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- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Acceptable risk? : Why does society accept a higher risk for alcohol than for other voluntary or involuntary risks?
- 2014
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Ingår i: BMC Medicine. - : Springer Science and Business Media LLC. - 1741-7015. ; 12, s. 189-
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Tidskriftsartikel (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: Societies tend to accept much higher risks for voluntary behaviours, those based on individualdecisions (for example, to smoke, to consume alcohol, or to ski), than for involuntary exposure such as exposure torisks in soil, drinking water or air. In high-income societies, an acceptable risk to those voluntarily engaging in a riskybehaviour seems to be about one death in 1,000 on a lifetime basis. However, drinking more than 20 g purealcohol per day over an adult lifetime exceeds a threshold of one in 100 deaths, based on a calculation from WorldHealth Organization data of the odds in six European countries of dying from alcohol-attributable causes at differentlevels of drinking.Discussion: The voluntary mortality risk of alcohol consumption exceeds the risks of other lifestyle risk factors. Inaddition, evidence shows that the involuntary risks resulting from customary alcohol consumption far exceed theacceptable threshold for other involuntary risks (such as those established by the World Health Organization ornational environmental agencies), and would be judged as not acceptable. Alcohol’s exceptional status reflectsvagaries of history, which have so far resulted in alcohol being exempted from key food legislation (no labelling ofingredients and nutritional information) and from international conventions governing all other psychoactivesubstances (both legal and illegal). This is along with special treatment of alcohol in the public health field, in partreflecting overestimation of its beneficial effect on ischaemic disease when consumed in moderation.Summary: A much higher mortality risk from alcohol than from other risk factors is currently accepted by highincome countries.
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| 2. |
- Rehm, Jürgen, et al.
(författare)
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Regulatory Policies for Alcohol, other Psychoactive Substances and Addictive Behaviours : The Role of Level of Use and Potency. A Systematic Review
- 2019
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Ingår i: International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. - : MDPI AG. - 1661-7827 .- 1660-4601. ; 16:19
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- The object of this contribution based on a systematic review of the literature is to examine to what degree the level of use and potency play a role in regulatory policies for alcohol, other psychoactive substances and gambling, and whether there is an evidence base for this role. Level of use is usually defined around a behavioural pattern of the user (for example, cigarettes smoked per day, or average ethanol use in grams per day), while potency is defined as a property or characteristic of the substance. For all substances examined (alcohol, tobacco, opioids, cannabis) and gambling, both dimensions were taken into consideration in the formulation of most regulatory policies. However, the associations between both dimensions and regulatory policies were not systematic, and not always based on evidence. Future improvements are suggested.
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| 3. |
- Rehm, Juergen, et al.
(författare)
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The impact of alcohol taxation changes on unrecorded alcohol consumption : A review and recommendations
- 2022
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Ingår i: International journal of drug policy. - : Elsevier BV. - 0955-3959 .- 1873-4758. ; 99
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Forskningsöversikt (refereegranskat)abstract
- Background: The diverse forms of unrecorded alcohol, defined as beverage alcohol not registered in official statistics in the country where it is consumed, comprise about one fourth of all alcohol consumed worldwide. Since unrecorded alcohol is usually cheaper than registered commercial alcohol, a standard argument against raising alcohol excise taxes has been that doing so could potentially result in an increase in unrecorded consumption. This contribution examines whether increases in taxation have in fact led to increases in consumption of unrecorded alcohol, and whether these increases in unrecorded alcohol should be considered to be a barrier to raising taxes. A second aim is to outline mitigation strategies to reduce unrecorded alcohol use.Methods: Narrative review of primary and secondary research, namely case studies and narrative and systematic reviews on unrecorded alcohol use worldwide.Results: Unrecorded alcohol consumption did not automatically increase with increases in taxation and subse-quent price increases of registered commercial alcohol. Instead, the level of unrecorded consumption depended on: a) the availability and type of unrecorded alcohol; b) whether such consumption was non-stigmatized; c) the primary population groups which consumed unrecorded alcohol before the policy change; and d) the policy measures taken. Mitigation strategies are outlined.Conclusions: Potential increases in the level of unrecorded alcohol consumption should be considered in the planning and implementation of substantial increases in alcohol taxation. However, unrecorded consumption should not be considered to be a principal barrier to implementing tax interventions, as evidence does not indicate an increase in consumption if mitigation measures are put in place by governments.
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