11

..from six European countries: the TEN-D by Night Project.
Only few studies with small experimental samples investigated the impact of psychoactive substances on driving performance. We conducted a multicenter international cross-sectional study to evaluate the correlation between alcohol use and driving-related skill as measured by brake reaction time (RT). …
This field study confirms previous experimental data on the negative impact of alcohol use on driving-related skill, supporting regulations and educational campaigns aimed at discouraging driving after consumption of psychoactive substances. (Source: biomedcentral.com, 07/1/11

The Alcohol Policy Information System (APIS), a project by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, announces its latest update of state-by-state alcohol policies. The update reports developments in 29 current APIS policy topics, for the period 1/2/2009 through 1/1/2010. Visit the APIS website to obtain details on these and other important policy developments across the country. Many of these changes are consistent with the goal of reducing underage drinking and its consequences as well as alcohol-related death and injury in the general population. (Source: Marin Institute, 06/29/11)