‘Moderate’ drinking is healthy, says EU health chief

Moderate drinking can be good for you, European health commissioner Markos Kyprianou has told this website, amid a battle over an EU strategy to tackle alcohol abuse.

Europe’s brewing and drinks industry, EU officials, public health officials and prohibitionists have been fighting it out over European commission proposals to reduce alcohol-related harm.

Public health campaigners and some commission officials have pushed to use EU consumer powers to put tobacco-style warnings on alcoholic drinks.

But as many European countries move to ban smoking, Kyprianou rules out any direct comparisons between tobacco and alcohol.

“Tobacco is bad, period. Even one cigarette is one too many,” he told TheParliament.com. “Alcohol is a question of excessive abuse. In small, moderate amounts it can even be beneficial for health, so the targets are totally different.”

The Cypriot health commissioner is dismayed that, from opposite ends of the argument, some industry and public health lobbyists have trailed the EU strategy as moves to restrict all alcohol consumption.

“Member states are facing similar problems over alcohol-related harm. We are not talking about alcohol as a product – here there have been rumours and misinformation,” he says.

“We are only dealing with how to reduce abuse of alcohol and excessive consumption. A coordinated strategy at community level or by member states separately – depending on the issue – is important.”

“That is why this is a strategy and not a legislative proposal because it touches on aspects where EU member states could benefit from increased European coordination.”

Draft proposals indicate that the commission is to take a softly, softly approach by setting up an alcohol and health forum, the same model that was applied to the food and obesity debate in March 2005.

A key part of the forum’s work, possibly heralding new EU legislation down the line, will be to monitor young people “with a particular focus on increased alcohol consumption among girls and increased ‘binge drinking’”.

“[This] would address issues such as selling and serving, marketing and the image of alcohol as conveyed through the media and by role models,” states a draft.

Proposals have been delayed within the commission as officials have clashed over public health calls for higher alcohol taxation or EU-wide labelling rules.

Moves to dilute the EU strategy, set to be published late on October 24 after weeks of inter-service Brussels wrangling, have alarmed campaigners.

Peter Anderson, the author of a commission report backing a crackdown on drinking, is urging Kyprianou “to have the courage to actually come up with measures that will make a difference”.

Michel Craplet of Eurocare, an EU-funded organisation that includes many temperance organisations, has accused the commissioner of caving into Europe’s powerful brewing lobby.

Craplet highlights the social toll of drinking with figures claiming that “two-fifths of all domestic violence inflicted on women is due to alcohol and alcohol is a cause of two-fifths of all murders”.

“It is now time for the commission to take a lead and show that it really means to serve the well-being of European citizens rather than the commercial interests of the alcohol industry,” he said.

Industry backs Kyprianou’s balance and focus on tackling abuse rather than attempts to restrict drinking in general.

“We would encourage the commission to adopt a strategy which targets alcohol-related harm and promotes responsible drinking. We stand ready to work with the commission on such an approach,” said Alan Butler, chairman of the European forum for responsible drinking (EFRD).

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