WHO criticised for including drinks industry reps in plan to tackle harm caused by alcohol

Alcohol Action Ireland criticised the inclusion of drinks bodies in the draft action plan. File picture

The World Health Organisation (WHO) has been criticised by a leading Irish advocacy group over its willingness to include representatives of the drinks industry as part of a solution to tackling the problem of harm caused by alcohol.

Alcohol Action Ireland (AAI) said accommodating the global alcohol industry was at the heart of a draft action plan by the WHO which is designed to strengthen implementation of its Global Strategy to Reduce the Harmful Use of Alcohol.

AAI said the move is "irrational and cannot be sustainable", and said there was a “false equivalence” in the WHO’s draft action plan by regarding representatives of alcohol manufacturers as equal stakeholders with governments, NGOs and health bodies.

“A principle of equivalence that puts the role and purpose of civil society organisations, professional associations and research institutions – seeking only to protect human health – as equal contributors to an action plan, as that of economic operators who hold a principal responsibility for the risk to public health, is flawed,” the AAI said.

In a submission on the WHO’s draft action plan, AAI said the primary contribution of civil society organisations, professional associations and academics in pushing for strategic progress on reducing the harm caused by alcohol must be recognised by the WHO and given special attention, assistance and support.

AAI called on the WHO to re-evaluate the role of the drinks industry and its 'maligning influence' as part of its strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol. File picture

AAI said it was such bodies alone that largely uphold the universal principles of public health interventions to the harm caused by alcohol and their contribution should be acknowledged “with greater purpose” by the WHO.

AAI said the ambition of the global alcohol industry was to be seen contributing a solution to the public health crisis that it was perpetuating.

“Their insatiable commercial practices demand the inherent risk of alcohol use must be denied, the untold harm to others is undermined, while accumulative revenues remain unhindered of the societal cost it has caused,” AAI said.

'Maligning influence' of drinks industry

It called on the WHO to re-evaluate the role of the drinks industry and its “maligning influence” as part of its strategy to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

AAI said many challenges, including the lack of strong international leadership and the lack of binding regulatory instruments, persisted because of the political primacy afforded the drinks industry.

Despite such criticism, AAI welcomed the overall aims of the WHO as a solid starting point for the development of a global action plan which would include minimum unit pricing and restrictions on sponsorship of cultural and sporting events by drinks companies.

However, it also expressed disappointment about the uneven implementation of the strategy globally to date and the lack of tangible progress on objectives to reduce the harmful use of alcohol.

AAI called on the WHO to adopt “a bold paradigm shift” in relation to the perception of the use and risk of alcohol and the need for a global standard law on alcohol.