Alcohol News: March 2005


Watchdog group in St. Louis to ask NCAA to stop alcohol ads
St. Louis Business Journal, MO, March 28, 2005
A consumer watchdog group will be in St. Louis in time for the Final Four to ask the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) to stop running beer ads on college sports broadcasts.

The Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV, a project of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, alleges that the NCAA has a financial relationship with St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch. The NCAA Division I board is scheduled to review its alcohol policies at an April 28 meeting.

The Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV has scheduled a press conference Friday at the Omni Majestic Hotel at 1019 Pine St. The NCAA Final Four games begin April 2 at the Edward Jones Dome.

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Basketball without Beer Ads
Alcohol Policies and Regulations

Task force must keep fighting teen drinking
The Mobile Register, AL, March 28, 2005
Three cheers for the Underage Drinking Task Force, whose crusade appears to be paying off. And three cheers for its determination to keep up the fight.

Task force members know the need to continue a coordinated effort involving parents, schools, churches, the media and law enforcement, despite early indications that underage drinking has eased in Mobile and Baldwin counties.

Last week, law enforcement officials reported fewer incidences of underaged drinkers being caught at parties, and a recent sting operation netted only one arrest after underaged buyers tried to purchase alcohol at 13 stores.

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Alcohol & Youth
Health Effects of Alcohol

Problem of binge drinking starts not in college, but in community
Arbiter, ID, March 31, 2005
The recent St. Patrick’s Day holiday may have encouraged benders across campuses in every state, but a new study shows that a college’s location can actually influence binge-drinking rates. A recent study by the Harvard School of Public Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention found that state laws and policies related to alcoholic consumption as well as adult binge-drinking rates influence student drinking patterns.... additional measure, 23 states require registration of kegs, including several states found to have the lowest binge drinking rates, such as California, Idaho, New Mexico, and Georgia. Happy hour restrictions have been put in place by 22 states, while other states restrict open containers, beer sold in pitchers, or advertising of alcohol.

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"Reduce Underage Drinking"

Reaching Out During National Alcohol Awareness Month
eMedia Wire, March 27, 2005
April 1st marks the date of the 19th Annual Alcohol Awareness Month, which is the time for parents, schools, communities, organizations, and all of America to take a stand against the problem that is costing the United States $185 billion dollars per year, alcohol abuse and alcoholism.

“Alcohol is frequently a factor in the three leading causes of death (motor vehicle crashes, homicides, and suicides) for 15 to 24 year olds,” according to The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention statistics. This is why there are several organizations working together to make a better future for tomorrow’s youth.

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More on Alcohol Awareness Month

Pax World Funds, a Portsmouth, N.H.-based fund family, steers clear of companies involved in defense or weapons, tobacco, liquor or gambling. It sold 375,000 shares of Starbucks worth an estimated $23.4 million, about 1.6 percent of its Pax World Balanced Fund portfolio, the fund said in a statement released Wednesday.

"While we continue to admire and respect many aspects of Starbucks' business and corporate citizenship activities, the company essentially forced our hand in this matter," said Anita Green, Pax World Funds' vice president of social research.

In a written response to the fund's announcement, Starbucks said it was disappointed but understood Pax World Fund's strict policy on not investing in companies that make money from the manufacture of liquor.

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Austin and Denver Brew Up Trouble for Starbucks
Thumbs Down to Starbucks

Beer Industry Needs to Follow its Own Rules for Advertising
Join Together Online, March 18, 2005
When the president of a national law-enforcement organization asked Anheuser-Busch to stop running a commercial making fun of stealing beer and running away from the police, a vice president of consumer affairs from the world's largest beer company wrote back basically saying, what's the matter, can't you take a joke?

That's the way the beer industry responds to complaints about its advertisements that appeal to children, demean women, encourage overconsumption, or resort to bathroom humor. If you send a complaint to the Beer Institute about women ripping their clothes off on Saturday afternoon TV beer spots, it gets routed to the brewery that produced the ad, where an executive handler responds that the company is very concerned about promoting responsible drinking and following the industry's advertising code and thank you very much for writing.

Contrast that to what's done at the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States (DISCUS), a trade association of distillers that doesn't include the breweries. DISCUS has a code-review board that takes all complaints, investigates them, and asks distillers to pull ads that violate the industry's advertising code. It also releases to the public a semiannual report on complaints. The first report, released this month, reviewed 14 complaints, including one of a bra-and-panties-clad woman on her hands and knees serving drinks from a tray on her back.

