World Health Organization calls for restrictions on alcohol
Source: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/
by Kimberly Leonard
September 21, 2018
The World Health Organization estimates that about 237 million men and 46 million women around the world drink to excess.
The World Health Organization on Friday called on countries to restrict alcohol consumption through taxes, bans on advertising, and limiting where it is sold, following its latest finding that alcohol is linked with more than 3 million deaths a year.
The organization’s latest to action on booze is coming at a time where experts are reassessing the extent to which alcohol is a risk factor for cancer, after years of moderate drinking being framed as beneficial for people’s heart health. Critics of implementing restrictions are concerned that a war on alcohol could actually make the problem worse, while creating disadvantages for casual drinkers and businesses.
In its latest report, WHO counted alcohol-associated deaths not only as alcohol poisoning or those caused by injuries, such as drunken driving or violence, but also deaths associated with long-term, chronic drinking, such as liver cirrhosis, heart disease, and cancer.
In response to the report, the Distilled Spirits Council said, it was “strongly opposed to excessive alcohol consumption and underage drinking in any form.”
“We support the WHO’s goal to reduce the harmful use of alcohol, however, we are concerned that some policy recommendations such as increasing alcohol taxes are misguided and don’t effectively address harmful consumption,” the group said in a statement. It pointed instead to polices to strengthen law enforcement and education, as well as targeted approaches aimed at people who have a dependency on alcohol.
The agency estimates that about 237 million men and 46 million women around the world drink to excess. More than three-quarters of alcohol related deaths in the world are among men, and most deaths are in the Americas, which includes North and South America, and in Europe, for which WHO also lumps in Russia.
Per capita drinking in Europe fell by 10 percent from 2010 to 2016, though it still has the highest consumption of alcohol per person in the world. Drinking in Europe is highest among teens between the ages of 15 and 19, who make up 44 percent of alcohol imbibers.
WHO officials called the results “unacceptably high” and said that drinking is expected to increase during the next decade. WHO had set a goal to reduce alcohol consumption by 10 percent from 2010 to 2025.
“All countries can do much more to reduce the health and social costs of the harmful use of alcohol,” Dr. Vladimir Poznyak, coordinator of WHO’s Management of Substance Abuse unit, said in a statement.