THE WHO PUTS OFF POLICY ON ALCOHOL UNTIL JAN 2008 MEETING
Yesterday we reported, based on several press reports, that the World Health Organization (WHO) had decided during their World Health Assembly this week that they would initiate a global alcohol ad campaign targeting alcohol abuse. In actuality, those press reports (and ours) were wrong. The WHO has actually decided nothing. Not sure how that confusion was created…possibly a leak by people with wishful thinking.
Regardless, you may be wondering why this is important. It’s important because whatever the WHO comes up with, as part of the United Nations, it generally can get picked up as policy in member countries. The WHO is very important to watch as a major policymaker on alcohol. That’s why seventeen beer, wine, and spirits producers have gotten together and recently created GAP, the Global Alcohol Producers Group, to act as a public face to engage the WHO.
The Swedes had been pressuring the Assembly to push for a tough anti-alcohol agenda, but one country refused to budge on moving forward on the issue. That country: Cuba.
"We tried to compromise with the countries that protested. We made changes and removed certain phrases. But Cuba wouldn't move an inch. They always came up with new objections," said Karin Nilsson-Kelly, an official at the Swedish Social Department, to Svenska Dagbladet.
Cuba is obviously a big rum-producing country, but its defense for blocking the measures quite reasonably pointed out that developing countries have much more pressing problems than alcohol, like TB, AIDS, malaria, and abject poverty.
What a double irony this is. Cuba acts as the voice of reason, while the Swedes of all people are pushing for tough alcohol measures, when they have among the worst records in the developed world for alcohol problems. That’s like Fidel being in charge of human rights.
Regardless, you may be wondering why this is important. It’s important because whatever the WHO comes up with, as part of the United Nations, it generally can get picked up as policy in member countries. The WHO is very important to watch as a major policymaker on alcohol. That’s why seventeen beer, wine, and spirits producers have gotten together and recently created GAP, the Global Alcohol Producers Group, to act as a public face to engage the WHO.
The Swedes had been pressuring the Assembly to push for a tough anti-alcohol agenda, but one country refused to budge on moving forward on the issue. That country: Cuba.
"We tried to compromise with the countries that protested. We made changes and removed certain phrases. But Cuba wouldn't move an inch. They always came up with new objections," said Karin Nilsson-Kelly, an official at the Swedish Social Department, to Svenska Dagbladet.
Cuba is obviously a big rum-producing country, but its defense for blocking the measures quite reasonably pointed out that developing countries have much more pressing problems than alcohol, like TB, AIDS, malaria, and abject poverty.
What a double irony this is. Cuba acts as the voice of reason, while the Swedes of all people are pushing for tough alcohol measures, when they have among the worst records in the developed world for alcohol problems. That’s like Fidel being in charge of human rights.
posted at 1:43 PM
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