AERC News and Info

AERC and Drinkaware Call for Proposals - “National Drinking Cultures”

If Drinkaware and others want to change the national drinking culture for the better, it is vital that there is an understanding of the culture (or cultures) that currently exist.

Young people, alcohol and the news: preliminary findings

New AERC Alcohol Insight and Final Report reveals marked patterns in the way alcohol is represented in the news, as well as the degree of scepticism young people have towards news reporting of these issues.

Script representation of alcohol-related aggression in underage drinkers

New AERC Alcohol Insight and Final Report examines the extent to which these alcohol or aggression scripts are known and understood by young people approaching legal drinking age, and how they are related to broader beliefs, attitudes and values concerning alcohol use and aggression.

Alcohol Consumption, Mortality and Morbidity

New AERC funded research - Key findings from Professor Martin Plant, Alcohol Health and Research Unit, Faculty of Health and Sciences, University of the West of England and Alcohol Concern, the national agency on alcohol misuse.

The Orientation and Integration of Local and National Alcohol Policy in England and Wales

New Alcohol Insight and Final Report - An analysis of the raft of powers the current Labour Government has made available to local practitioners to enable greater control and enforcement over the sale and consumption of alcohol and associated problematic behaviours and harms.

Call for Proposals

Identifying Promising Approaches to be included in Community Interventions. There is increasing evidence that multi-component programmes (MCPs) can be an effective way of impacting on local drinking trends and alcohol-related harms. MCPs have consisted of different groups of projects, targeting different outcomes and there is a need to identify which projects might be most suited and most effective within an MCP. The Alcohol Education & Research Council in collaboration with the Joseph Rowntree Foundation wish to fund a study to identify the most promising projects for inclusion in such a programme.

A One-Day Master-class/Seminar:

Psychological Evidence-Based Approaches to Addiction: Provided by Robin Davidson, John B Davies and Richard Velleman. To be held in London (Russell Hotel, Russell Square, WC1B 5BE), on Monday, 23rd November 2009.

Westminster Food and Nutrition Forum Keynote Seminar: Alcohol – The Next Steps for Policy

With the Chief Medical Officer and the Scottish Government laying out plans for a revised approach to alcohol policy, and with the Home Office beginning a consultation on changing the law regarding alcohol sales, this timely seminar will look at the effectiveness of alcohol strategies and media campaigns in England and Wales in combating alcohol misuse, and whether it is time to reconsider minimum pricing and constraints on alcohol availability.

Conference Announcement.

Alcohol and the adolescent: addressing the binge society. We are being bombarded by reports in the media about young people having trouble as a result of binge drinking. We know that there is evidence of a real problem, not just a media campaign. So how should we understand this problem? How should we respond to it? This meeting aims to examine the current evidence regarding alcohol and the adolescent, and to consider our responses to the problem. Organised by the Royal Society of Medicine in association with Sections of General Practice with Primary Health Care, Psychiatry, Paediatrics and Child Health and Emergency Medicine.

Current AERC grant holder lists updated.

Lists detailing all current AERC grant holders have been added to the 'Current Grant Holders' section of the AERC website.

AERC appoints a Chief Executive.

Dave Roberts joins the AERC after ten years as Chief Executive of the Community Foundation for Merseyside, one of the most significant in a UK network of community foundations that is the largest independent funder of the voluntary sector in the UK. In that capacity, he has been responsible for developing partnerships and drawing in funds from a range of public, private and charitable sources and developing award-winning grant making processes.

Scheme to tackle youth alcohol abuse welcomed.

A new project to tackle alcohol misuse among young people has been welcomed by a women's charity. YWCA has called the the Alcohol Arrest Referral programme a step in the right direction. The Home Office scheme will be tested in six local authorities around the country and will target people arrested under the influence of drink or drugs, who will be referred directly to a youth worker.

Wessex Alcohol Research Collaborative (WARC) to appoint a lay panel.

WARC are aiming to appoint five lay expert members and a Chair to constitute the WARC Lay Expert Panel, and contribute to the research process giving advice from the perspective of people who have (personal or professional) experience of alcohol use disorders. Download a PDF detailing WARCs aims and details of the specifications for Members and Chairperson from the AERC site.

We've moved - please update your contacts.

The Alcohol Education and Research Council, Eliot House (EH 1.4), 10 – 12 Allington Street, LONDON SW1E 5EH. Tel: 020 7808 7150 Fax: 020 7808 7151

Overwhelming evidence of the effects of alcohol prices on drinking.

The website findings.org.uk has the following document - effects of beverage alcohol price and tax levels on drinking: a meta-analysis of 1003 estimates from 112 studies.

Brown cool on alcohol price plan.

