Latest news with #alcoholconsumption
Mail & Guardian
2 days ago
- Business
- Mail & Guardian
Profits before people: How the liquor industry undermines reforms
Alcohol causes many social problems, requiring the revival of the Liquor Amendment Bill. The liquor industry's resistance to reforms and public health measures aimed at curbing South Africa's high alcohol consumption reveals a deep divide between corporate interests and the public good. A new study published in Globalisation and Health sheds fresh light on how the industry flexed its financial and political muscle at the National Economic Development and Labour Council (Nedlac) to protect its profits with little regard for the devastating effect of alcohol on society. First released for public comment in 2016, the Liquor Amendment Bill proposed several changes: raising the legal drinking age from 18 to 21, comprehensive restrictions on alcohol advertising, sponsorships and promotions, as well as limiting sales within 500 metres of schools and places of worship. Researchers analysing Nedlac's meeting records on the Bill found that the industry exercised 'regulatory capture' by flooding committees with representatives, punting self-regulation over public policy interventions and using financial leverage to keep the Bill from reaching parliament. Community representation at these meetings was woefully low or absent compared with that of business, government and labour. As part of these stalling tactics, industry giants such as Heineken and AB InBev commissioned two socio-economic impact studies of the Bill. One of these assessments discredited the conclusions of the government-initiated study that showed clear public health benefits from tighter regulation. While Nedlac concluded discussions on the Bill some years ago, it still hasn't reached parliament, and there is no indication by the department of trade, industry and competition of when this will happen. These revelations about the alcohol industry's strong objections to some of the proposed changes in the bill are sobering. South Africa has among the highest rates of alcohol consumption in the world. A 2019 Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC) study, based on a sample of 3500 adolescents, found that nearly 70% of young people between the ages of 11 and 18 had already consumed alcohol. Most had tasted their first drink at the ages of 13 and 14. The Soul City Institute's 2017 study found that school-aged youths were bombarded with alcohol advertising from billboards and TV. Outlet density is also a major concern. In the same study, Atteridgeville, home to 60,000 according to the 2011 census, had no less than 147 taverns. Evidence suggests a direct link: the more alcohol outlets in an area, the greater the risk of early initiation to alcohol. This is especially true for poor communities with limited social infrastructure to keep young people engaged and connected. Sobering as they are, the industry's actions are hardly surprising. These tactics are part of the industry's playbook globally. According to a report called From Sports to Screens – Exposing Big Alcohol's Predatory Practices in 2024, the industry employs strategies such as targeted adverts for people seeking online help with alcohol dependence; marketing 0% alcohol drinks to gain a foothold in spaces where alcohol consumption is not the norm; sponsoring major sporting events; and courting politicians to enact laws in the industry's interests. Despite the World Health Organisation's (WHO) efforts to promote evidence-based policies to reduce alcohol harms, the industry often disregards its recommendations. A striking example is the growing trend of alcohol sold in larger containers, like the one-litre beer, despite the WHO's explicit warnings against this. These predatory practices are not new. In our country, alcohol has long been entangled with racist oppression and economic dispossession. Black women who flocked to the cities searching for independent incomes after mining and manufacturing uprooted men from all over Southern Africa established independent livelihoods selling skokiaan or utywala . These activities flourished under the watchful eye of a state that criminalised black people for consuming the 'white man's liquor'. But this independence was short-lived. The state soon clamped down, creating a municipal monopoly on the sale of sorghum beer. Municipal beer halls — perched conveniently along major train stations — became symbols of control and exploitation. It was no accident that the municipal beer halls became targets of the wrath of the 1976 youth. The wine industry, too, carries this bitter legacy. The notorious dop system — a labour regime that compensated workers with cheap wine — directly contributed to alcoholism in farming communities across the Western and Northern Capes. This imbrication of alcohol and racial domination is also a global story. A recent book by political scientist Mark Lawrence Schrad, Smashing the Liquor Machine: A Global History of Prohibitio n, contests the idea that the prohibition movements of 19th and 20th century America were exclusive domains of white supremacists. At the forefront of these movements, he argues, were those who bore the brunt of ordinary people's subservience to a lethal substance — women, native Americans and black people. Far from being moral crusades against sin, these movements emerged as a response to predatory capitalism. Yet these revelations of regulatory capture barely caused a public storm. Why? One possibility is that there is political fatigue around the issue. The Young Communist League, which earned the ire of liquor traders in the 2000s by calling for the closure of shebeens near schools, has long abandoned the issue. The ANC Youth League no longer campaigns against glamourising alcohol through deceptive adverts. And although the Economic Freedom Fighters' early legislative efforts included a private member's Bill to ban alcohol advertising, some of its provincial structures are now cosying up to the liquor industry. The second possibility is that there is no cohesion in government about what needs to be done to address alcohol harms, with fierce contestation over concerns about jobs and trade versus public health and broader social impacts. The third could be the industry's success in framing excessive alcohol consumption as a personal issue, solved by 'responsible drinking', rather than a clash between public good and global corporate power. Even so, encouraging efforts are taking shape to challenge the status quo. Among those pushing back against the power of the predatory industry is the jazz collective iPhupho L'Ka Biko, whose Amanzi Sessions create space to challenge ritualised alcohol consumption. Sonke Gender Justice's work highlights the link between alcohol and domestic violence, while DG Murray Trust's 'rethink your drink' campaign continues to call for a shift in national policy. To succeed in reining in the alcohol industry, membership-based organisations with a nationwide presence, such as trade unions and political parties, must step up to loosen the industry's grip on policy. A good step forward would be to pressure the government to revive the Liquor Amendment Bill. Phindile Kunene is an activist, political educator and head of democracy and political culture at the Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung. She writes in her personal capacity.
