A Review Of Research Into The Impacts Of Alcohol ... - CARBC

More documents

Recommendations

Info

that poses health risks (e.g. ICAP, 1997). The recent major WHO Global Burden of Disease study developed a measure of the extent to which different health risk behaviours reduced both life expectancy and quality of life, known as Disability Adjusted Life Years or DALYs. Rehm and Room (2005) report that tobacco is estimated to contribute 4.1% of the total burden of premature death or disability in the year 2000, and alcohol 4% of the same total. While it may seem surprising that alcohol contributes almost exactly the same amount of death and disability as does tobacco, this is because, while tobacco tends to take a few years off the life of a large number of older people, alcohol impacts on mostly younger people who have many more years of life to lose. The second argument that it is only tobacco which can harm health in even small doses in fact also applies to alcohol since, in relation to cancer risk, there is no known safe level of alcohol consumption (Chikritzhs et al, 2002). The complication, of course, concerns the widely accepted health benefits of light to moderate alcohol consumption, which in most current estimates appear to somewhat outweigh the negative effects. For example, Chikritzhs et al (2003) estimated that for Australia in 2000, low-risk alcohol consumption was associated with 2,050 deaths but also prevented as many as 6,193, i.e. resulting in a net benefit of 4,143 deaths prevented. Most of the deaths from low-risk consumption were related to cancer. It could be argued that even the small but significant risk of cancer at even low levels of consumption is worth advising consumers about. The submission by Spirits Canada on Bill C-206 also mentions a number of other arguments against the introduction of alcohol warning labels. The submission emphasises evidence of alcoholrelated road crashes being on the decline, and also the small number of people who drink and drive, who drink at risky levels during pregnancy, or who drink in a way liable to put their health at risk. The recent report on the results of the Canadian Addictions Survey (or CAS, Adlaf et al, 2005) nonetheless indicates that 30% of male and 15% of female drinkers have exceeded low-risk drinking guidelines for long-term harm, while higher proportions put themselves at risk of acute harm by heavy drinking sessions at least once a month (34% males, 17% females). Spirits Canada notes that over 50% of pregnancies are unplanned, and it is clear from CAS results that women of childbearing age are especially likely to consume alcohol in a risky fashion. The highest risk time for damage to the foetus is during the first month after conception, when women do not know they are pregnant. It is likely, therefore, that a high proportion of the population may benefit from being reminded of the health and safety risks of alcohol consumption. Specifically in relation to Bill C-206, the proposed legislation for alcohol warning labels for Canada is very similar to that currently in place in the United States. On the basis of the evidence reviewed here, it could be expected that the introduction of such labels would be noticed by most drinkers and especially by young and high-risk drinkers. Furthermore, it could be expected that, initially at least, these labels would trigger informal discussions about the health consequences of alcohol consumption. It is also likely that the already high levels of public support for warning labels in Canada would further increase in the years following their introduction. It is possible that the labels might prompt some women who are already light drinkers to drink slightly less when they are pregnant. It is also possible that seeing the labels might discourage a few people from driving after drinking. It is unlikely, however, in the absence of a wide range of other strategies to encourage Canadians to engage in safer alcohol use, that the warning labels would on their own result in an overall reduction in hazardous alcohol consumption or specific risk behaviours such as drinking and driving. Centre for Addictions Research of BC
References Adlaf, E., Begin, P. and Sawka, E. (2005, Eds.) Canadian Addiction Survey (CAS): A national survey of Canadians’ use of alcohol and other drugs. Prevalence of use and related harms: Detailed results. Ottawa: Canadian Centre on substance Abuse. Agostinelli, G. and Grube, J. (2002) Alcohol counter-advertising and the media. A review of recent research Alcohol Research and Health 26(1): 15-21. Andrews, J.C. (1995) The effectiveness of alcohol warning labels: A review and extension. American Behavioral Scientist, 38(4), 622-632. Andrews, C. (1995) The effectiveness of alcohol warning labels: a review and extension. American Behavioral Scientist, 38 (4), 622-632. Babor, T., Caetano, R., Casswell, S., Edwards, G., Giesbrecht, N., Hill, L., Holder, H., Homel, R., Osterberg, E., Rehm, J., Room, R. and Rossow, I. (2003) Alcohol: No ordinary commodity – research and public policy. