Oral statement to Parliament - Government’s response to the alcohol strategy consultation

Minister of State for Crime Prevention Jeremy Browne gives a statement on the alcohol strategy consultation.

With permission, Mr Speaker, I shall make a statement on the government’s response to the alcohol strategy consultation. Today we are publishing an analysis of responses to the consultation, along with a “next steps” document. Copies of both are available in the House Library.

Drunken behaviour and alcohol-fuelled disorder can make towns and cities effective no-go areas for law-abiding people, particularly on Friday and Saturday nights. In nearly 50% of the incidents of violence that took place in 2011-12, the victim believed that the perpetrator was under the influence of alcohol. Excessive alcohol consumption costs the taxpayer huge amounts of money: alcohol-related crime and health harms are estimated to cost society about £21 billion every year. The government therefore have a role in seeking to curb excessive drinking. We have already increased duty on alcopops, and have introduced a wide-ranging set of reforms to tackle binge drinking.  > > > >  Read More

Global Actions: Commitments to Reduce Harmful Drinking. July 17, 2013

 

 

 

Global Actions in Focus

ICAP & CCDC Sign MOU

On July 5, 2013, ICAP and the Chinese Center for Disease Prevention and Control (CCDC) Office of Epidemiology signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU). The MOU solidifies ICAP’s partnership with the Office of Epidemiology to develop a capacity building toolkit for drink driving prevention in Phase II of the Global Actions Drink Driving Initiative. The toolkits will include teaching materials, lesson plans, teaching methods, auxiliary materials, teacher requirements, survey tools, and evaluation tools.

ICAP Senior Vice President Brett Bivans and Deputy Director Prof. Yao Hongyan sign the MOU on July 5, 2013, in Xi’an.

According to the MOU, the Office of Epidemiology will develop the Capacity Building Toolkit for Drink Driving Prevention, facilitating the capacity building workshops in Shenyang, and monitoring workshops in Jiangsu Province. Moreover, the organization will help ICAP engage local government agencies and be a vital resource for information and feedback.

Key Recent Milestones

· Russia: ICAP welcomes Margarita (Rita) Plotnikova as the new coordinator for the drink driving initiative in Moscow. Rita is an experienced communications and road safety manager who has worked for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and the Global Road Safety Partnership (GRSP). She will be working closely with the local sponsor companies to develop and implement the program.

What's Happening Next

· Mexico: Representatives will present drink driving awareness training to volunteer groups from the Puebla Legislative Power on July 26, 2013.

Government Alcohol Strategy response – Alcohol Research UK comment

 

Today the Government announced that it was abandoning plans to introduce a minimum unit price for alcohol.  It also dropped proposals to introduce a multibuy ban on sales in off-licenses and supermarkets.  In his introduction to the 2012 Alcohol Strategy David Cameron wrote that ‘we are going to introduce a new minimum unit price’, with a consultation on the right level at which it should be set.  This u-turn does not appear to be based on any new evidence, but rather a change of heart following sustained pressure from sections of the alcohol industry.

In his statement to Parliament, Jeremy Browne MP said 56% of respondents to the Alcohol Strategy consultation didn’t agree with a 45p minimum unit price, but was unable to say how many of those felt it should be actually be higher.

The Government now looks set to revert to its previous policy of banning the sale of alcohol at below cost + VAT.  However, previous analyses have found that this will have a negligible impact on drinks promotions and cheap alcohol sales.  > > > >  Read More

Funding Opportunity Announcements for Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN)

NIDA, NIAAA, and NCI announce the release of 2 new FOAs to promote the goals of Collaborative Research on Addiction at NIH (CRAN; formerly known as functional integration). Its mission is to provide a strong collaborative framework for enabling NIDA, NIAAA, and NCI to pool resources and expertise, creating synergies in addiction science, addressing new research opportunities, and meeting the public’s health needs.   > > > >  Read More

Genome-wide DNA methylation patterns in discordant sib pairs with alcohol dependence

Alcohol dependence is a complex disease caused by a confluence of environmental and genetic factors. Epigenetic mechanisms have been shown to play an important role in the pathogenesis of alcohol dependence.

