Difference between revisions of "User talk:Claire Harkins"

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The [[National Social Norms Institute]]
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==Organic Industry Structure==
[[Brewing Research International]] (BRi)
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[[File:Howard, Philip H. 2009. Organic Industry Structure. Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus, 5(3). -online.png|center|<ref>Howard, Philip H. 2009. Organic Industry Structure. Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus, 5(3).-online.png|Howard, Philip H. 2009. Organic Industry Structure. Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus, 5(3)-online|Acquisitions by the Top 30 Food Processors in North America. (click to resize)</ref>]]
  
Dominic Grieve http://www.addiction-ssa.org/mpinterests.htm
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[[National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome UK]]
  
2. Remunerated employment, office, profession etc
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==  Booze in News Past Stories  ==
- Barrister.
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*Big Alcohol are reducing the alcohol volume in key products by 0.2% in order to pay less duty to the UK exchequer. Daily Mail, 22 January 2012, [http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2090136/Taxbeater-Stella-Budweiser-cut-alcohol-levels-bid-save-millions-pounds-duty-hikes.html?ito=feeds-newsxml Taxbeater! Stella and Budweiser cut alcohol levels in bid to save millions of pounds in duty hikes], Mirror, 22nd January 2012, [http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/top-stories/2012/01/22/alcohol-content-of-top-beers-budweiser-stella-artois-and-beck-s-cut-to-save-cash-115875-23712345/ Alcohol content of top beers Budweiser, Stella Artois and Beck's cut to save cash]
- Ex-member of Lloyds' reinsured into Equitas and a member of NACDE, a Names Action Group.
 
6. Overseas visits
 
- 30 March-4 April 2006, to Pakistan, on fact-finding visit organised by the Conservative Muslim Forum. Airline tickets and accommodation were paid for by Bestway Cash and Carry which sponsored the visit. Other transport and official hospitality in Pakistan was provided by the Pakistan Government. (Registered 27 April 2006)
 
8. Land and Property
 
- House in London, generating rental income.
 
- I am part-owner of building land in France.
 
9. Registrable shareholdings
 
- (b) Rio Tinto
 
- (b) Shell
 
- (b) Diageo
 
- (b) GlaxoSmithKline
 
- (b) GUS
 
- (b) Taylor Woodrow
 
- (b) Cadbury Schweppes
 
- (b) Reckitt Benckiser
 
- (b) Reed Elsevier
 
- (b) Royal Bank of Scotland
 
- (b) Schroders
 
- (b) Anglo American Platinum Corp
 
- (b) Astrazeneca Ord.
 
- (b) Standard Chartered
 
- (b) LVMH
 
[[Tim Ambler]]
 
[[Landmark Europe]]
 
[[Image:Tosspock3.jpg|right|thumb|Claire's favourite Star Trek character]]
 
Have a look at the resources section of the page on CoRWM: http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/CoRWM or http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Bell_Pottinger_Communications#References
 
  
The key thing is to reference docuemtns fully (ie author, title, source, vdate etc) and to upload the documents to the site via the 'upload image' link under 'special pages'. To determine the url for the uploaded file right click on the name of it once uploaded and 'copy link location'.
+
*NME, 26th October 2011, [http://www.nme.com/news/amy-winehouse/60020 Coroner expected to hear that Amy Winehouse's died from alcohol withdrawal Inquest into the singer's death begins today (October 26) in London]
 +
*British Medical Journal, 27th September 2011, Mark Bellis, [http://www.bmj.com/content/343/bmj.d6023.extract UK drinking guidelines are better for the alcohol industry than the public]
 +
*The Sunday Times, 2nd October 2011, Melanie Newman and Mark Hookham [http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Politics/article788525.ece Beer-tax MP ‘blurs lines’ on lobbying rules: Conservative who campaigned for a cut in alcohol tax was being paid more than £30,000-a-year by a consultancy linked to a brewer] (Subscription Required)
  
FOI ref
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== Former Booze in the News Stories  ==
author, [http://www.spinprofiles.org/images/2/23/Foi.pdf title for this doc] dates etc et
 
  
 +
*Reuters, 12 January 2012, [http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/01/12/us-red-wine-heart-idUSTRE80B0BH20120112 Red wine-heart research slammed with fraud charges]
 +
*BBC, 19 January 2012, [http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-16624823 Beer 'must be sold' at Brazil World Cup, says Fifa], the sale of alcohol in sports stadia is not permitted in Brazil on the grounds of promoting health and reducing violence. This has been the case since 2003. Budweiser is a major sponsor of the FIFA world cup and together Budweiser and FIFA are working together to force a change in Brazilian policy in order to increase alcohol sales.
  
