No level of alcohol consumption is safe for our health, the World Health Organisation announced earlier this year. It went on to reveal that half the alcohol-attributable cancers in the WHO European region are caused by light and moderate consumption – that is, less than 1.5 litres of wine or 3.5 litres of beer or 450ml of spirits a week.
Canada has released guidelines advising people to limit themselves to no more than two standard alcoholic drinks a week. Canada’s Guidance on Alcohol and Health says the risk of developing several types of cancer – including breast and colon – increases at three to six standard drinks a week and at seven or more drinks there is a significantly increased risk of heart disease or stroke.
This is very different from the advice that continues to be given in this country by Manatū Hauora/Ministry of Health, which recommends no more than 10 standard drinks a week for women and 15 for men.
Meanwhile, alcohol-related injuries are keeping our ambulance crews and doctors busy – a report released by the Southern District Health Board in 2020 found almost one in 25 emergency department admissions was alcohol-related.
Last year, a University of Otago study showed 26% of all New Zealand suicide deaths involve alcohol use. And an analysis from the Global Burden of Disease estimates 1.34 billion people worldwide consumed harmful amounts of alcohol in 2020.
Rebecca Williams, acting executive director of Alcohol Healthwatch, says for effective change to happen here it is going to take more than following in Canada’s footsteps.
“Guidelines may get a bit of coverage when they’re released but generally they are very passive information,” she says. “We’ve never seen them as a harm-prevention tool. Just giving people this information is not enough because the wider environment conflicts with it. Alcohol is glamorised: you need it when you go to the art gallery, to the movies, to a wedding, to this or that sport. Everywhere you go, it’s part of our culture – it’s what we do.”
Williams says there is no doubt about what needs to be done to shift the needle on our drinking culture. Reducing the availability of alcohol, raising prices and banning marketing and promotion are the three approaches that have been identified as most likely to make a difference.
“The evidence has been solid for so long now. What we need is a policy reset.”
Attempts at progress have been frustratingly slow, however. Green MP Chlöe Swarbrick’s Alcohol Harm Minimisation Bill would have banned sponsorship and advertising in sports but failed at its first reading. The government has signalled some reforms may be coming but these have been delayed. And though in theory town councils are able to have their own local alcohol policy influencing when and where it is sold, supermarket chains Woolworths and Foodstuffs kept Auckland Council tied up in an appeal process for eight years until finally the Supreme Court found in its favour.
“Hopefully that decision will give other councils the courage to move forward with their own local policies,” says Williams.
The alcohol industry has a vested interest in keeping us raising our glasses. The global alcoholic beverages market is projected to pass US$2 trillion by 2031.
Alcohol is classified as a Group 1 carcinogen, putting it in the same group as asbestos, radiation and tobacco, but attention has tended to be focused on problem drinking. The alcohol industry has a role in that, promoting the idea of people being able to enjoy responsible drinking as part of a balanced lifestyle. In this country, via charity The Tomorrow Project, it funds website cheers.org.nz and it also supports in-school education workshop SMASHED, aimed at Year 9 and Year 10 students.
“Harm is associated more with heavy drinking and less with the slow-onset risks like cancer and heart disease that come into play when drinking at levels most people would think are relatively safe,” says Williams. “What Canada is trying to say with its guidelines is that all drinking comes with a risk, but if you are prepared to take that risk, then this is how you can minimise it.”
