Comments on the report Alcohol in Europe - Public Health Perspective by Peter Anderson and Ben Baumberg

摘要

The report Alcohol in Europe - Public Health Perspective constitutes a substantial contribution to the current alcohol debate within the European Union as it gives empirical foundations for the future, hopefully more rational, elaboration of alcohol policy in Europe. The report offers a comprehensive view of alcohol consumption in Europe, its history, economic aspects, and impact on individual and public health. Final chapters discuss policy options in national, European and global contexts. The conclusions and recommendations are pragmatic on the one hand, but not restricted by existing barriers, which are mainly associated with contemporary economic order and various cultural traditions. The authors, while being committed to public health interests, remain faithful to an impartial, academic tradition from which stem their most important credentials. Trapped by two somewhat conflicting requirements, the authors balance the harms associated with alcohol and the health benefits of drinking, most importantly, alcohol's preventive impact on coronary heart disease (CHD). This apparently objective approach, however, requires more reflection. The public health perspective does not imply that the disease burden in one segment of society is lighter because of a lesser burden in another segment. In fact, public health tradition assumes a more egalitarian distribution of health across the whole social structure. Therefore subtracting the number of deaths apparently prevented from the number of deaths due to drinking does not seem appropriate for either individualistic or public health ethics.