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Talk Back to Big Alcohol
Alcohol Ads & Youth

Youth safety key in alcohol proposals
Dallas Morning News, TX, March 23, 2005
Midnight birthday celebrations and those who help minors drink are the targets of legislation likely to pass a House committee next week, the panel's chairman said Tuesday.

Rep. Kino Flores, D-Palmview, said bills that address those issues "are definitely going to move" out of committee soon, either on their own or as part of a rewrite of how the liquor industry is regulated.

Members of the House Committee on Licensing and Administrative Procedures heard testimony Tuesday about young people who died of alcohol poisoning within hours of turning 21 and about keg parties where nobody could prove who bought the keg.

The proposals to remedy those situations place the responsibility for curtailing underage or binge drinking squarely on the people who serve or sell the alcohol.

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Alcohol & Youth
Health Effects of Alcohol

More Frequent Policing Cuts Booze Sales to Minors
Health Central, March 18, 2005
Here it comes again: Spring Break, a time when too many underage U.S. teens find a way to get their hands on alcohol.
However, a new study suggests that year-round policing of establishments that sell alcohol could cut down on the dangerous drinking that's become part of this annual ritual.

"We found that enforcement has significant effects, but just like enforcement against any offense, you can't just do it once and think it solves everything," researcher Alexander C. Wagenaar, a professor of epidemiology and health policy at the University of Florida (UF) College of Medicine, said in a prepared statement.
"We have to create an ongoing perception on the part of the managers and owners of these establishments that they have a decent chance of getting caught if they sell to teenagers," Wagenaar explained.

The five-year national study by researchers at UF and the University of Minnesota found regular police checks of businesses that sell alcohol strongly deter alcohol sales to minors and are far more effective than programs that simply train bar and restaurant staff to identify minors and refuse them alcohol.

The study, published in the March issue of Addiction, included 942 establishments that sold alcohol in 20 Midwestern U.S. cities. These establishments included restaurants, bars, bowling alleys and liquor, grocery and convenience stores.

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"Reduce Underage Drinking"

Post Prom Party gets go-ahead at middle-high school
Cohasset Mariner (MA), Fri, Mar 25, 2005
The good news is plans are moving forward for a post prom party at the middle-high school this spring and it should be a lot safer for some student participants than last year's event. . . .Students and their parents will be required to sign a responsibility contract so both will be accountable, explained Lynn Durkin of the Post Prom Committee. . . .While at this point the use of breathalyzers has been ruled out, a police presence has not. Organizers will hire a police detail throughout the event that runs from midnight to 5 a.m. . . .Event organizers are also looking at a plan requiring that no student drive to the event - a proposal that won high marks from CHS Principal Jack DeLorenzo.

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Alcohol & Youth Facts

Monday, March 21, 2005

Steroids? Alcohol is real problem
The San Francisco Chronicle, CA, March 17, 2005
Congressman Tom Davis claims straight out that steroids are a public health crisis. That is why he and his colleagues on the House Government Reform Committee have gone to the trouble of summoning some of the biggest stars in baseball to Capitol Hill to testify today. It's about -- all together now -- protecting our children.

OK. Let's say the motive for this steroids hearing is, in fact, about protecting America's kids from the harmful influence of sports leagues that care only about boosting ticket sales and TV ratings. Then I imagine we can expect a big ballyhooed hearing soon on the substance that is most glorified by sports leagues and kills more kids every year than every other drug combined.

No single industry promotes the consumption of alcohol among teenagers as much as college and professional sports.

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Letter to Editor: Alcohol Most Harmful (scroll down)
Alcohol Advertising and Youth

College Alcohol Problems Exceed Previous Estimates
National Institute of Health News Press Release, March 17, 2005
The harm caused by alcohol consumption among college students may exceed previous estimates of the problem. Researchers report that unintentional fatal injuries related to alcohol increased from about 1,500 in 1998 to more than 1,700 in 2001 among U.S. college students aged 18-24. Over the same period national surveys indicate the number of students who drove under the influence of alcohol increased by 500,000, from 2.3 million to 2.8 million. The new findings appear in the 2005 issue of the Annual Review of Public Health.

"This paper underscores what we had learned from another recent study - that excessive alcohol use by college-aged individuals in the U.S. is a significant source of harm," said Ting-Kai Li, M.D., Director of the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

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Keeping Big Alcohol in Check
Alcohol and Youth Facts

No Spirit of Responsibility at Big Beer
Ascribe Newswire, March 17, 2005
by Robert Reynolds
When the president of a national law enforcement organization asked Anheuser-Busch to stop running a commercial making fun of stealing beer and running away from the police, a vice president of consumer affairs from the world's largest beer company wrote back basically saying, what's the matter, can't you take a joke?