Hi,
+
[[Alcohol Price and Consumption]]
  
great stuff on Rycroft. The SDP links and Bell Pottinger info is great. Maybe it is worth having a setion at the bottom on his career which just lists the dates of his various appointments? I was confused about when whe was where and if he cae from and went to Bell Pottinger or was only there once etc?
+
[[File:Mephadrone.jpg|thumb|right| Mephedrone]] <ref> Fantasia [http://www.fantazia.org.uk/drugs/mephedrone.htm Mephedrone] accessed 13th June 2012</ref>
  
--[[User:David|David]] 08:59, 28 August 2008 (BST)
+
<references/>
  
Hi,
+
[[European Travel Retail Confederation]]
  
No, I think two pages is fine.  If you are fleshing this page out I would include a short ref to the history of Hnover as Media strategy on the Hanover page and reserve most of the pr-Hanover history for the Media Strategy Page.
+
[[Penn Schoen and Berland]]
  
Check for typos...
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== EPC Alcohol ==
 +
In 2001 the European Commission had begun the process of developing an alcohol strategy for Europe, which initially involved gathering information on the extent of alcohol related harm and possible policy solutions. By 2006 the initial European Alcohol Strategy were being slowly introduced. The alcohol industry were against a Europe wide strategy, but were keen for any action to be based on self regulation of the industry.    
  
Good stuff
+
In 2005 and 2006, just before the introduction of the strategy, DG Sanco asked the European Policy Centre (EPC) to host four meetings between the alcohol industry and health NGOs.  These Round Table on “Alcohol related harm: ways forward” aimed to reach consensus on policy interventions and to ‘identify areas of agreement between the stakeholders as to actions that can contribute effectively to the reduction of alcohol-related harm and indicate where and why there is disagreement, and in so doing help create confidence between stakeholders’.<ref> Corporate Europe Observatory, [http://www.corporateeurope.org/observer2/epc.html Part One: The European Policy Centre] European Think Tank Series, Issue 2, October 1998, </ref> According to the [[Institute of Alcohol Studies]] these meetings were "At the behest of the [alcohol] Industry, DG SANCO officials organised roundtable discussion through the aegis of the European Policy Centre, between representatives of the Commission, Member States, Industry and NGOs to discuss the draft proposals for a European Alcohol Policy Strategy". <ref> Rutherford, D. (2006) [http://www.ias.org.uk/What-we-do/Publication-archive/The-Globe/Issue-3-2006/Editorial.aspx AIS Editorial] The Globe Issue accessed 28th October 2013 </ref>
--[[User:David|David]] 08:45, 25 September 2008 (BST)
 
  
Hi Claire
+
The meetings involved working through 78 issues or policy proposals related to alcohol harm reduction that were presented by the [[European Commission]] in an informal draft of their communication on Alcohol.  Participants graded each item using a traffic lights system, green issues were broadly agreeable to all present, amber a possibility and red a clear no.  68 of the measures were marked green,  Seven were amber, indicating no overall agreement but that some compromises might be reached.  Three were categorised as red issues where the industry simply refused to negotiate. <ref> Anderson & Baumberg, [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01713.x Alcohol Policy: Who should sit at the table?] ''Addiction Volume'' 102, No. 2 pp 335-336 (online subscription required)</ref>
 +
 
 +
Dr [[Peter Anderson]], author of the Alcohol In Europe report (2006) commented “The European Policy Centre (EPC) describes itself as ‘an independent, not-for-profit think tank, committed to making European integration work’.  Its independence is, of course, ensured by the fact that its prime corporate members and sponsors include [[InBev]], the world’s largest brewer and [[Philip Morris]] International”. <ref> Anderson & Baumberg, [http://www.blackwell-synergy.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1360-0443.2006.01713.x Alcohol Policy: Who should sit at the table?] ''Addiction Volume'' 102, No. 2 pp 335-336 (online subscription required)</ref> The final outcome of this process, and other consultations resulted in the launch of the [[European Alcohol and Health Forum]].
  
