Carson calls for better self-regulation

"The drinks industry needs to be whiter than white." Christopher Carson told a packed room of drinks buyers, importers and journalists at the Wine & Spirit Education Trust’s annual lecture on Monday.

The talk, entitled “Facing the future now,” centred on the issue of binge drinking and potential government responses to the problem, and the ex CEO of Constellation Brands Europe and current chairman of the Wine & Spirit Trade Association (WSTA) made an impassioned plea for the drinks industry to regulate itself, “or else they [the government] will regulate us.”

Alarming listeners, Carson compared alcoholic drinks to cigarettes, pointing out that tobacco caused illness costs the UK £1.7 billion per year, while alcohol caused illness costs the country exactly the same sum. The penalties for tobacco have been severe: in 1965 there was a TV ban on tobacco advertising, followed by health warnings on packets and print advertising, and later restrictions on sports sponsorship. Then, between 1999 and 2005, the department of health spent £96.6 million on advertising the dangers of smoking. “How would we react if the DOH spent that sort of money on an anti alcohol campaign?” Carson asked the audience.

After a brief pause he outlined the results of a binge drinking survey of 1,000 women which revealed that over a 1/3 of women over 30 drink more than in their teens – “and for those of you who erroneously think that wine is not part of this problem, white wine is the drink of choice for women between the ages of 21 and 35.” He also pointed out the problem of under age drinking, recording that “almost 90% of schoolchildren drink occasionally.”

Carson admitted, “We have a problem,” and warned that “every time we break ranks and blame another part of the industry – for example, the on- blaming the off-trade, wine blaming beer, beer blaming spirits – we lose and the government wins, because we are not united.”

As for potential restrictions for the industry, Carson warned of a ban on advertising alcohol; an end to sponsorship for sporting events for under 18s; a reduction of blood alcohol level for under 25 year old drivers; a change in the age of consent to 21 for purchasing alcohol; health warnings on alcohol packaging; differential taxation of alcohol; tax/duty being used as a weapon; tougher laws than the 2003 Licensing Act; and even the sectioning off of alcohol in supermarkets.

To avoid such changes Carson insisted the industry must work with the government: “to deliver our side of the bargain. We must market and sell responsibly and not just pay lip service.

Concluding, he stated, “Lets all face the facts and recognise what has to be done, support organisations like WTSA, Drink Aware and others, and make the environment that the alcohol industry is working in an acceptable one.”

© db 11th October 2006