CTV News
6 days ago
- Health
- CTV News
No alcoholic drinks allowed in federal parks in Ottawa, as city to allow alcohol in some parks this summer
People look out from Kiweki Point (formerly Nepean Point) in Ottawa on the day of its re-opening following a major redevelopment, on Friday, May 16, 2025. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang Parkgoers will be allowed to enjoy a cold beer or cooler in select Ottawa parks this summer, but you won't be able to drink an alcoholic beverage in federal parks like Major's Hill Park and Kìwekì Point, along the Rideau Canal and on Parliament Hill. A City of Ottawa committee approved a pilot project to allow alcohol consumption in designated areas of municipal parks this summer, with the parks selected by councillors. Under the plan, alcohol will be allowed in city parks between 11 a.m. and 9 p.m., from July 1 to Oct. 31. Alcoholic drinks will be forbidden within five metres of beaches, sports fields and playgrounds. But while the city will allow people to enjoy an alcoholic beverage in municipal parks, you won't be allowed to legally possess alcoholic drinks in federal parks across Ottawa. The National Capital Commission tells CTV News Ottawa the rules for alcohol consumption in NCC managed parks and lands are in accordance with Ontario rules. 'In Québec and in Ontario, alcohol consumption on NCC managed lands is subject to section 36 of the National Capital Commission Traffic and Property Regulations: 'No person shall have liquor in his possession on or in the property of the Commission other than in accordance with the laws of the province in which the Commission property is situated.,'' the NCC said in a statement. The NCC says bistros and patios in several parks sell alcoholic beverages for consumption on-site: Confederation Park, Remic Rapids Park, Patterson Creek Park, Hog's Back Park, as well as the taverns in Major's Hill Park and Bate Island Park. The Liquor Licence Act allows municipalities to designate public places where alcohol consumption is allowed.
Fox News
19-05-2025
- Health
- Fox News
Biden-era health officials quietly urged limiting adult alcohol intake as Trump takes reins for new guidance
America's dietary guidelines on alcohol consumption hang in the balance after months of controversy under the Biden administration involving a quiet push to enforce rules advising "the risk of dying from alcohol use begins at low levels of average use." After congressional subpoenas went unanswered under the Biden administration regarding a health panel's alleged "secretive process" examining the health effects of alcohol consumption, Trump officials are ready to release a comprehensive set of dietary guidelines, including alcohol consumption, by August, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy said at a House hearing Wednesday. Kennedy said his department will take a nearly 500-page document from the Biden era and whittle it down to four pages that are free of "industry" input. "We are about to reissue the dietary guidelines, and we're going to do it very quickly. We have until January … I think we'll have it done even before August," Kennedy said. "And we took the Biden guidelines, which were 453 pages long and were clearly written by industry that are incomprehensible, driven by the same industry capture and those kind of carnal impulses that put Froot Loops at the top of the food pyramid. And we are changing that. So we're going to have four-page dietary guidelines that tell people, essentially, eat whole food, eat the food that's good for you." The Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services release the Dietary Guidelines for Americans every five years, which also include a guide to drinking alcohol. In the first edition of the guide in 1980, health leaders advised that consuming one to two glasses of alcohol per day appears "to cause no harm in adults," before the 1990 edition advised that women should not drink more than one glass of alcohol per day and a two-glass cap for men, Fox News Digital found. The guidelines have remained unchanged since 1990 as they concern adult drinking, until a push to lower the recommended level of drinking in 2020, which was rejected by the first Trump administration and then subsequently amplified under the Biden administration. The guides have been previously developed through a multistep process, including a Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee of experts reviewing scientific research to help craft the rules. For the 2025 guidelines, Congress directed the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to publish an independent study on the process to craft the official guide, while a second study conducted by a group focused on preventing underage drinking was commissioned. In 2020, the Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee advised that the first Trump administration's USDA and HHS publish a guideline with stricter rules surrounding alcohol, specifically that both men and women should not have more than one drink per day. The Trump administration rejected the advice for the official dietary guide release that year, but the issue persisted. Sitting on the 2020 advisory committee under the Trump administration was a doctor named Timothy Naimi, who currently serves as the director of the University of Victoria's Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research. "During the last Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee (DGAC) process, the DGAC suggested reducing the level recommended for health from 2 drinks to 1 drink for men based on the best available evidence," Naimi told Fox News Digital in an emailed comment Thursday. He added that the federal government rejecting the committee's advice "is how the process works." "The scientists develop a background report and the federal agencies weigh various factors and write the actual guidelines which are based on a variety of considerations," he explained. "As you know, each round scientific conclusions or recommendations may or may not be adopted by the federal agencies." After the Trump administration rejected stricter guides on drinking, Naimi made a return to advising the U.S. government on drinking levels under the Biden administration. The Biden administration in 2022 tapped the health committee focused on underage drinking to craft a report related to adult drinking for the upcoming dietary guidelines. Naimi was on the panel, as well as a World Health Organization