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WHO is urged to exclude alcohol industry from talks on reducing harms

BMJ 2013; 346 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.f1376 (Published 01 March 2013) Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f1376
  1. Anne Gulland
  1. 1London

A group of public health professionals from around the world is urging the World Health Organization to stop the alcohol industry influencing its strategy to reduce harmful use of alcohol.

The Global Alcohol Policy Alliance has issued a “statement of concern” to WHO.1 It warns that a commitment issued by 13 of the world’s largest alcohol producers last October to tackle harmful drinking misinterpreted the role of the drinks industry in WHO’s alcohol strategy.

The alliance quotes the International Center for Alcohol Policies, a body funded by the drinks industry, which said that WHO’s global strategy had “legitimated industry’s ongoing efforts and has opened the door to the inclusion of producers as equal stakeholders.”

However, the alliance said that this misinterpreted the role of the drinks industry in the global strategy as outlined in prior documents WHO had issued. In 2006 a WHO expert committee on alcohol advised the organisation to have no cooperation with the alcohol industry, because of its “questionable record” of public health and corporate social responsibility activities.

Furthermore, the alliance says that WHO’s commitment to act to reduce harmful drinking was based on “questionable assumptions” and was weak and unlikely to reduce harmful alcohol use. And previous alcohol industry initiatives had “major limitations from a public health perspective,” it said.

The document highlights an education campaign by the brewer Carlsberg in Malaysia that may “function as an extension of their marketing activities.” It also says that industry activities, such as teaching 16 year olds to use alcohol responsibly, are likely to increase young people’s exposure to alcohol marketing or to encourage alcohol use.

The alliance urges alcohol producers to refrain from engaging in health related prevention, treatment, research, and traffic safety activities, as “these tend to be ineffective, self serving and competitive with the activities of the WHO and public health community.”

The document urges WHO “as a matter of urgency” to clarify the roles and responsibilities of the alcohol industry in relation to the global strategy. It also urges countries that are “often the targets for much of the information dissemination undertaken by the commercial and vested interests” to establish funding sources for research and public health advocacy work independent of the drinks industry.

Peter Anderson, professor of substance use, policy, and practice at Newcastle University and one of the signatories to the statement, said that WHO needed to firm up its stance on the role of the drinks industry.

“WHO leaves too many doors open to the industry, who say, ‘We can be part of the discussion as well.’ WHO is not clear enough, [by] saying, ‘This is not your business,’” he said.

He said that all countries were at risk of intense lobbying by the alcohol industry. “Many countries are terribly naive and will welcome the alcohol industry into policy discussions, then [the industry] rides roughshod over everything. They use this as a legitimate entry into government,” he said.

He used the example of Scotland, where the industry had used legal challenges to prevent the government introducing minimum pricing on alcohol.2

But he added, “The potential for market growth is in the lower and middle income countries, and that’s where their activities are going to be more aggressive.”

Anderson added that the alcohol industry was nervous that it was being portrayed in the same way as the tobacco industry and that it was doing its “utmost to prevent that from happening.”

A spokesman for WHO said that it was aware of the alliance’s concerns, as they had been raised during the strategy’s development.

“We have worked closely with the public health professionals and NGO [non-governmental organisation] representatives at a technical level and will continue to do so,” he said.

Notes

Cite this as: BMJ 2013;346:f1376

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