GENEVA, (Reuters) – Health ministers agreed yesterday to try to curb binge drinking and other growing forms of excessive alcohol use through higher taxes on alcoholic drinks and tighter marketing regulations.
The global strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol was adopted by consensus at the annual assembly of the World Health Organisation (WHO).
Its 10 main policy recommendations, drawn up after two years of negotiation, are not binding but serve as guidance to WHO’s 193 member states.
“Alcohol contributes to accidents, mental health problems, social problems and harms third parties,” said Bernt Bull, a senior advisor in Norway’s health ministry. Nordic countries, many of which already have tight restrictions on alcohol sales, spearheaded the initiative at the United Nations agency.
A relatively high excise tax on alcoholic beverages and regulations limiting their availability was helping to reduce alcohol-related diseases in Norway, he said.
The WHO estimates that risks linked to alcohol cause 2.5 million deaths a year from heart and liver disease, road accidents, suicides and various cancers — 3.8 percent of all deaths. It is the third leading risk factor for premature deaths and disabilities worldwide.
“Alcohol is usually not perceived as a killer, though it is,” Shekhar Saxena, director of WHO’s department of mental health and substance abuse, told a news briefing.
Despite growing abuse and youth drinking at an earlier age in many countries, half of WHO members do not have a national alcohol policy, according to WHO expert Vladimir Poznyak.
“The biggest changes might happen in those countries which have no alcohol control institutions or regulatory framework for alcohol consumption,” he told reporters.
The Global Alcohol Producers Group noted the strategy recognised the importance of self-regulation by industry in helping to address alcohol abuse.
Its members recognised “the harmful effects of irresponsible drinking patterns” and would continue efforts to promote self-regulation of advertising as well as curbs on drink driving and illegal underage and excessive drinking, a statement said.
Britain’s Diageo, the world’s largest alcoholic drinks group, and Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer and maker of Budweiser, are among its members.
