DIAGEO’S RESPONSE TO HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE ON ALCOHOL
Simon Litherland, Managing Director, Diageo GB said today “We recognise that alcohol misuse is a matter of serious concern for us all, but we are extremely disappointed by the committee’s divisive approach. This report represents yet another attempt by aggressive sections of the health lobby to hijack alcohol policy-making. It seeks to marginalise the role of industry in helping to tackle the problem of alcohol misuse.
Many of the population wide measures proposed by the Committee would punish responsible drinkers. Yet they do nothing to address the minority of problem drinkers. Over a third of alcohol is consumed by less than a tenth of the population, which clearly suggests that targeted interventions would be much more effective and appropriate.
Proposals for minimum pricing, at 50p per unit, and duty increases are based on the false notion that higher prices will reduce excessive consumption amongst those groups most at risk. There is little evidence to support this, and the Committee itself was divided on the efficacy of this approach.
In addition, there is no evidence to warrant a disproportionate focus on spirits. The Committee’s recommendations on duty, were they to be adopted, could potentially double the price of a bottle Bell’s, the UK’s favourite Scotch whisky, to around £23.
The draconian proposals on alcohol advertising and sponsorship lack a credible evidence base. They amount to an effective ban, which would have serious repercussions for the sports concerned, the media and advertising industries.
Fundamentally, we believe that the committee has missed an opportunity to identify policies that will really make a difference. They have recommended blunt top down legislative solutions, which overlook the proven effectiveness of a partnership approach across a wide range of stakeholders, including industry.
We continue to work in partnership with local authorities and others to combat underage purchase and possession of alcohol, as well as supporting a number of education initiatives in schools. The industry is also working alongside the Drinkaware Trust to deliver the £100 million five-year social marketing campaign: Campaign for Smarter Drinking, which aims to change the current drinking culture in the UK.”
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One Response to “DIAGEO’S RESPONSE TO HEALTH SELECT COMMITTEE ON ALCOHOL”
January 11th, 2010 at 11:00 am
Sadly, as has been shown with the fruitless debate on decriminalization/reclassification of class ABC drugs, there is not enough fabric in the public domain to take responsibility for it’s own abuse of any drug, alcohol included. The abuse of drugs and alcohol is a social problem, not a criminal one and any funds or help would be better directed to treat the causes of the abuse, not the symptoms.
Regards alcohol in particular, the state will have to intervene again, and the best route would be highly regulated liquor stores and to remove all alcohol from the supermarket chains. This will ensure that prices are strictly regulated, through bands of taxation on the alcoholic content of each product, and stronger methods of identifying proof of age, and limited opening hours of said stores.
Many people drink responsibly, a few don’t, but those few are becoming more vulnerable to the huge marketing spend from the alcohol producers, and worryingly younger with every report that appears detailing alcohol abuse. Figures in the region of £5bn have been reported as the current cost to NHS spending as a result of alcohol related illness and accidents.
An example of how some countries regulates this can be seen at:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pennsylvania_Liquor_Control_Board