ALCOHOL CONTROL POLICIES CAN REDUCE PROBLEMS

Newton, MA – Raising the cost of alcohol through increases in alcohol taxes is one of several measures that are effective in reducing alcohol problems, such as alcohol-related traffic crashes and violence, according to researchers at the recent conference “Alcohol Policy 13—Preventing Alcohol Problems Among Youth: Policy Approaches.” Other effective policies include the minimum 21 alcohol purchase age and limiting alcohol sales outlets and hours and conditions of alcohol sales.

And according to Robin Room, PhD, who spoke at the meeting, emerging research is showing that restricting or regulating alcohol advertising and promotions may also help prevent alcohol problems. Room is a sociologist at Stockholm University.

In response to a European Union request that distribution and other services related to alcohol and tobacco products be included in the current round of General Agreement on Trade in Services

Negotiations at the World Trade Organization, participants adopted a “send of the conference resolution.” It calls for U.S. Trade Representative to reject the E.U. request to make commitments in alcohol- and tobacco-related services in the current round of negotiations and exclude these services in its requests to other countries. It encourages the U.S. Trade Representative to take measures to protect State and community policies that address alcohol and tobacco consumption as public health issues in the current and future rounds of negotiations. In addition, the resolution asks the U.S. Trade Representative to promote transparency and democratic accountability throughout the trade negotiations process, with the fuller inclusion of the public health community.

James F. Mosher, JD, of the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation, offered “six modest proposals” to the alcohol beverage industry to prevent alcohol problems among youths:

Stop over-exposing young people to your advertising. “The beer and distilled spirits industry should follow the wine industry's lead in its advertising practices”.
Implement and expand the minimal FTC recommendations in its 1999 report for voluntary advertising reform.
Take down the billboards in inner city communities and stop the predatory marketing in ethnic/racial communities.
Draw the line on products that are obviously designed for young teenagers, such as alco-pops and zipper shots.
To the distillers, stop marketing your low alcohol coolers as if they were beers. “You know that that constitute distilled spirits under federal and state laws. Your marketing is a fraudulent attempt to compete with the beer industry for the underage market.”
The youth consumption accounts for at a minimum 11 percent of the alcohol market, generating sales in the neighborhood of $10 billion. “You say you don't want these revenues. Turn these ‘unwanted profits’ over to public health and law enforcement agencies across the country to help defray the costs associated with youth drinking.”

The conference also highlighted the role that young people are taking in advancing alcohol polices, with youths getting involved in programs such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Youth in Action teams, which focus on laws and policies that affect people's behavior. Jeff Jessee, of the Alaska Mental Health Trust Authority, said that youths played an invaluable role in last Fall’s successful campaign to raise that state’s alcohol excise taxes.

Nearly 400 researchers, advocates, health professionals, and civic leaders from around the country and abroad took part in the conference, the 13^th in a series of alcohol policy meetings that began in 1981. Alcohol Policy 13 was hosted by Education Development Center's Health and Human Development Programs, and was held at the Royal Sonesta Hotel in Cambridge, March 13-16, 2003.

The conference was supported by The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, and the Substance Abuse Mental Services Administrations Center for Substance Abuse Prevention, with in-kind support from numerous other groups and organizations. For information visit www2.edc.org/alcoholpolicy13/.

Education Development Center (EDC) is an international non-profit organization, which manages more than 350 projects in 40 countries to advance learning and healthy development for individuals of all ages and institutions of all types. EDC's Health and Human Development Programs (HHD) seeks to promote healthy lifestyles and to create healthy and safe environments where people live, learn and work. Information is available at www.edc.org.