The BBC website reports that Prime Minister Gordon Brown has given a lukewarm response to proposals for minimum prices for alcohol.

Plans for minimum alcohol price.

The BBC website reports that the government's top medical adviser has drawn up plans for a minimum price for alcohol which would double the cost of some drinks in England.

Scottish minimum price plans "illegal".

The Drinks Business reports - Plans to set minimum price laws for the sale of alcoholic drinks in Scotland have been labelled illegal and ineffective by industry leaders. The Scottish government wants to introduce a minimum price per unit of alcohol in order to combat below-cost selling and alcohol misuse in the country, but key players in the sector have slammed the strategy.

You don’t even wash your face, let alone anything else.

New Alcohol Insight and Final Report entitled “You don’t even wash your face, let alone anything else”. Exploring Understandings of the Relationship between Alcohol Misuse, Sexual Health Risk and General Health Outcomes among Scottish Women Offenders.

Reducing Alcohol Related Harm in the workplace.

New Alcohol Insight and Final reports detailing a feasibility study of screening and brief interventions for hazardous drinkers have been added to the AERC Alcohol Library.

Nightlife and Crime: Social Order and Governance in International Perspective.

Phil Hadfield, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Criminal Justice Studies was funded by the AERC to investigate alcohol policy. His new book Nightlife and Crime: Social Order and Governance in International Perspective is a collection of scholarly reports on crime and disorder in the Night Time Economies of 17 countries. We've also added a link to a PDF which explains how to get a discount when buying the book.

Scotitsh National Statistics on alcohol misuse.

Weve added links to the new Scottish National Statistics Report and the Scottish Government's press release about it's findings.

British Medical Association: Alcohol misuse - tackling the UK epidemic.

The BMA website reports that alcohol consumption represents an integral part of modern culture in the UK and internationally. The production of alcoholic beverages such as beer, wine and spirits occurs on a vast scale as part of a multi-billion pound global industry.

Important new AERC funded publication.

The effect of alcohol advertising, marketing and portrayal on drinking behaviour in young people: systematic review of prospective cohort studies.

What does the AERC do?

A new web page detailing information about how the AERC works, some of its many successful funding projects and ongoing areas of interest.

Health Select Committee enquiry on alcohol.

Organisations and individuals are invited to submit written evidence to the Parliamentary Health Committee into Alcohol.

Submissions invited for Parliamentary tax inquiry.

The Drinks Business website reports that an inquiry has been set up to examine how recent duty hikes have affected the UK wine market. The All Party Parliamentary Group will also consider the potential impact of further alcohol tax increases, which are due to escalate by 2% above inflation for the next four years.

Conference Report: Addiction and the family.

Two hundred people attended a conference on Addiction and the Family in Bristol on November 21st, 2008. This meeting was one of series that Moira Plant and Martin Plant and their colleagues have arranged over the past 30 years. This event, like many of the previous meetings, was supported by the Alcohol Education and Research Council (AERC).

Consultation on Children, Young People and Alcohol.

Over the last few years, the way that young people drink has been changing and we are beginning to learn more about the risks associated with children, young people and alcohol – that it impairs their well-being, puts them at a number of immediate risks, and can impact on their health and future prospects.

New AERC Special Reports Section launched.

A new section of the website has been launched to feature stories about topics of interest to the Council.

Low-alcohol wine manufacturer fights ban.

The Times reports that a UK winemaker has fallen founl of EU rules whilst bringing a low-alcohol wine to market.

Global Impairment of Prospective Memory following Acute Alcohol.

New final report detailing a study about the deleterious effects of alcohol on retrospective remembering – remembering to do something in the future. Forty healthy volunteers were administered 0.6g/kg ethanol or a matched placebo in a double-blind fashion and completed the two versions of Virtual Week along with prose recall (to tap retrospective memory) and an executive function task.

PhD at the University of Sheffield

A PhD studentship will be based within the School of Health and Related Research (ScHARR). Applicants may propose work on any topic relevant to health inequalities.

The Consultation on Children, Young People and Alcohol

A summary and further useful information about this important new consultation document from the Department for Children Schools and Families.

Intoxicants and Intoxication in Historical and Cultural Perspective network

New link added to this organisation who's aim is to gain some perspective on the nature and scope of intoxicants and intoxication as enduring and ubiquitous social and cultural phenomena, by bringing together scholars whose interests and expertise range across disciplines, geographies and time periods.

Sheffield report analyses effects of alcohol pricing and promotion policies.

A University of Sheffield report, commissioned by the Department of Health to help Government Ministers decide future alcohol policy, shows that policies which lead to price increases reduce alcohol consumption and can have significant effects on reducing alcohol-related harm.