That's the way the beer industry responds to complaints about its advertisements that appeal to children, demean women, encourage overconsumption or resort to bathroom humor. If you send a complaint to the Beer Institute about women ripping their clothes off on Saturday afternoon TV beer spots, it gets routed to the brewery that produced the ad, where an executive handler responds that the company is very concerned about promoting responsible drinking and following the industry's advertising code and thank you very much for writing.

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More on Campus Drinking
Alcohol Advertising and Youth

Distilled Spirits Council Urges Ban of Alcohol Vapor Devices; Senate Committee on Regulated Industries Hears Bill Today
USNewswire, March 21, 2005
The Distilled Spirits Council today urged swift passage of legislation introduced in Florida banning "alcohol without liquid" (AWOL) devices that allow consumers to inhale alcohol by mixing alcohol with pure oxygen.

The bill, SB 794, sponsored by Senator Mike Haridopolos, would prohibit the sale or use of these devices and make its sale a misdemeanor. SB 794 is scheduled to be heard today before the Senate Committee on Regulated Industries today at
2:45 pm.

"We commend Senator Haridopolos for trying to keep these irresponsible devices out of Florida and we urge other states to do the same," said Dr. Peter Cressy, President of the Distilled Spirits Council. "The distilled spirits industry deplores any attempt to encourage reckless consumption of alcohol."

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"Reduce Underage Drinking"

Heavy drinking tied to hardening of heart arteries
Rueters Health, March 16, 2005
Consuming too much alcohol can cause hardening of the arteries, according to researchers at the University of California at San Diego.

Many studies have shown that moderate drinking can promote cardiac health. But Reuters reported March 14 that calcification of coronary arteries increased along with the rate of alcohol consumption. The San Francisco study tracked a group of 3,037 people ages 33 to 45 over a 15-year period.

Researchers found that while 8 percent of nondrinkers showed signs of arteriosclerosis, the rate increased to 9 percent among those who had up to six drinks per week, to 13 percent among drinkers who consumed 7-13 drinks per week, and to 19 percent among those who had 14 drinks or more weekly.

The patterns were especially notable among black men and binge drinkers, the researchers said. The study was published in the March 1 issue of the American Journal of Epidemiology.

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Health Effects of Alcohol

Monday, March 14, 2005

End 'Malt Madness'
USA Today, March 13, 2005
Are you ready for some Brewball?

To my eyes, the NCAA basketball tournament is by far the best sports TV event of the year. Who can't love a walk-on guard from Rinkydink Tech sinking a buzzer-beater to upset top-seeded Big Bucks U.? Fill out your brackets in the $5 office pool and start nail-biting.

But if 2005 is typical of past years, you'll see enough beer commercials during the three weeks of NCAA action to get a hangover by osmosis. In one survey, the 2003 tournament carried 395 beer TV commercials. Breweries spent more than $21 million hustling their six-packs during the NCAA showdown. While the revenue goes to the TV network, the NCAA has the clout to demand alcohol-free telecasts.

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Alcohol Advertising and Youth
CSPI: Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV

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Keeping Big Alcohol in Check
CSPI: Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV

Wyoming launches drinking initiative
Associated Press, March 13, 2005
With most underage drinkers in Wyoming getting alcohol from friends and family, a new statewide public awareness campaign will promote the message that it isn't acceptable or legal for adults to buy alcohol for minors.

First lady Nancy Freudenthal joined law enforcement officials Friday in pledging to do their part alongside members of the Wyoming Liquor Division and the Wyoming Liquor Association to combat underage drinking.

Freudenthal said she hopes the bill passed by the Legislature this year will make this message clear. Under the bill, it is a misdemeanor for adults to provide alcohol to minors at a house party.

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Alcohol and Youth Facts
More on Alcohol Legislation

Now the largest remaining independent brewer in South America, Colombia's Bavaria, is being hunted by the world's top four brewers - InBev , Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. , SABMiller Plc and Heineken NV -analysts and sources familiar with the situation said.

"Latin America and China are the No. 1 priority among the major global brewers," said Mark Swartzberg, of Legg Mason in New York, "Those two regions are much more appealing than the Middle East, Central Europe, other developing regions."