official, and experts on mental health, epidemiology and anesthesiology, the draft report shows. Called the Interagency Coordinating Committee on the Prevention of Underage Drinking, ICCPUD was founded in 2004 to "coordinate all federal agency activities related to the problem of underage drinking." Congress did not approve ICCPUD to conduct a study on adult drinking to help craft the nation's dietary standards, which led to outrage from lawmakers of both political parties, including the retired Democrat congresswoman who advocated for ICCPUD's creation. "As expressly stated in the STOP Act, ICCPUD's authority and oversight are specifically related to underage drinking priorities. ICCPUD was never intended to participate in activities related to adult alcohol consumption," former California Democrat Rep. Lucille Roybal-Allard, who sponsored the Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking (STOP) Act that formalized ICCPUD, wrote in a letter to HHS and USDA in August 2024. Republican Kentucky Rep. James Comer subpoenaed then-HHS Secretary Xavier Becerra and then-U.S. Department of Agriculture Secretary Thomas Vilsack in September 2024 for documents related to the development of the 2025 Dietary Guidelines for Americans and how the administration tapped ICCPUD to conduct research without congressional input. Days later, in October 2024, more than 100 members of Congress from both political parties wrote a letter to HHS and USDA demanding the suspension of the ICCPUD study until the congressionally approved National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine (NASEM) study on alcohol consumption was published. "As you are aware, Congress appropriated $1.3 million to the USDA in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2023 and directed the National Academies to assemble a committee of experts to review, evaluate and report on current scientific evidence related to alcohol consumption and specific health outcomes that would inform guidance in the 2025 Dietary Guidelines. Once the NASEM scientific study has concluded, Congress can provide input on the need for an additional study on adult alcohol consumption from ICCPUD or another entity within HHS," the large group of bipartisan lawmakers wrote at the time. The lawmakers continued that they were concerned that the ICCPUD panel was not "appropriately vetted for conflicts of interest," calling the panel's operations "secretive." "The secretive process at ICCPUD and the concept of original research on adult alcohol consumption by a committee tasked with preventing underage drinking, jeopardizes the credibility of ICCPUD and its ability to continue its primary role of helping the nation prevent underage drinking," they continued. Dueling draft studies were then released in the waning days of the Biden administration. ICCPUD found in its draft report that "the risk of dying from alcohol use begins at low levels of average use." The congressionally approved NASEM study, published in December 2024, meanwhile, found that "compared with never consuming alcohol, moderate alcohol consumption is associated with lower all-cause mortality." Naimi told Fox News Digital in an emailed comment Thursday that the ICCPUD study was "top shelf" when it came to the science behind it, adding that having multiple reports, such as both the NASEM and ICCPUD studies, examining the effects of alcohol is "good science." "The study used the best and standard epidemiological methods, and used the best meta-analyses of the relationship between alcohol and a range of conditions," he said. "Those studies were selected by a consensus process of external topic area experts based on having lots of scientific publications in any particular disease relevant to alcohol. Then those risks were applied to the latest mortality data from the US to establish the lifetime risk for men and women across all levels of consumption." "Consumption of 2 drinks per day for men does increase their risk of death, however. At that level, approximately in 25 persons (4%) of men would have an alcohol-caused death. It's important to inform the public about this sort of thing so folks can make informed decisions," Naimi added of the draft report's findings related to adult alcohol consumption. Biden administration Surgeon General Vivek Murthy additionally bolstered calls to limit alcohol in January when he warned that alcohol consumption is linked to cancer. "Alcohol is a well-established, preventable cause of cancer responsible for about 100,000 cases of cancer and 20,000 cancer deaths annually in the United States – greater than the 13,500 alcohol-associated traffic crash fatalities per year in the US – yet the majority of Americans are unaware of this risk," Murthy said in a January statement. The WHO, notably, released a statement in 2022, declaring that "no level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health." "The risks and harms associated with drinking alcohol have been systematically evaluated over the years and are well documented," the World Health Organization said in a press release. "The World Health Organization has now published a statement in The Lancet Public Health: when it comes to alcohol consumption, there is no safe amount that does not affect health." Comer released an April statement underscoring that the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, which he chairs, is still investigating the matter despite the Biden administration snubbing subpoenas for more details, and he additionally sent letters to Kennedy and USDA Secretary Brooke Rollins requesting they provide "documents and communications relevant to our investigation and a staff-level briefing on the status of the formation of alcohol recommendations for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines" from the Biden era. "As HHS works alongside USDA to finalize the 2025 Dietary Guidelines, it is imperative that Congress and the American people have the utmost confidence in the scientific support determining the Dietary Guidelines. The National Nutrition Monitoring Act requires the Dietary Guidelines to be 'based on the preponderance of the scientific and medical knowledge which is current at the time the report is prepared.' Therefore, we write to request that HHS provide the Committee with documents and communications relevant to our investigation and a staff-level briefing on the status of the formation of alcohol recommendations for the 2025 Dietary Guidelines," Comer wrote.
