The 3^rd meeting of the European Forum on Alcohol and Health took place in Brussels on 13^th nov. 2008. Ennio Palmesino and Anders Ulstein were attending for EMNA.  The number of people attending was huge, close to 100 people, which certainly witness the success of this initiative.

The meeting was chaired by Robert Madelin, Director General of DG SANCO (Health and Consumers). The summary of the topics touched is as follows:

1)      the total member of the Forum is now 60

2)      23 new commitments by the members were presented during the last round, the total being now 102; about 45% of the commitments are focusing on “education” whereas, for instance, only 7% relate to “behavioural change among adolescents”  and “under age drinking” (where EMNA has made its commitment); so far no partnership in any commitment is reported between Industry and NGOs (as DG SANCO were hoping) which proves that NGOs promoting Public Health have no intention to cooperate with Industry, despite the diplomatic pressure exercised by DG SANCO

3)      the monitoring of the commitments still lacks a sufficient level of detail

4)      before the end of the year, a draft template for final reports will be circulated to the Forum members, who will be requested to comment on template design before mid-january 2009; final templates will be made available by end january; while the reports from the members must be provided in time to allow their publishing on the Forum’s website within april 2009

5)      report from the Science group: Dr. Moskalewicz replaced Dr. Ian Gilmore (chair of the group) and advised a smaller working group had been created, chaired by Dr. Peter Anderson (I.A.S. London), which in turn has agreed to adopt a scientific opinion about the task requested (on affordability of alcohol beverages ) latest during its next meeting on 23^rd feb. 2009

6)      in the meantime, RAND Europe reported on progress of such study on affordability, pointing out the preliminary findings are: 1) the real value of alcohol excise duties has decreased across Europe since 1996; 2) alcohol affordability has increased in most  EU countries; 3) there is evidence for a positive relationship between affordability and consumption; 4) there is evidence for a positive relationship between consumption and at least 2 measures of harm (fatal traffic accidents and traffic injuries)

7)      even though such results are provisional, many Industry representatives did not accept them and questioned the rapporteur, asking for clarifications on the methodology, or even trying to object to the results

8)      report from Task Force on Marketing (meeting on 16 july and workshop on Social marketing on 12 november): at next meeting on 10^th march 2009 it is intended to submit a report on Self Regulation, one on Social marketing and one on “targeting or not targeting youth”

9)      report from Youth Task Force: last meeting was 18 september, next one is scheduled on 20th january 2009 in Luxembourg, when the focus will be on the “clearing house” project, in particular on its steering group (independent or inclusive of alcohol Industry ?) plus  on the harm caused to young people by other drinkers, and on the report for Forum plenary

10)  next Open Forum will be on 30 april 2009; it will focus on the progress made by the Forum until that moment, and owners of commitments may put on some material for display

11)  the next Forum meetings will be on 11 march and 12 november 2009 

12)  to conclude the chairman has drawn the members’ attention to the ongoing discussion in WHO about reducing alcohol related harm at global level, such discussion is likely to frame the public debate over the next 2 years, in view of the projected WHO strategy on how to reduce alcohol harm, to be issued in 2010.

 As general comment, the progress in the Forum’s agenda seems slow, view we are to confirm again and again what we already know (for instance, influence of affordability on consumption and influence of consumption on harm), just because the industry dislike it. Behind the scene, however, wise people attending the Forum mentioned that progress has to be slow, it has to go step by step, as the resistance from the industry is stronger than ever and can only be overcome by evidence-based  research.

More optimistically, it has to be noted that never in the past a similar venue has succeeded to focus on alcohol price and affordability: this is an approach the industry would have gladly avoided, but it has been forced to sit down and discuss.

Ennio Palmesino

______________________________________________________

Ó Copyright EMNA. All Rights Reserved. 

______________________________________________________