Amsterdam Group

This article is part of the Spinwatch public health oriented Alcohol Portal project.

Established in 1990 the Amsterdam Group (TAG) was an organisation comprised of Europe's biggest alcohol producers. They worked with governments and organisations in order to tackle problems associated with alcohol. Now replaced with a sucessor organisation, The European Forum for Responsible Drinking

They described their role as "encouraging responsible consumption and contributing to combating abuse.; promoting understanding and tracking research on biomedical and social issues; and safeguarding responsible commercial communications through effective self-regulation".

TAG published two reports to the European Union in 1993 and 2000 which in the view of Derek Rutherford of the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance clearly show their opposition to the public health model. They stated:

Evidence suggests that the prevalence of alcohol-related problems is not directly related to the average per capita consumption, but rather to problematic patterns of drinking.

Policies aimed at the reduction of overall per capita consumption (in the form of limiting the overall sales of alcoholic beverages through marketing and production restrictions and high taxation) does not address those who abuse the product.

The notion of individual responsibility for drinking behaviour needs to be stressed and that no collective regulation can ever replace individual responsibility.

Funding

The Amsterdam Group was funded entirely by alcohol producers, the primary sources of their revenue came from the following companies :

• Allied Domecq
• Bacardi Martini
• Berentzen Gruppe
• Diageo
• Pernod Ricard
• Heineken
• Interbrew
• Moet Hennessy
• Prips Ringnes
• Remy Cointreau
• Scottish & Newcastle