CTV News
16-05-2025
- Politics
- CTV News
Ottawa residents could be allowed to enjoy an alcoholic beverage in parks this summer
Parkgoers could be able to enjoy a cold alcoholic beverage while visiting parks in Ottawa this summer. An update to Ottawa's Parks and Facilities Bylaw, to be discussed at the Community Services Committee meeting on May 27, recommends allowing alcohol consumption in designated parks selected by councillors, but not at beaches, sports fields and around playground equipment. The current bylaw prohibits alcoholic beverages in a park, except at events with a park rental permit and a special occasion permit. Councillor Shawn Menard asked city staff to explore a pilot project to allow the consumption of alcohol in municipal parks. Staff are recommending allowing alcohol consumption in designated areas of parks, as determined by the Public Works general manager in consultation with the ward councillor. The report does provide two potential options for allowing alcohol consumption in parks: Option 1 : Allow the councillor in each ward to work with their communities to decide on designating a park, or not, to permit personal consumption of alcohol. : Allow the councillor in each ward to work with their communities to decide on designating a park, or not, to permit personal consumption of alcohol. Option 2: Implement a phased approach, whereby the Recreation, Cultural and Facility Services Department general manager would, in consultation with the local ward councillor, select 'up to one park per ward' to authorize personal consumption of alcohol from July 1 to Oct. 31. Staff are recommending the city proceed with option one, staying the bylaw 'will make it possible for individual councillors to identify parks where personal consumption of alcohol would be allowed.' The proposed rules include: No alcohol consumption before 11 a.m. and after 9 p.m. or hours designated by the general manager. No person shall possess or consume alcohol within a five-metre radius of a playground or playground equipment, wading pools or splash pads or outdoor pools, beaches, parking lots, natural or artificial ice ranks, and at sports fields, sports courts and ball diamonds. Both the Ottawa Police Service (OPS) and Ottawa Public Health have raised health, safety and security concerns about allowing alcohol consumption in parks. 'The OPS has significant concerns about the implications of this policy, which may undermine public safety,' Chief Eric Stubbs said in a letter to the city. 'The OPS does not support the initiative to allow alcohol consumption in city parks. While we understand that municipalities in Ontario are exploring this possibility, we believe such a change presents risks to the public.' Stubbs says residents have raised concerns about open-air drug use, and 'allowing alcohol consumption in public parks could further these concerns and heighten their sense of insecurity.' The chief says if the City of Ottawa allows alcohol consumption in parks, police would need to discuss 'specific implementation measures' to mitigate the risks. 'Adequate bylaw enforcement presence and clear guidelines for managing alcohol consumption would be essential,' Stubbs writes, adding police support would 'be limited.' 'While OPS is committed to supporting initiatives that enhance the quality of life in our community, permitting alcohol consumption in public parks presents risks that could compromise public safety and strain our resources.' Staff say if city council wishes to maintain the current ban on alcohol consumption in parks, a motion would be required to amend the bylaw. The Liquor Licence Act of Ontario gives municipalities the authority to designate public places for legal alcohol consumption.
Wall Street Journal
14-05-2025
- Health
- Wall Street Journal
Women Are Drinking More—and Doctors Are Worried
At bars and dinner tables across the U.S., women are throwing back more drinks—raising concerns about the health consequences of their alcohol consumption. Women in their 30s and 40s have increased their alcohol consumption in recent decades, as their lifestyles have changed. Women who turned 35 between 2018 and 2019 were nearly 60% more likely to report recent binge-drinking or alcohol use disorder symptoms than women who turned 35 between 1993 and 1997, according to a 2023 report published in the journal Addiction.