Great that you can work on Claire Fox--pls do update her page also with any material you have about her booze-related activities.
+
In 1998 [[Diageo]] and The [[Weinberg Group]] helped set up a [[European Policy Centre]] ForumCorrespondence shows a representative of [[Diageo]] trying to organise a discount for a booking made by [[Weinberg Group]] for a forum run by the EPC. <ref> Legacy Library, [http://legacy.library.ucsf.edu/documentStore/l/m/g/lmg63a99/Slmg63a99.pdf Fax to Sarah Bennett BLRA from Andrea Livett of Diageo] 10th March 1998, accessed 7th November 2011 </ref>. [[Weinberg Group]] are well known for their work assisting tobacco, alcohol and chemical industries.
 
+
<references/>
Re your spinprofiles email account, as a portal editor, you should have had a couple of weeks ago an email from Bill, the spinprofiles web guy, giving you an email adde, which shd be
 
claire.harkins@spinprofiles.org
 
and a user name and password. you need to go into yr email prog and set up a new account with the details that Bill has sent you. It's slightly techie so you might want to get someone to help you. I have sent you a test email to this adde so let me know if you get it! Also let me know if you didn't get such an email from Bill. I am still struggling to work out the technical details of how the site runs myself.
 
 
 
BW
 
Claire
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
just doing a tour of the portal pages. think yr booze one is looking good. if there's one thing that may make it more accessible to the public before the launch, I think it might be to introduce them in simple language to a couple of the main issues around booze. In the Issues box or similar? I am not an expert on the topic but one possib that comes to mind is the industry's attempts to link lack of regulation of booze with liberty/freedom from government in the public mind? also people are worried about the licensing hours issue because of the violent binge-drinkers etc rolling along the streets at all hours--and relaxing licensing hours has got to be about raising revenue for the government hasn't it? because they get more tax back from the booze sold as a result of the longer hours? these are just guesses--as I said, I'm not an expert, but is it possible just to choose a couple of issues to foreground for the public? whatever the industry is/has been lobbying for I guess are the things to highlight.
 
 
 
hope I didn't trip over yr toes on Claire Fox--thought you'd finished her when I dived in. my apologies for that. must be like working in a field of vultures...
 
 
 
BW, Claire
 
 
 
== From Rick Berman need sorted and referenced ==
 
 
 
Berman & Co. are behind the [[Center for Consumer Freedom]], formerly known as the Guest Choice Network, known to have received a $200,000 donation from Monsanto. The Consumer Freedom campaign smears organic food as dangerous and promotes what t calls 'genetically improved food'.  Berman and his firm paint GM opponents as terrorists, asserting that 'anti-biotech extremists' are part of a 'growing wave of domestic terrorism'. They say the people we need to worry about are not just al-Qa'ida but 'the middle-class kids down the street.' (Terrorists On The March -- In America, USA Today)   
 
 
 
Berman & Co. have even declared the charity of the British and Irish churches, Christian Aid, a 'far-left leaning' group that 'flat-out lies about GE foods', hiding 'behind a religious facade to more easily malign farmers, scientists, food companies, and even PR people who deal with GE foods.'.
 
 
 
Berman & Co's internet PR campaign also includes [[ActivistCash.com]] which claims to 'root out the funding sources' of 'the most notorious and extreme groups that conspire to restrict the public's food and beverage choices'. However, the [[Center for Media and Democracy]] says ActivistCash.com draws on information already largely public and mixes it with distortions and misinformation.   
 
Curiously, Monsanto's $200,000 donation to Berman's PR activities only became public as a result of information from a whistle-blower. And Berman appears to take great exception to attempts to root out his own financial relationship with the various lobby organisations run by Berman & Co. He even threatened a lawsuit for defamation after attention was drawn to his 'funneling millions of corporate dollars - donated to non-profit organizations he runs - right into his own bank accounts.  Berman pays himself the cash both directly and personally in the form of salary and benefits for his role as 'Executive Director,' as well as through payments he makes from the non-profits to his own corporation, Berman & Company, Inc., for 'consulting.' '
 
[http://www.vegsource.com/articles/berman_release.htm http://www.vegsource.com/articles/berman_release.htm]
 
[http://www.parentalfreedom.com/response2berman.htm http://www.parentalfreedom.com/response2berman.htm]
 
Berman was also implicated in a [http://www.prwatch.org/prwissues/2001Q1/berman2.html cash-for-favors scandal] involving Newt Gingrich.
 