 

To determine if alterations in gene-specific methylation were associated with alcohol dependence, a genome-wide DNA methylation analysis was performed on peripheral blood mononuclear cells from alcohol-dependent patients and siblings without alcohol dependence as controls. The Illumina Infinium Human Methylation450 BeadChip was used and gene-specific methylation of DNA isolated from peripheral blood mononuclear cells was assessed. Genes ALDH1L2, GAD1, DBH and GABRP were selected to validate beadchip results by pyrosequencing.

 

Compared to normal controls, 865 hypomethylated and 716 hypermethylated CG sites in peripheral blood mononuclear cell DNA in alcohol-dependent patients were identified. The most hypomethylated CG site is located in the promoter of SSTR4 (somatostatin receptor 4) and the most hypermethylated CG site is GABRP (gamma-aminobutyric acid A receptor). The results from beadchip analysis were consistent with that of pyrosequencing.
 

DNA methylation might be associated with alcohol dependence. Genes SSTR4, ALDH1L2, GAD1, DBH and GABRP may participate in the biological process of alcohol dependence.


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News Release - Ban on below-cost selling for alcohol would have smaller impact than a 45p minimum price

- Below-cost selling will have very little impact on alcohol consumption

- New policy will educe overall consumption by 0.04 per cent

- 1.3 per cent of all alcohol units sold will be affected by the ban

The Government will today (Wednesday 17 July 2013) announce plans to ban retailers from selling alcohol cheaper than the cost of the tax payable on the product. This ban on below-cost selling will have a very small impact on alcohol consumption and related harms according to the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group.

Experts, based at the University of Sheffield's School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR), whose research has been influential in providing evidence to inform policy decisions in the UK and beyond, analysed evidence on alcohol purchases in England under these new plans.

They estimated a small proportion (1.3 per cent) of all units of alcohol sold would fall below this proposed threshold. This varies by the type of drink, and in supermarkets and off-licenses it would affect 2.4 per cent of beer, just 0.1 per cent of cider, 0.4 per cent of wine and 1.2 per cent of spirits.   >  >  >  >   Read More

Role of cannabinoid CB2 receptor in the reinforcing actions of etha

This study examines the role of the cannabinoid CB₂ receptor (CB₂r) on the vulnerability to ethanol consumption.

The time-related and dose-response effects of ethanol on rectal temperature, handling-induced convulsions (HIC) and blood ethanol concentrations were evaluated inCB₂KO and wild-type (WT) mice. The reinforcing properties of ethanol were evaluated in conditioned place preference (CPP), preference and voluntary ethanol consumption and oral ethanol self-administration. Water-maintained behavior schedule was performed to evaluate the degree of motivation induced by a natural stimulus. Preference for non-alcohol tastants assay was performed to evaluate the differences in taste sensitivity. Tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) and μ-opioid receptor gene expressions were also measured in the ventral tegmental area and nucleus accumbens (NAcc), respectively. 

CB₂KO mice presented increased HIC score, ethanol-CPP, voluntary ethanol consumption and preference, acquisition of ethanol self-administration, and increased motivation to drink ethanol compared with WT mice.

No differences were found between genotypes in the water-maintained behavior schedule or preference for non-alcohol tastants. Naïve CB₂KO mice presented increased μ-opioid receptor gene expression in NAcc. Acute ethanol administration (1–2 g/kg) increased TH and μ-opioid receptor gene expressions in CB₂KO mice, whereas the lower dose of ethanol decreased TH gene expression in WT mice.

These results suggest that deletion of the CB₂r gene increased preference for and vulnerability to ethanol consumption, at least in part, by increased ethanol-induced sensitivity of the TH and μ-opioid receptor gene expressions in mesolimbic neurons.

Future studies will determine the role of CB₂r as a target for the treatment of problems related with alcohol consumption.




