Recommendations of Eurocare

The beverage alcohol industry's social aspects organizations:
A public health warning1

1. Governments need to implement evidence based policies to reduce the harm done by alcohol, with such policies formulated by public health interests, recognizing that the viewpoints of social aspects organizations are not impartial and represent the vested interests of the beverage alcohol industry.

2. Governmental organizations should be concerned at spending public money on the programmes and policies put forward by the social aspects organizations, since such programmes and policies lack evidence of effectiveness.

3. A proportion of alcohol taxes, hypothecated for the purpose, should be used to fund relevant independent non-governmental organizations to implement evidence based campaigns to reduce the harm done by alcohol.

4. Governments should support nongovernmental organizations that are independent of the beverage alcohol industry and that promote initiatives aimed at reducing the harm done by alcohol, recognizing that critical appraisal of government policy should not call financial support for non-governmental organizations into question.

5. Independent non-governmental organizations that have a specific role with regard to safeguarding effective alcohol policy should inform and mobilize civil society with respect to alcohol-related problems, lobby for implementation of effective policy at government level, and expose any harmful actions of the beverage alcohol industry.

6. In discharging their role, and in maintaining their respect with civil society, non-governmental organizations mentioned in point 5 above should remain completely independent of social aspects organizations and any communications between such non-governmental organizations and social aspects organizations should be transparent, and placed in the public domain.

7. All independent scientists that are paid by or undertake work for social aspects organizations and the beverage alcohol industry should state their declarations of interest in their scientific publications.

8. Research scientists in high income countries should consider their ethical responsibility not to profit from or contribute to the beverage alcohol industry's actions in low income countries which often lack the infrastructure to respond to and effectively regulate the beverage alcohol industries' marketing practices.

9. Greater vigilance and monitoring of beverage alcohol industry behaviour is needed, especially issues of intelligence-gathering; image management actions such as industry-initiated dialogues; active agenda-setting in the areas of research or publishing, with a particular emphasis on so-called beneficial patterns of drinking; and the image transfer effect of industry connections with reputable scientists and public health organizations.