 
 
== question about globalisation pages ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
I am going to be working on these pages, below, in preparation for the launch. David says that on certain pages to do with alcohol (and maybe others as you were involved in supervising students who created them) I need to consult with you. Cd you give the pages a quick look over please and let me know which pages I need to consult you on?
 
 
 
------ Forwarded Message
 
From: David Miller <davidmiller@strath.ac.uk>
 
Date: Fri, 9 Jan 2009 15:40:28 +0000
 
To: 'Claire Robinson' <claire.robinson@spinprofiles.org>
 
Subject: RE: Re:
 
 
 
Some final pages needing work:
 
 
some pages done by students which either need deleting or the good material adding to proper pages – ie removing material afrom the page and creating a page with a proper title (ie not globalisation at the beginning)..  There is quite a lot.
 
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Globalisation
 
 
 
Thanks v much
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 19:40, 12 January 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== things to do on Alcohol portal prior to launch ==
 
 
 
Hi Claire
 
 
 
going thru all portals prior to launch and have posted the following on David's talk page
 
 
 
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/User_talk:David#Still_to_do
 
 
as some of my q's on Alcohol Portal involve coding and I haven't a clue how to alter it without messing everything up. Here's what I left on his talk page--can you go through these points and clear up anything that is within yr power? Many thanks--we are almost ready! --[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 17:45, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
Alcohol portal
 
 
 
One of the two “Welcome to the alcohol portal” headers should be got rid of Gap top left above pic should be expunged
 
 
 
Gap top right above Priority Companies should be expunged
 
 
 
I know we are trying to attract writers to do “priority pages” for us but something in my guts tells me it’s dangerous to advertise who we are scouting for info on, esp in the case of a certain group of people we all know. I feel we should only come out with stuff on people when it’s quite bullet-proof, ie when an article is done and sourced. What do you think?
 
 
 
“Booze in the News” a great idea but can something go in there?
 
 
 
What about taking out “Newest Pages” and “Recently Updated Articles” as too much info on unrelated topics for Alcohol portal page?? What do you think about taking out the generic spin stuff, “Getting Started”, “Can You Help” and “SpinP History” out of each portal page? Too cluttered with it?
 
 
 
If I am right in assuming that all articles in Alc portal have the “Alcohol” category attached to them, can we add “For all articles in the Alcohol portal, see [link to Alcohol category page]” as I have done in GM Watch portal? The benefit of this is that the reader does not have to worry about whether he is guessing the correct category when he wants to know about a person or org, and there is no way (as things are) that he can know that all the articles in this portal are collected under Alcohol category. I can add this if Claire H approves.
 
 
 
I will send Claire H this message too as she will need to decide on/work on some of these things.--Claire Robinson 17:40, 27 January 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== logos ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
finally solved a question that's been bugging me for a while -- seems it's not legal to use company logos without their permission
 
 
 
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20070624081029AAAJRvx
 
 
 
This applies to your page on Diageo in the booze portal -- haven't checked any others in your portal but can you do a quick trawl and remove any logos that you see if you haven't got permission to use? Boring I know ...
 
 
 
I will add this policy to the copyrights and legal sections of the guidelines.
 
 
 
Copying to David in case he knows something I don't.
 
 
 
thanks and best wishes
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 21:02, 30 April 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== what's hot ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
can u put in the new "What's hot" box on main page, a link to something topical and newsworthy from booze portal? I have put in something for GM already.
 
 
 
thanks! --[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 12:12, 2 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== great ==
 
 
 
Thanks v much Claire, very good. I have put it at the top, as the topics are in alpha order, so alcohol comes at the top.
 
 
 
BW
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 21:19, 9 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== booze marketing term ==
 
 
 
Hi Claire
 
 
 
In "Higher Education Center for Alcohol and Other Drug and Violence Prevention"
 
 
 
could you very briefly explain what social norms marketing is in the appropriate section? I know you have a page on it but would be good just to have a phrase on this page defining the term.
 
