The American Public Health Association approved an important policy statement at the November Annual Meeting - "A Call for a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control." The APHA Governing Council adopted a statement submitted by our Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Section with the endorsement of several other sections. The statement describes alcohol's global burden of disease and social harm, lessons from the tobacco movement and the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (FCTC), rationale for an international treaty on alcohol, and how the current climate favors an international treaty. In conclusion "the American Public Health Association:
1. Calls on the World Health Organization to adopt and implement a binding international treaty, a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control, modeled after the Framework Convention on Tobacco Control;
2. Urges national public health organizations and other non-governmental organizations to support development of a Framework Convention on Alcohol Control; and
3. Solicits the U.S. government to support consideration of and planning for such Convention."
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