New online resource for the prevention and treatment of alcohol problems.

The Alcohol Learning Centre aims to provide online support and resources to commissioners, service managers and practitioners with a responsibility for, or an interest, in the prevention and treatment of alcohol misuse or alcohol-related ill health.

Safe Sensible Social

Read the AERC's response to the Government's consultation.

Supermarket shoppers could be forced through alcohol-only checkout.

The scheme, which would bring alcohol sales into line with those of cigarettes, is part of the Government's campaign to tackle binge-drinking. It would see alcohol-only checkouts added which would be operated by specially-trained staff. It is hoped it would put shoppers off from buying excessive amounts of alcohol under the scrutiny of fellow customers and help catch those buying underage.

Credit crunch puts plans to shelve cheap alcohol on ice

Plans to ban bargain booze have been shelved – because of the credit crunch. Ministers wanted to impose minimum alcohol prices to end below-cost deals on beer, wine and spirits in supermarkets and stores. It was feared the deals were fuelling the binge-drinking culture and the hope was that a price limit – expected to be about 35p per unit of alcohol – would also make it too expensivefor youngsters.

A swift two thirds?

Pubs in Britain could soon offer two-thirds of a pint following proposals put forward by the National Weights and Measures Laboratory. The new system would follow the European system of drink sizes, and is being touted as female-friendly and an addition to consumer choice

Women unaware of wine breast cancer risk

An article in the Daily Telegraph states - "When compared to women who don't drink alcohol, it is estimated that: those who drink three units a day increase their risk by a fifth, two large glasses increases the risk by a third and nine units a day raise the risk by half".

Industry should help pay cost of problem drinking

As part of a wider demand for the reform of medical services provided to people in custody, a report by HM Inspectorate of Constabulary for Scotland says: "We feel there is a strong ethical and practical case for regarding drunk and incapable people as something other than merely a criminal justice problem".

WHO Public hearing on reducing alcohol harm

2 OCTOBER 2008 | GENEVA -- Each year, more than two million people die from alcohol-related causes. WHO was asked by its Member States in May at the World Health Assembly to develop a global strategy to combat the harmful use of alcohol. All parties with an interest in reducing the harmful use of alcohol are now invited to share their views in a public hearing being organized by WHO. The one-month web-based hearing will run between 3 and 31 October.

Guardian alcohol supplement

This recently published supplement covers a wide range of alcohol issues.

French wine industry lobbies for more freedom

The French wine industry has written an open letter to the French Government to demand it do more to protect the industry from moves by the anti-alcohol lobby to tighten legislation.

39 signs of drunkenness

New South Wales Office of Liquor and Gaming has drawn up a list which was then distributed to club and pub managers. Staff are supposed to use them in determining when to refuse alcohol to patrons.

Alcohol processing enzyme could regulate hear attack damage

Stanford University Research: Key enzyme for regulating heart attack damage found in biochemical response to alcohol. The culprit molecules are oxygen byproducts called free radicals. These highly unstable molecules start chain reactions of cellular damage—an escalating storm that ravages healthy tissue.

AERC Insight about digital storytelling

Brief summary of the newly completed Final Report "Researching the effects of Digital Storytelling as a brief alcohol intervention for young people delivered in non-medical settings".

Full AERC Report about digital storytelling

Researching the effects of Digital Storytelling as a brief alcohol intervention for young people delivered in non-medical settings.

Price and Promotion

Amid social unease about Britain's harmful relationship with alcohol, the government is under pressure to adopt price controls and stricter regulation.

Powerpoint resources for US addiction recovery month

U.S. Voices for Recovery: The following PowerPoint presentation can help to promote the National Alcohol and Drug Addiction Recovery Month in your local community

Cheap alcohol linked to early mortality

British Medical Journal: Lowering the price of alcohol is associated with an increase in alcohol related mortality, a study of the effects of substantial price cuts in Finland indicates.

Links between binge drinking and dementia

BBC News reports that a generation of young binge drinkers are increasing their risk of developing dementia in middle age, experts have warned.

Nurses help prevent future hazardous consumption

Nurses help prevent future hazardous consumption while caring for injured drinkers - A PDF Report from Drug and Alcohol Findings

AERC Web news gets own page

Due to the success of the AERC web news section, the archive has now got it's own page.

Finnish study reveals retention enhancing therapists

An exploratory study of problem drinkers in Finland has tested a practical method of identifying in advance those therapists most likely to retain clients. A PDF Report from Drug and Alcohol Findings.

