When the industry makes its own laws

"This article shows with a few examples what kind of game the alcohol industry has played in policy making in recent years"

"Alcohol kills 6 Finns everyday"

Lobbying pays off. Even the smallest detail in the legislature of an industry can bring a company millions in benefits or loss. The influence of the alcohol industry on Finland’s alcohol policy has not remained small. This article shows with a few examples what kind of game the alcohol industry has played in policy making in recent years. The industry representatives have not had to settle for lobbying, since they have made their way into teams preparing the legislature. The aim of the article is to bring public the dubious and well documented manner by which the alcohol industry influences policy making.

The issue is of current interest, since at the present the parliament is discussing major restrictions on alcohol advertising. And at present the lobbyists for the alcohol industry are busy at work trying to change attitudes of decision makers and media against these restrictions.

Opposition against the alcohol lobbyists is minimal, since the public health point of view is being professionally lobbied less than that of the breweries. This comes through also in the media, where the view of the breweries is well presented unlike the views of the organizations pleading public health issues.

Alcohol kills 6 Finns everyday (Tilastokeskus). The amount can be expected to increase well, since according to a study by the Finnish Institute of Occupational Health, of young men between the ages of 25-34 years over half (63%) belong to the group of alcohol risk users. The equivalent figure for women is 30%. It is known that alcohol causes addiction and diseases such as cancer. It also lessens the ability to feel satisfaction without a high, which in itself inadvertently increases depression and dullness of everyday life.

The Finns consumption of alcohol has soared in the last decades, and is higher than ever. The policies of this era have in general been in the nature of increasing consumption (e.g. the major decrease in alcohol tax in 2003 and the allowance of drink advertisement in 1994)

The alcohol issue has been discussed by policy makers once in a while. In the governments night school in 2005, it was suggested by concerned parties that e.g. bottles would be furnished with warning texts as in the case of cigarettes, alcohol tax would be lifted to the level pre-2003, restrictions on alcohol advertisement in TV and radio...)

After a long period of processing, none of these proposals were put into action. The reforms that happened were primarily cosmetic e.g. the tax raise, that lifted the price of a beer bottle by 4 cents; and the ban of alcohol ads on TV before 9 pm, which led to alcohol ads concentrating on those TV shows ad slots that came after 9pm and were popular among teenagers. What’s going on? After all the discussion about the increase of alcohol related problems, is there no will to act?