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Letter to the Editor - On French and American paradoxes

We would like to thank Dr Lanzmann-Petithory for her comments [1] on our age–period–cohort analyses about heavier drinking [2]. As she devoted most of the space to alcohol and health in general and the French paradox in particular, we would like to start our rejoinder with a remark on that topic. The role of wine in the French paradox is still controversial. It is now known that a large part of this seeming paradox can be explained by the coding practices of French doctors, who have been shown to overuse unspecific codes for cardiovascular disease, so-called ‘garbage codes’, artificially lowering the prevalence of ischaemic heart disease [3, 4]. As for the general impact of alcohol on health, most analyses come to the conclusion that it is mostly detrimental [e.g. [5]; the latest results of the Global Burden of Diseases study (GBD): http://www.healthmetricsandevaluation.org/gbd/research/project/global-burden-diseases-injuries-and-risk-factors-study-2010].
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Preventing alcohol harm: Early results from a cluster randomised, controlled trial in Victoria, Australia of comprehensive harm minimisation school drug educatio

 

 

 

In Australia, the burden of alcohol-attributable harm falls most heavily on young people. Prevention is important, and schools have long been seen as appropriate settings for pre-emptive interventions with this high risk group. This paper evaluates the effectiveness, in relation to alcohol harm prevention, of the Drug Education in Victorian Schools (DEVS) programme, nine months after implementation. This intervention dealt with both licit and illicit drugs, employed a harm minimisation approach that incorporated interactive, skill based, teaching methods and capitalised on parental influence through home activities.

 

A cluster randomised, controlled trial of the first ten lessons of the DEVS drug education programme was conducted with year eight students, aged 13–14 years. Twenty-one secondary schools in Victoria, Australia were randomly allocated to receive the DEVS programme (14 schools, n = 1163) or the drug education usually provided by their schools (7 schools, n = 589). Self-reported changes were measured in relation to: knowledge and attitudes, communication with parents, drug education lessons remembered, proportion of drinkers, alcohol consumption (quantity multiplied by frequency), proportion of student drinkers engaging in risky consumption, and the number of harms experienced as a result of alcohol consumption.

 

In comparison to the controls, there was a significantly greater increase in the intervention students’ knowledge about drugs, including alcohol (p ≤ 0.001); there was a significant change in their level of communication with parents about alcohol (p = 0.037); they recalled receiving significantly more alcohol education (p < 0.001); their alcohol consumption increased significantly less (p = 0.011); and they experienced a lesser increase in harms associated with their drinking (p ≤ 0.001). There were no significant differences between the two study groups in relation to changes in attitudes towards alcohol or in the proportion of drinkers or risky drinkers. There was, however, a notable trend of less consumption by risky drinkers in the intervention group.

 

A comprehensive, harm minimisation focused school drug education programme is effective in increasing general drug knowledge, and reducing alcohol consumption and harm.

 

 

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Alcohol News - 28/2013

 Radio Sweden (Sweden) - State alcohol shop sues food

chain over online wine offer

A government-sponsored report has suggested tighter controls of alcohol marketing, after it increased markedly in the last few years. Meanwhile, monopoly alcohol retailer Systembolaget has sued the food retail chain City Gross for announcing recently that online customers would be offered wine for purchase.

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Radio Sweden (Sweden) - Alcohol sales fall

Alcohol sales from Sweden's state-owned alcohol sales (off-licence) monopoly Systembolaget fell by 2.2 percent between March and June 2013 compared to the same period last year, according to new figures.

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News ERR (Estonia) - Alcohol, Tobacco Still Eroding Healthy Life Expectancy, Experts Say

Healthy life expectancy has dropped in the last three years to just 55.5 - seven years off the EU average. Experts point to a combination of increased tobacco and alcohol use and financial insecurity from the last recession.

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NordAN - Alcohol advertising in Nordic and Baltic countries

Nordic Alcohol and Drug Policy Network (NordAN) is focusing on alcohol advertising and its role to drinking and especially on young peoples relationship to alcohol in Nordic-Baltic region.

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Stuff.co.nz - Alcohol strongly linked to cancer – study

Alcohol has been identified as one of the leading contributors to breast cancer deaths in a University of Otago study.

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WalesOnline (Wales) - Binge drinkers to be filmed and shown their behaviour as alcohol treatment centre hailed a success

A teacher passed out in a taxi, a student saved from hypothermia and a French foreign exchange student glassed were among those helped at a world-first alcohol treatment centre.