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Corporate Profiles

Pataki calls for raising driving age to 21 for teens with altered licenses
The Buffalo News, March 12, 2005
Teenagers who doctor their driver licenses so they can buy alcohol would lose all driving privileges until they turn 21 under a law proposed Friday by Gov. George E. Pataki and Westchester County District Attorney Jeanine Pirro.

"A teenager's most prized possession is his or her license," Pirro said. "We think this will have an enormous impact on underage drinking."

Pataki said more than 4,400 drivers under 21 - the legal drinking age - were arrested last year statewide for driving under the influence of alcohol. He called underage drinking "the single most grave threat" to teenagers' lives, and said altered licenses were part of the problem.

Under the bill, he said, "If you are 16, if you are 17, if you are 18 or if you are 19 and you have a fake driver's license in your possession, you're done driving until you turn 21. You're not going to pose a threat to the people of this state on the streets any more. You're not going to pose a threat to yourself and your friends."
Pirro said teen drinking remains epidemic despite a long education campaign, the prosecution of parents who let teens drink in their homes and a crackdown on operations that produce fake licenses or alter real ones. Underage drinking has been a high-profile issue in Westchester County, especially in affluent areas.

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Our Solution: Environmental Prevention
More on Alcohol Legislation

Monday, March 7, 2005

Sobriety Tests Are Becoming Part of the School Day
New York Times, NY, March 3, 2005
For years, schools across the country have deployed breath analyzers at proms, pep rallies and other after-school events to catch students who arrived drunk or smuggled in alcohol.
After some resistance and fevered debate, student advocates and even lawyers gradually came to accept that schools were within their rights to use every means to ensure that students were not toting six-packs and liquor bottles to after-school, night and weekend events.
Quietly though, a few districts around the country, from Indiana to Connecticut to Long Island, have begun to integrate breath-testing devices into the regular school day, a move that adds a new wrinkle to the ongoing struggle between students' privacy rights and a school's duty to limit drug and alcohol abuse.
Schools say they need to ensure that no students are drinking in class. Civil rights lawyers worry that high school students pulled out of class and forced to take a breath-alcohol test could be unfairly stigmatized for goofy or strange behavior.

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Youth and Alcohol

DUI arrests up, but fatalities fall 40 percent since start of later last call
The Arizona Republic, AZ, March 4, 2005
Arizona's later bar-closing time has pumped up liquor sales and drunken-driving arrests in some Valley cities since August when last call was extended one hour to 2 a.m.

But alcohol-related crashes dipped 2.3 percent and fatalities plummeted 40 percent statewide in the first four months since the change, according to figures from the Governor's Office of Highway Safety

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More on Later Last Call
See the Facts about Last Call

CAMY Study Highlights Severity of Underage Drinking Problem
CADCA, March 3, 2005
A report by Georgetown University's Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY) on the progress of the nation´s efforts to combat underage drinking found that alcohol continues to be the number one drug problem among youth. Experts say more education and awareness is needed to make a real dent on underage drinking.

In its report, CAMY highlighted findings from the 2004 Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey, which found that nearly one in five eighth-graders, one in three 10th-graders and one in two 12th-graders had a drink in the past month. CAMY also noted that the latest National Survey on Drug Use and Health found that in 2003 about 10.9 million underage youth, ages 12-20, used alcohol in the past month and nearly 7.2 million underage youth reported binge drinking.

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Alcohol Advertising & Youth

At Colby College, dinners send a message on drinking
Boston Globe (Front Pg), MA, March 4, 2005
At first glance, it looked like dinner time in any college dining hall. Freshman football players bolted grilled cheese and pizza; carb-conscious sophomores picked at their salads.

But something different was also going on in Dana Hall at Colby College last Friday night: In a smaller room connected to the bustling main cafeteria, senior Christian Allen sipped a glass of pinot noir with his pork stir-fry.

''This is not how college drinking is done," observed the 21-year-old, an economics major from New York City. ''Having good-quality alcohol with a meal -- it bucks the trend of college drinking."

A glass or two of wine with dinner may not sound like a radical proposal. But on college campuses, where administrators have long waged war against binge drinking among students -- often by cracking down on the availability of alcohol -- Colby's decision to serve wine and beer to seniors in the cafeteria is controversial. Administrators say the new program can give seniors skills they need for the real world, by teaching them to drink in a more moderate, grown-up way. But critics say the events could send a troubling message, that drinking is essential to successful adult life.

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Alcohol & Youth Facts