UPDATED: The European Parliament’s Committee on Public Health (SANT) yesterday called on the EU’s executive body to take action to deliver health-related labels and alcohol strategies using “deeply problematic” language, critics say.
The committee heard yesterday it was wrong to use terms like “harmful alcohol” and “levels exceeding scientifically established health recommendations” in its assessment of the EU’s attempts to reduce cancer rates in the bloc.
Using phrases like these is “deeply misleading and deeply problematic, because it implies there is safe consumption of alcohol, which there is not,” Alba Gil of the Association of European Cancer Leagues (ECL) told the committee.
As part of a wider resolution the committee called on the European Commission to legislate to deliver health-related labels on all alcohol products “without further delay”, along with a revised alcohol strategy, including a zero alcohol consumption strategy for minors.
The resolution called on the European Commission to present legislative proposals to help deliver “clearly visible health-related information on all alcoholic beverages… without further delay”. The resolution passed 27 to eight, with five abstentions.
The committee’s resolution also said the Commission and EU member states should promote actions to reduce and prevent alcohol-related harm, and to present a revised EU alcohol strategy. This new strategy should include a “zero alcohol consumption strategy for minors”, it said.
The SANT committee resolution also asked the Commission to propose “appropriate EU-level measures to reduce the exposure to alcohol marketing, in particular to minors, including in digital environments.” ■