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Chikritzhs, T., Stockwell, T.R., Jonas, H., Stevenson, C., Cooper-Stanbury, M., Donath, S., Single, E. and Catalano, P. (2002). “Towards a standardised methodology for estimating alcohol-caused death, injury and illness in Australia.” Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, 26, (5), pp. 443-450. Chikritzhs, T., Catalano, P., Stockwell, T.R., Donath, S., Ngo, H.T., Young, D.J. and Matthews, S. (2003). Australian Alcohol Indicators, 1990-2001; patterns of alcohol use and related harms for Australian states and territories. National Drug Research Institute and Turning Point Alcohol and Drug Centre Inc. National Drug Research Institute, Perth, Western Australia. Creyer, E., Kozup, J. and Burton, S. (2002) An Experimental Assessment of the Effects of Two Alcoholic Beverage Health Warnings Across Countries and Binge-Drinking Status. Journal of Consumer Affairs, 36 (2), 171-202. Duffy, S. and Burton, D. (2000) Cartoon characters as tobacco warning labels. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine. 154(12): 1230-6 Greenfield, T. (1997) Warning Labels: Evidence on harmreduction from long-term American surveys. In: Plant, M., Single, E. and Stockwell, T. (Eds.) Alcohol: Minimizing the harm. London: Free Association Books. Greenfield, T., Graves, K. and Kaskutas, L. (1999). Longterm effects of alcohol warning labels: Findings from a comparison of the United States and Ontario, Canada. Psychology & Marketing, Vol 16(3), 261-282. Hankin, J., Firestone, I., Sloan, J., Ager, J., Goodman, A., Sokmol, R. and Martier, S. (1993) The impact of the alcohol warning label on drinking during pregnancy. Journal of Public Policy and Marketing, 12(1), 10-18. Hammond, D., Fong, G.T., McDonald, P.W., Cameron, R., Brown, K.S. (2003) Impact of the graphic Canadian warning labels on adult smoking behaviour. Tobacco Control, 12(4): 391-5. International Center for Alcohol Policies (1997) Health warning labels. ICAP Reports No. 3. Washington, DC, USA. Kaskutas, L. and Greenfield, T. (1992) First effects of warning labels on alcoholic beverage containers. Drug and Alcohol Dependence, 31, 1-14. Kaskutas, L. and Graves, K. (1994) Relationship between cumulative exposure to health messages and awareness and behaviour-related drinking during pregnancy. Substance Absue, 9 (2), 115-124. Kaskutas, L., Greenfield, T. and Lee, M. (1998) Reach and effects of health messages on drinking during pregnancy. Journal of Health Education, 29, 11-17. Loxley W, Toumbourou J, Stockwell T, et al. The Prevention of Substance Use, Risk and Harm in Australia: A Review of the Evidence. Canberra: Australian Government Department of Health and Ageing; 2004 McKinnon, D., Nohre, L., Pentz, M. and Stacy, A. (2000) The alcohol warning and adolescents: 5-year effects. American Journal of Public Health, 90 (10), 1589- 1594. National Health and Medical Research Council (2001). Australian Alcohol Guidelines: Health Risks and Benefits. Commonwealth of Australia, Canberra. Rehm, J. and Room, R. (2005) The global burden of disease attributable to alcohol, tobacco and illicit drugs. In: Stockwell, T., Gruenewald, P., Toumbourou, J. and Loxley, W. (2005) Preventing Harmful Substance Use: The evidence base for policy and practice. John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., Chichester, UK. Room, R., Graves, K., Giesbrecht, N., and Greenfield, T. (1995) Trends in public opnion about alcohol policy initiatives in Ontario and the US 1989-91. Drug and Alcohol Review, 14, 35-47. Stockley, C. (2001) The effectiveness of strategies such as health warning labels to reduce alcohol-related harms: An Australian perspective. International Journal of Drug Policy, Vol 12(2), 153-166. Stockwell, T., Blaze-Temple, D. and Walker, C. (1991). “A test of the proposal to label containers of alcoholic drink with alcohol content in standard drinks.” Health Promotion International, 6, 3, 207-215. Stockwell, T. and Single, E. (1997). “Standard unit labelling on alcohol containers.” In: Plant, M., Single, E. and Stockwell, T. (Eds.). Alcohol : Minimising the Harm. Freedom Association Press Ltd, London. Stockwell, T.R. (2001). “Harm reduction, drinking patterns and the NHMRC Drinking Guidelines.” Drug and Alcohol Review. 20, 1, 121-129. A Review Of Research Into The Impacts Of Alcohol Warning Labels On Attitudes And Behaviour
Page 1: A Review Of Research Into The Impac
Page 4 and 5: Report commissioned by Health Canad
Page 6 and 7: 1. International practice with alco
Page 8 and 9: 2. Material identified from scholar
Page 10 and 11: 1994, was highest for “birth defe
Page 14: Strahan EJ, White K, Fong GT, Fabri

A Review Of Research Into The Impacts Of Alcohol ... - CARBC

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?