 
 
thank you!
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 15:27, 13 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== category ==
 
 
 
Hi Claire
 
 
 
Anal act of the week -- I renamed the Alcohol NGO's category Alcohol NGOs as this is correct punctuation -- no apostrophe for plurals, also renamed Scottish NGO's as Scottish NGOs. You don't need to do anything as I reassigned all the pages in the old spelling category to the new spelling category -- I'm just letting you know so you can spell the category Alcohol NGOs when you next use it...
 
 
 
hope all is well
 
 
 
best wishes
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 21:37, 26 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== good ==
 
 
 
Hi Claire
 
 
 
directors look good to me. I have just rearranged them in alpha order.
 
 
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 11:00, 27 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== Anheuser Busch question ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
On
 
 
 
Anheuser Busch
 
 
 
The first para's meaning wasn't quite clear grammatically and I tried to fix it but couldn't as I wasn't sure what the sequence of events was. so it  doesn't make sense as it stands. cd you pls go in and fix, making clear when the merger was, who is a subsidiary of who and since when, etc etc? sorry for adding confusion!
 
 
 
many thanks
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 09:50, 31 May 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== conservation body ==
 
 
 
Claire I have put them here:
 
 
 
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/International_Conservation_Caucus_Foundation
 
 
 
feel free to add any booze info you have, I note Anheuser-Busch are in their corp partners list
 
 
 
thanks!
 
 
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 09:32, 1 June 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== coding trick re hyphenations etc ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
good q. Yes there is a way. I have applied this system outlined below to the only Anheuser-Busch I could find in the article I just put up (the conservation caucus) and do feel free to do a search thru the site for Anheuser-Busch and code it like this (this is making the assumption that while some people spell it with hyphen, you spell it on the site without):
 
 
 
if you want to replicate someone else's usage with hyphen:
 
 
 
Anheuser-Busch
 
 
 
but you have on the site called it:
 
 
 
Anheuser Busch
 
 
 
there is a way of honoring other people's spelling while keeping yours the way you want it.
 
 
 
What you type:
 
 
 
<nowiki>[[Anheuser Busch|Anheuser-Busch]]</nowiki>
 
 
 
What you get:
 
 
 
[[Anheuser Busch|Anheuser-Busch]]
 
 
 
Likewise, say for example you wanted to quote a quote about Bill Clinton (e.g. Monica Lewinsky said, "Bill ignored me after that.")
 
 
 
but you know that his entry in spin is under William Jefferson Clinton (not true but this is just an example). so you can code it like this if you want a hotlink to Clinton's page:
 
 
 
what you type:
 
 
 
<nowiki>Monica Lewinsky said, "[[William Jefferson Clinton|Bill]] ignored me after that."</nowiki>
 
 
 
what you get:
 
 
 
Monica Lewinsky said, "[[William Jefferson Clinton|Bill]] ignored me after that."
 
 
 
Only the "Bill" will show up in blue, not red, if there is actually a page called William Jefferson Clinton.
 
 
 
BUT having said all this I just did a search for Anheuser Busch on the web and wiki hyphenates it, Anheuser-Busch. cd u do a search and see what is the correct version? If no hyphen is incorrect after all, we will need to 'move' the page to one called Anheuser-Busch, with hyphen. this will preserve all the links even to the unhyphenated form. Not sure if you can move pages or whether this is sysop privilege, but if you have that tab at the top of your Edit page, you can.
 
 
 
let me know how you get on.
 
 
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 07:25, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== Robertson Trust q ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
just a q on Robertson Trust. This sentence:
 
 
 
In 1995 the editor of the journal Alcohol and Alcoholism, whose parent body the UK Medical Council on Alcoholism is subsidized by the Robertson Trust.
 
 
 
seems to be incomplete, lacks a main verb?
 
 
 
thanks
 
 
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 08:06, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
don't mean to pepper you with messages but you are writing lots at the moment (great) so...
 
 
 
In
 
 
 
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/Matthew_Gloag
 
 
 
we have the history section going straight into a quote. I am trying to encourage all our writers to set quotes in context with a lead-in sentence to guide the reader. see
 
 
 
http://www.spinprofiles.org/index.php/SpinProfiles:How_to_Structure_an_Article#Put_quotes_in_context
 
 
 
also in that passage there is a rogue character -- which I suspect crept in during the changeover of the site to make it public. I am not sure what should be there -- ellipse? dash? so could you fix?
 
