Calling For A Convention To Control Alcohol

According to an editorial published on bmj,
there is an urgent need for international regulation of alcohol akin to
the 2005 framework convention on tobacco control. Professor Laura
Schmidt (Philip R Lee Institute for Health Policy Studies and
Department of Anthropology, History and Social Medicine, School of
Medicine, University of California, San Francisco, CA) and colleagues
from the USA, Canada, Finland, and Australia write that worldwide,
alcohol is a significant component of disease, injury, and death, but
it is the only commonly-used psychoactive substance that has yet to
face international control.



International regulatory bodies have controlled tobacco since
2005, narcotic drugs since 1961, and psychoactive substances
since 1971. Currently, there also exist conventions dedicated to the
control of psychoactive doping substances used by athletes to enhance
performance. Alcohol trade is an entrenched component of our globalized
economy, and it is difficult for nations to control marketing,
availability, and tax policies in order to manage alcohol related
harms. Although their methods have proven only marginally effective,
policymakers continue the effort to control alcohol-related harms by
using public information campaigns and education programs. Schmidt and
colleagues say that policymakers are ignoring the strong evidence that
demonstrates the success of market interventions such as taxation and
restricting availability, marketing and distribution of alcohol.



"A framework convention for alcohol control would protect public health
in three ways," write the authors. It would "place restraints
on the international trade in alcohol...have
persuasive effects across all levels of government and society...[and
would] become
a base of operation for a secretariat and oversight committees charged
with
making the mechanisms and provisions of the convention more effective."
A secretariat could, for example, maintain a clearing house of
information on evidence-based approaches that countries could share.



Protection of public health requires such international agreements,
argue the authors. Further, the poorest populations are
disproportionately affected by the harmful health and social effects of
alcohol. As developing areas in the world, such as South Asia, become
wealthier, alcohol consumption and its associated harms have
been on the rise. The authors point out that, "These increases
foreshadow future trends in consumption and harm for other developing
countries - such as those in Africa, Central America, and South America
- if and when increased affluence makes them attractive untapped
markets for global alcohol producers and distributors."



"The WHO commission's call to apply the model of the framework
convention on tobacco control to control of alcohol is well founded and
timely," conclude Schmidt and colleagues.



International regulation of alcohol

Robin Room, Laura Schmidt, Jurgen Rehm, Pia Makela

BMJ (2008). 337:a2364

doi:10.1136/bmj.a2364

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Written by: Peter M Crosta