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New York Daily News (USA) - Alcohol labeling: Coming to a liquor store near you

People tend to overlook 'liquid calories,' particularly those that come from alcoholic beverages – because if you don't chew, it seems like it doesn't count. Sadly, that's not the case.

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Northern Star - Legalise drug to curb drinking says alcohol research expert

THE head of Australia's leading alcohol research body has said that marijuana should be legalised in an effort to curb binge drinking.

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Metro.us - Preschool habits can predict future alcohol use, according to a new study

A new study shows that how children act before they reach age five might predict their alcohol use a decade later.

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Telegraph.co.uk (UK) - Conservatives retreat over minimum price on alcohol

Theresa May, the Home Secretary, is expected to tell MPs that the Prime Minister’s personal pledges to restrict access to cheap alcohol will not be implemented.

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UPI.com (USA) - Alcohol making more appearances in movies for U.S. Teens

Branded alcohol is making more and more appearances in movies rated for U.S. teen audiences, a researcher says.

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Scotsman (UK) - Alcohol pricing: SNP to press ahead on price law

THE Health Secretary Alex Neil yesterday underlined his determination to press ahead with alcohol minimum pricing, saying he is fully committed to the “life-saving” policy.

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Toronto NewsFIX - Women Drinking Alcohol at Increased Risk of Numerous Cancers

Women who drink alcohol are unknowingly putting themselves at increased risk of cancer. This is the finding of a study performed by researchers from Britain’s University of Oxford, who studied more than 1.3 million women.

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The Local.es (Spain) - Spain raises taxes on alcohol and tobacco

The Spanish government, which is struggling to cut one of the eurozone's largest public deficits during a double-dip recession, on Friday raised taxes on tobacco and alcohol, except wine and beer.

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News-Medical.net - Smoking and heavier alcohol consumption speed up cognitive decline

The combination of smoking and heavy drinking speeds up cognitive decline, according to new research published in the British Journal of Psychiatry.

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Irish Mirror (Ireland) - We're paying the tab for our costly booze culture

There is no doubt we have a very unhealthy relationship with alcohol. Is this another result of both the Celtic Tiger and its demise?

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The Sidney Morning Herald (Australia) - Government bows to liquor industry on discounts

Supermarket giants have strongarmed the state government into backing out of its planned ban on shopper docket alcohol discounts.

Read more

 

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Are the 1976–1985 birth cohorts heavier drinkers? Age-period-cohort analyses of the National Alcohol Surveys 1979–2010

To estimate age-period-cohort models predicting alcohol volume, heavy drinking and beverage-specific alcohol volume in order to evaluate whether the 1976–1985 birth cohorts drink relatively heavily.

 

Data from seven cross-sectional surveys of the USA conducted between 1979 and 2010 were utilized in negative binomial generalized linear models of age, period and cohort effects predicting alcohol measures.

 

General population surveys of the USA.

 

Thirty-six thousand four hundred and thirty-two US adults (aged 18 years or older).

 

Monthly number of alcohol drinks, beer, wine and spirits drinks, and days drinking five or more drinks in the past year derived from beverage-specific graduated frequency questions.

 

Relative to the reference 1956–60 birth cohort, men in the 1976–1980 cohort for were found to consume more alcohol [incidence rate ratio (IRR) = 1.222: confidence interval (CI) 1.07–1.39) and to have more 5+ days (the number of days having five or more drinks) (IRR = 1.365: CI 1.09–1.71) as were men in the 1980–85 cohort for volume (IRR = 1.284: CI 1.10–1.50) and 5+ days (IRR = 1.437: CI 1.09–1.89). For women, those in the 1980–85 cohort were found to have higher alcohol volume (IRR = 1.299: CI 1.07–1.58) and more 5+ days (IRR = 1.547: CI 1.01–2.36). Beverage-specific models found different age patterns of volume by beverage with a flat age pattern for both genders' spirits and women's wine, an increasing age pattern for men's wine and a declining age pattern from those in their early 20s for beer.

 

In the USA, men born between 1976 and 1985, and women born between 1981 and 1985 have higher alcohol consumption than in earlier or later years.


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