 
 
thank you! I will leave you in peace now.
 
 
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 10:03, 2 June 2009 (UTC)
 
 
 
== BRi page ==
 
 
 
HI Claire
 
 
 
re
 
 
 
BRi
 
 
 
I have amended the refs for that Caroline Walker beer doc "Bliss up" to point direct to the pdf rather than just the website. always best if we can to make the weblink go to the actual doc.
 
 
 
many thanks
 
--[[User:Claire Robinson|Claire Robinson]] 10:21, 6 June 2009 (UTC)
 

Latest revision as of 11:40, 29 October 2013

Organic Industry Structure

[1]

National Organisation for Foetal Alcohol Syndrome UK

Booze in News Past Stories

Former Booze in the News Stories

Alcohol Price and Consumption

Mephedrone

[2]

  1. Howard, Philip H. 2009. Organic Industry Structure. Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus, 5(3).-online.png|Howard, Philip H. 2009. Organic Industry Structure. Media-N Journal of the New Media Caucus, 5(3)-online|Acquisitions by the Top 30 Food Processors in North America. (click to resize)
  2. Fantasia Mephedrone accessed 13th June 2012

European Travel Retail Confederation

Penn Schoen and Berland

EPC Alcohol

In 2001 the European Commission had begun the process of developing an alcohol strategy for Europe, which initially involved gathering information on the extent of alcohol related harm and possible policy solutions. By 2006 the initial European Alcohol Strategy were being slowly introduced. The alcohol industry were against a Europe wide strategy, but were keen for any action to be based on self regulation of the industry.

In 2005 and 2006, just before the introduction of the strategy, DG Sanco asked the European Policy Centre (EPC) to host four meetings between the alcohol industry and health NGOs. These Round Table on “Alcohol related harm: ways forward” aimed to reach consensus on policy interventions and to ‘identify areas of agreement between the stakeholders as to actions that can contribute effectively to the reduction of alcohol-related harm and indicate where and why there is disagreement, and in so doing help create confidence between stakeholders’.[1] According to the Institute of Alcohol Studies these meetings were "At the behest of the [alcohol] Industry, DG SANCO officials organised roundtable discussion through the aegis of the European Policy Centre, between representatives of the Commission, Member States, Industry and NGOs to discuss the draft proposals for a European Alcohol Policy Strategy". [2]

The meetings involved working through 78 issues or policy proposals related to alcohol harm reduction that were presented by the European Commission in an informal draft of their communication on Alcohol. Participants graded each item using a traffic lights system, green issues were broadly agreeable to all present, amber a possibility and red a clear no. 68 of the measures were marked green, Seven were amber, indicating no overall agreement but that some compromises might be reached. Three were categorised as red issues where the industry simply refused to negotiate. [3]

Dr Peter Anderson, author of the Alcohol In Europe report (2006) commented “The European Policy Centre (EPC) describes itself as ‘an independent, not-for-profit think tank, committed to making European integration work’. Its independence is, of course, ensured by the fact that its prime corporate members and sponsors include InBev, the world’s largest brewer and Philip Morris International”. [4] The final outcome of this process, and other consultations resulted in the launch of the European Alcohol and Health Forum.

In 1998 Diageo and The Weinberg Group helped set up a European Policy Centre Forum. Correspondence shows a representative of Diageo trying to organise a discount for a booking made by Weinberg Group for a forum run by the EPC. [5]. Weinberg Group are well known for their work assisting tobacco, alcohol and chemical industries.

  1. Corporate Europe Observatory, Part One: The European Policy Centre European Think Tank Series, Issue 2, October 1998,
  2. Rutherford, D. (2006) AIS Editorial The Globe Issue accessed 28th October 2013
  3. Anderson & Baumberg, Alcohol Policy: Who should sit at the table? Addiction Volume 102, No. 2 pp 335-336 (online subscription required)
  4. Anderson & Baumberg, Alcohol Policy: Who should sit at the table? Addiction Volume 102, No. 2 pp 335-336 (online subscription required)
  5. Legacy Library, Fax to Sarah Bennett BLRA from Andrea Livett of Diageo 10th March 1998, accessed 7th November 2011