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Red flags on pinkwashed drinks: New article & AJ brief

September 14, 2015

Alcohol Justice director of research Sarah Mart and Dr. Norman Giesbrecht, Senior Scientist Emeritus at the Centre on Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, have authored a new article published in the October 2015 issue of the journal Addiction (Vested Interests Series).

See the press release with quotes from the authors here.

Go to the article, Red flags on pinkwashed drinks: contradictions & dangers in marketing alcohol to prevent cancer.

Read the Alcohol Justice brief summarizing the pinkwashing study.

Many Americans reject "health benefits of alcohol" myth

September 4, 2015

gallup chart

A recent Gallup poll indicates that a nearly a third of Americans believe moderate drinking is bad for one’s health. The same poll found that less than 20% of Americans believe alcohol is good for their health - the lowest percentage researchers have seen in years. Despite Big Alcohol funding researchers to attempt to produce positive health findings about drinking, the amount of people who believe the industry "drinking is good for your health" line has consistently decreased.

More and more of us are considering the evidence shared by the World Health Organization, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention, and other public health organizations:

- Alcohol is a leading cause of health problems and harm worldwide, and contributes to more than 200 diseases and injury-related health conditions.

- Alcohol poses more disease burden than tobacco and other drugs in areas of the globe including Africa, the Americas, and the Western Pacific.

- Alcohol causes death and disability relatively early in life. About 25% of the total deaths for 20 - 39 year olds are alcohol-attributable.

- Drinking as little as 1.5 drinks/day accounts for up to 35% of alcohol-attributable cancers in the U.S. Women who engage in light to moderate
drinking are at greater risk for alcohol-related cancers, particularly breast cancer.

The costs of alcohol-related harm (including injuries, noncommunicable disease, infectious diseases such as HIV and tuberculosis, mental and emotional disorders, deaths, and years of life lost) are both significant and avoidable. As leading alcohol policy researchers recently suggested, the hypothesis of health benefits from alcohol consumption should no longer play a role in policy-making.

Hard soda, the new alcopop

September 4, 2015

MillerCoors recently announced a new product line of hard ginger ale and orange soda expected to reach retailers across the U.S. in January, just before the Super Bowl. The Big Beer producer is following after Boston Beer Co. launched a new craft beer called Coney Island Hard Root Beer this summer, and Pabst began selling Not Your Father's Root Beer in early 2015.

These flavored alcoholic beverages continue the sugary, foamy, colorful, inexpensive tradition of earlier alcopops, and in some ways, perhaps even more so. They closely resemble their alcopop counterparts as well as nonalcoholic soda, and like alcopops have the potential to encourage youth consumption and lead to alcohol-related harm.

MillerCoors and its hard soda line leans heavily on statements that the drink is made with cane sugar, deeming it as a better-for-you ingredient in an alcoholic beverage. Ironically, sodas and juice have become less popular at the same time that many producers are making and promoting alcoholic products that look and taste like soda. More than 60% of Americans recently reported that they avoid soda due to fears of high calories and sugar content with links to obesity and diabetes, and 50% avoided sugar for the same reasons.

Visit our Alcopop-Free Zone® campaign page to learn more about banning sales of youth-oriented products.

"Beer Serves America" release ignores harm & costs

August 12, 2015

The Beer Institute and National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) released their annual "Beer Serves America" press package, associating the product they produce and sell with economic activity, tax revenue, and jobs. However, public health policy research and experts advise otherwise.

A few items not contained in the beer industry's legislative and media campaign: Alcohol-related harm and how much it costs taxpayers, youth, and communities.

Excessive alcohol consumption cost the United States $223.5 billion, or about $1.90 per drink, in 2006. That's $746 for every man, woman, and child in the U.S. - and a conservative one. Direct costs to government were $94.2 billion (42%). Immediate and chronic medical care, emergency services, law enforcement, criminal justice, and job productivity are all negatively impacted.

About 76% of the total costs were due to binge drinking. Beer accounts for two-thirds of all alcohol consumed by binge drinkers, and for the most alcohol consumed by those at greatest risk for causing or incurring alcohol-related harm.

Excessive drinking accounted for 1 in 10 deaths among working-age adults age 20-64 years, and shortened those lives by about 30 years. Nearly 70% of deaths from excessive drinking involved working-age adults, and about 70% involved males

In addition, the U.S. beer excise tax has lost 45% of its value since it was last changed in 1990. But the campaign(s) continue pushing for beer excise tax reductions for various segments of the industry - there are currently 3 federal proposals to reduce beer taxes that offer the Beer Institute and NBWA opportunity to lobby and influence legislators. Anheuser-Busch InBev (Beer Institute member) spent $3.68 million lobbying in 2014. Beer Institute spent more than $2.1 million, and NBWA spent $1.28 million, lobbying - mostly on beer taxes.

What those lobbyists won't share at their meetings and socials is that the beer industry's economic lens is out of focus. Whether it's called Big Beer or craft, or both, beer is a major player in alcohol harm and related costs to taxpayers. Where are those numbers in the describing beer's economic impact?