When I need to raise the level of adrenaline or when I need some laugh of irony to spice up my day, I go and check the webpage of Brewers of Europe. Recently I have had much fun reading their Press release in which they are proud to be number one contributors to Alcohol and Health Forum with 1/3 of all commitments. The commitments are mostly connected to education programmes that are proved to be one of the most inefficient tools to reduce the harm caused by alcohol. But the top of the message was to read how they clap they shoulders for the Belgian Brewers project “Respect 16″ – related to reducing alcohol sales to minors. Yeah one could be happy for that initiative if one did not have TV and other media that around the same time inform that Carslberg (member of Brewers of Europe) literally encourages young people in Malawi to drink on friday evenings. An European could even think like: “Do not be hysteric here. Young people will either drink or not. They have information about alcohol. They know what the consequences are, they have heard about concepts like “drink smart” etc” BUT this drinking promotion is happening in Malawi, the country where this awareness does not exist and alcohol policy is an unknown term which means – open playground for Alcohol industry that does not need to respect any rules when it comes to sales and promotion. A baby could get alcohol. Brewers of Europe are in their press release celebrating their approach which is locally based and “not pan-European – one size fits all” They tackle different issues in Slovakia than in Germany and they tackle the same issues by different methods adjusted to the culture/country. Carslbergs action in Malawi just confirms that – open market with no restrictions and no demands to reduce alcohol related harm – makes them to sell to everyone. Their “concnern” about binge drinking of young people, drinking during pregnancy, at working place and concern about alcohol abuse stops at the borders of law.
I am so happy that I do not contribute to this mess.
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