Eurocare comment on the global action initiative EUROPEAN ALCOHOL AND HEALTH FORUM BRUSSELS 25 April 2013

2. Commitment 1: Reducing underage drinking, enforce minimum purchase age  How in practice? As private entities have no legal powers to do so  Impossible to measure as a direct consequence of the ‘global actions’  Is this just an empty promise?

3. Commitment 2: Strengthen and expand marketing code of practice, focus on digital media  How do you define ‘encouraging excessive and irresponsible consumption’?  Self- regulatory systems have been proven to be ineffective and self-serving  User generated content: who will take responsibility for it?  Under age access to sites- making it better?

4. Commitment 3: Responsible product innovations, drink driving, pregnancy- symbols or equivalent  Would you commit yourself to putting general health warning labels on alcoholic beverages? Why limit yourself to only three hazards- what about dependence, cancer etc?  Some producers are already including such symbols, what is new? Are you simply duplicating already done work?  Innovations? Alcopops, high strength ‘extreme’ beers, and stimulant drinks mostly targeted at women and young people

5. Commitment 4: Reducing drinking and driving...to educate and enforce existing laws  As in commitment 1; how are private entities planning to enforce law? Wouldn’t that be role of public law enforcement (i.e. Policy, judiciary?)  Are you willing to commit funds to meet the societal costs of drink driving by, for instance, covering the costs of random breath tests?

6. Commitment 5: Responsible beverage alcohol retailing  How would you enforce and measure responsible retailing against profit motives?

7. Role of industry “The Global Strategy, which was unanimously endorsed by WHO member states in 2010, restricts the actions of “economic operators” in alcohol production and trade to their core roles as “developers, producers, distributors, marketers and sellers of alcoholic beverages.”

8. Global public health community response: GAPA Statement of Concern More than 500 public health professionals, health scientists and NGO representatives from 60 countries have signed a joint Statement of Concern…

9.  The commitments are based on questionable assumptions  The commitments are weak, rarely evidence-based and are unlikely to reduce harmful alcohol use  The Global Producers are misrepresenting their roles and responsibilities with respect to the implementation of the WHO Global Strategy, which gave the Global Producers no authority to engage in public health activities on behalf of WHO or in support of the public health community  Prior initiatives advanced by the alcohol industry as contributions to the WHO Global Strategy have major limitations from a public health perspective GAPA Statement of Concern

10. Global Actions – implementing the WHO Global Strategy? 1.WSTA seminar for retailers, Industry under threat? Self- Regulation and Social Responsibility, “designed as a wake-up call for the industry to earn public trust by keeping to the spirit of responsible promotion in order to avoid heavy-handed Government regulation and high taxes” 2.The Aston Manor Brewery handed out free 330ml bottles of cider to students starting university as part of a £50,000 advertising campaign to promote responsible drinking 3.The Portman Group’s contributions include decisions from its Independent Complaints Panel, including the dismissal of a complaint that a vodka shot drink called “Funky Monkey” appealed to people under age 18.

11. 4.In Denmark, a pamphlet distributed free to schools advises year olds who are beginning to ‘party’ to focus “on how to use alcohol sensibly.” 5.In Germany, “InBev supports driving lessons …where young people, under the supervision of the police, drive twice round a fairly precarious circuit: once when they are sober, and a second time after they have drunk alcohol.” Global Actions – implementing the WHO Global Strategy?

12. BMJ editorial: opposing views? They are at least actions, and they are actions the industry can take, because that’s what WHO asked for in the strategy Marcus Grant, ICAP References to the WHO Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol require some clarification, particularly concerning claims that industry is simply doing ‘what WHO asked for in the strategy.’ Not so Dr. Margaret Chan, WHO Director General

13. WHO: Protecting alcohol policies “In the view of WHO, the alcohol industry has no role in the formulation of alcohol policies, which must be protected from distortion by commercial or vested interests.” Dr Margaret Chan, WHO Director General

14. Industry ‘distorted evidence’ on minimum pricing Research published yesterday by LSHTM, examined industry submissions made to the Scottish Government’s consultation on minimum pricing: Industry actors consistently oppose the approaches found in research to be most likely to be effective at a population level without actually engaging with the research literature in any depth. Strong evidence is misrepresented and weak evidence is promoted. Unsubstantiated claims are made about the adverse effects of unfavoured policy proposals and advocacy of policies favoured by industry is not supported by the presentation of evidence.

15. GAPA Statement of Concern: What could the industry do? Refrain from further lobbying against effective public health measures Refrain from further engagement in health-related prevention, treatment and traffic safety initiatives Cease political activities designed to reduce or eliminate evidence-based alcohol control policies Refrain from direct funding of alcohol research

16. Respect the rules of science and the integrity of researchers and research organisations, quote and use the research in appropriate ways Refrain from scientific publishing through their own publishers. Any publications claiming to be scientific should follow the rules of open scientific peer review and otherwise meet the standards of academic publishers Secure its own supply chains and cooperate with all aspects of the law when it comes to preventing the diversion of commercially produced alcohols to informal markets GAPA Statement of Concern; What could the industry do?

17. Thank you for your attention Tiziana Codenotti Eurocare President Katherine Brown Institute of Alcohol Studies Eurocare Board Member 17 Rue Archimede I 1000 Brussels I Belgium I Tel +32 (0) I Tel +32 (0) I