Alcohol:The European Dimension

Robert Madelin

Director General

Health and Consumer Protection

European Commission

Scotland's Future Forum:Fresh Perspectives on Alcohol & Drugs

Alcohol Industry Seminar

Edinburgh, 7 February 2008

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a European issue• consumption levels going down across Europe -

but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world

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a European issue

from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

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a European issue• consumption levels going down across Europe -

but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world

• moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off

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a European issue

from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

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a European issue

• consumption levels going down across Europe - but Europe still is region with highest alcohol consumption in the world

• moreover, decrease in consumption is levelling off

• most countries in EU face similar problems (“convergence of harm”):– under-age drinking

– binge drinking

– drink-driving…

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binge drinking (15–16 year old students)

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)(15–16 year old students) ESPAD Report 2003:Proportion of all students who reported “binge drinking” (> 5 drinks in a row) 3 times or more during the last 30 days

UK:boys 26%girls 29%

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drunk at age 13or younger

European School Survey Project on Alcohol and Other Drugs (ESPAD)(15–16 year old students)

ESPAD Report 2003:Proportion of all students who have been drunk at the age of 13 or younger

UK:boys 36%girls 35%

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EU action on a key health determinant

• 7,5% of all ill health and early death in EU

• 195,000 premature deaths per yearin EU

• 60 acute or chronic diseases caused by excessive alcohol consumption

• up to 25% of male premature deaths and up to 10% of female premature deaths caused by excessive alcohol consumption

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Disease burden (DALYs, 2000) Developed Countries

0 5000 10000 15000 20000 25000 30000

Underweight Unsafe water, sanitation, and

Urban air pollution Occupational risk factors for

Childhood sexual abuse Lead exposure Iron deficiency

Unsafe sex Illicit drugs

Physical inactivity Low fruit and vegetable intake

High Body Mass IndexCholesterol

Alcohol Blood pressure

Tobacco

number of Disability-Adjusted Life Years lostsource: WHO(Report on Global Burden of Disease)

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Health€17bn

Treatment/prevention

€5bn

Mortality€36bn

Absenteeism€9bnUnemployme

nt€14bn

Crime - police€14bn

Crime - defensive

€12bn

Crime - damage

€6bn

Traffic accidents damage€10bn

total tangible costs – €125bn

economic cost of alcoholin Europe

from: P. Anderson, B. Baumberg: Alcohol in Europe, 2006

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AlcoholCommunication 2006

• goals:

1) Protect young people, children and the unborn child

2) Reduce injuries and deaths from alcohol-related road traffic accidents

3) Prevent alcohol-related harm among adults and reduce the negative impact on the workplace

4) Inform, educate and raise awareness on the impact of harmful and hazardous alcohol consumption, and on appropriate consumption patterns

5) Develop, support and maintain a common evidence base

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Eurobarometer survey(2007)

• citizens support action to address alcohol harm:– 44% of EU citizens believe that public authorities have to

intervene in order to protect individuals from alcohol related harm (UK: 39%)

– 77% (UK: 75%) agree to put warnings on alcohol bottles and adverts with the purpose to warn pregnant women and drivers of dangers of drinking alcohol

– 73% (UK: 74%) agree to lower blood alcohol level (0.2 g/l) for young and novice drivers

– 80% (UK: 82%): “random police alcohol checks would reduce alcohol consumption before driving”

– 87% (UK: 85%) agree that selling and serving alcohol to people under the age of 18 years should be banned

– 76% (UK: 71%) agree that alcohol advertising targeting young people should be banned

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the way forward

• strong push for action needed to take advantage of improving environment:– action in broad range of areas– action by great variety of stakeholders– action at all levels, from local to global– partnerships

• EU approach – two main alleys:– cooperation with Member States:

coordination of government-driven policies review national and regional alcohol policy development –

dissemination of best practice

– stakeholder partnership approach: multi-stakeholder platform “European Alcohol and Health Forum”

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EuropeanAlcohol and Health Forum

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key elements

Meaning

Vision

Act

ors

Monit

ori

ng &

Evalu

ati

on

Rel

evan

ce

Cohere

nce

Roots

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EuropeanAlcohol and Health Forum

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EuropeanAlcohol and Health Forum

• overall objective:– provide common platform for all interested

stakeholders at EU level willing to step up actions aimed at reducing alcohol harm

• main areas to be addressed:– under age drinking– information on effect of harmful drinking– responsible drinking/promote behavioural

changes– consumer information– commercial communication

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European Alcohol andHealth Forum: participants

observers: WHOobservers: WHO, EU , EU Institutions, Member Institutions, Member States, IOVWStates, IOVW

advertisers, broadcasters, advertisers, broadcasters, publishers, other mediapublishers, other media

other Commission services

consumer and health NGOs,consumer and health NGOs,medical professionsmedical professions

alcohol producers, alcohol producers, wholesalers, retailers, wholesalers, retailers, caterers, insurerscaterers, insurers

European European Alcohol and Alcohol and Health Health ForumForum

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European Alcohol andHealth Forum: eligibility

• umbrella organisations operating at a European level– capable of playing active role in reducing alcohol-related

harm in EU– willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments

• organisations operating at national or sub-national level, or individual companies– willing to engage in concrete and verifiable commitments– European-level umbrella organisation or federation

needs to be Forum member

• 50 Founding Members at Forum launch,54 at present

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European Alcohol and HealthForum: commitments

• members formally and publicly commit to concrete action

• commitments to reflect Forum members’ objectives and resources

• commitments to indicate level of relevant current activities as baseline

• members to devote increasing level of effort beyond baseline to commitments

• commitments to indicate measurable objectives• all commitments feed into public data base

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European Alcohol and HealthForum: monitoring, evaluation

• commitments monitored + evaluated in transparent, participative and accountable way

• outside involvement in reviewing progress and outcomes (to create trust in process)

• monitoring and evaluation plan for each commitment– in line with agreed monitoring guide– reports on input, output and outcomes of commitments

(publicly available)

• periodic Commission reports on Forum progress

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European Alcohol and HealthForum: commitments overview

• 75 commitments received so far• main areas targeted:

– develop information and education programmes on the effect of harmful drinking (28)

– better cooperation/actions on responsible commercial communication and sales (26)

– develop information and education programmes on responsible patterns of consumption (19)

• main countries targeted:– EU-level: 29– country level: United Kingdom: 17; France: 15; Germany:

15; Italy: 14; Netherlands: 14; Poland: 12; Sweden: 11• main target groups:

– young people (18-25): 15 (7 particularly on young women)– under age drinkers: 5

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European Alcohol andHealth Forum: structure

European Alcohol and Health ForumEuropean Alcohol and Health Forum

Open Open ForumForum

Science Science GroupGroup

Task Force onyouth-specific aspects of alcohol

Task Force on Marketing Communication

Plenary Session

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European strategy

European Alcohol and Health ForumEuropean Alcohol and Health Forum

Open Open ForumForum

Science Science GroupGroup

Task Force onyouth-specific aspects of alcohol

Task Force on Marketing Communication

Implementing the Commission Communication

Committee onNational Policy and Action

Committee onData Collection, Indicators and Definitions

Health in other

policiesPlenary Session

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outlook

• long-term objective:– change attitudes towards irresponsible drinking

across societies:

being drunk should no longer be socially acceptable

(similar to tobacco, where smoking seems to be less and less

socially accepted)