Violent Partners to Face Drinking Ban

MEN accused of assaulting their partners face being banned from drinking alcohol, under a radical plan to tackle the rising tide of domestic abuse. In an attempt to sever the link between drinking and violence in the home, police and prosecutors are set to seek alcohol consumption bail orders, which would mean accused individuals having to turn up at police stations for regular alcohol tests. Reported in The Scotsman.

Public Booze Ban backlash

The Manifesto Club is launching a campaign Against the Booze Bans and the Hyperregulation of Public Space.

Strategies that can promote responsible service already exist

Drug and Alcohol Findings update: We already have strategies that can promote responsible service of alcohol.

Scottish ministers "unfair"

Two-thirds of Scots believe ministers are acting unfairly by pushing up the price of alcohol for everyone.

Latest Annual Report available

The AERC Annual Report for the years 2007/2008 is now available as a PDF.

AERC Studentship grant holders list updated

Latest AERC Studentship grant holders have been added to the site.

Alcohol problems in primary care, no longer on UK agenda

Findings Effectiveness Bank Bulletin: Universal screening for alcohol problems in primary care fails in Denmark and is no longer on UK agenda.

Pubs in trouble

Pubs are in trouble for cheap drinks. But ever more is being sunk at home.

Alcohol trade is failing to safeguard the public say Alcohol Concern

Alcohol Concern has just published a new report into the limitations of the alcohol regulatory regime. In the report Alcohol Concern says that the long standing agreement between the government and the alcohol trade associations is failing to safeguard the public.

Identifying cost-effective interventions to reduce the burden of harm associated with alcohol misuse in Australia

This study is a PDF document which provides a comprehensive analysis of the cost- effectiveness of interventions to reduce the burden of harm associated with alcohol misuse in Australia. The key findings suggest that all the prevention interventions modelled are more cost-effective in reducing alcohol-related harm than those that treat alcohol dependence.

Chronic alcohol consumption discovered in wild mammals: boozing is older than mankind.

A wild mammal closely resembling the earliest primates is drinking palm beer on a daily basis since maybe millions of years. Nevertheless, this Malaysian treeshrew is never drunk. This suggests a beneficial effect, and sheds a whole new light on the evolution of human alcoholism. In the renowned scientific journal PNAS an international team led by German biologists Frank Wiens and Annette Zitzmann from the University of Bayreuth explains the details of the first recorded chronic alcohol intake in the wild.

A licence for disorder and dangerous drinking.

In the 2003 Licensing Act, the Government severed the link between pubs and the criminal justice system by transferring licensing powers from magistrates to councils, and now wonders why public houses do not keep better order.

Pricing and promotion review.

In Safe. Sensible. Social: next steps in the national alcohol strategy, the Department of Health committed to commission an independent review of the relationship between alcohol price, promotion and harm. This Phase 1 report is a comprehensive summary of international evidence.

New alcohol news item - Alcohol returns to Baghdad.

Alcohol is openly for sale once more in Baghdad. All over the Iraqi capital, drink stores, which closed their doors in early 2006 when sectarian strife was raging, have slowly begun to reopen.

New alcohol news item - BMA proposes use of graphic images on labels.

Beer and wine bottles should carry graphic images of diseased livers similar to campaigns featured on cigarette boxes in an effort to curb the country's alcohol abuse, the British Medical Association (BMA) will propose this week.

New alcohol news item - Science Group of the European Alcohol and Health Forum meets.

The first meeting of the Science Group of the European Alcohol and Health Forum was held in Brussels on June 30th.

New alcohol news item - Alcoholics to get one-to-one help.

More than 100 people in the east end of Glasgow are to be given one-to-one help to beat alcohol addiction.

New alcohol news item - Health minister challenges drinks industry.

Health Minister, Michael McGimpsey has challenged the Drinks Industry to work with his Department and other agencies to tackle the growing problem of young people’s drinking.

New alcohol news item - Britons among the worst drink drivers.

Motorists in Britain are among the worst offenders in Europe for drink-driving, a new study suggests.

New alcohol news item added.

Cancer Research UK have created an online Alcohol Tracker widget for iGoogle users.

New alcohol news item added.

The Government’s attempt to reduce alcohol-related disorder by introducing 24-hour drinking has failed dismally, according to a survey.

AERC Alcohol Library launched.

We've integrated five major alcohol article search tools into one.

New AERC web design.

We've had a major site re-design, why not take a look?

New Alcohol Insight.

Not In Front Of The Children – Child Protection And Advertising.

New Alcohol Insight

Awareness of unit content of self poured drinks by UK adults: a useful intervention tool?

New Final Report

Not In Front Of The Children – Child Protection And Advertising. An investigation by Alcohol Concern.

New Final Report

Practical Demonstration of Personal Daily Consumption Limits: A Useful Intervention Tool to Promote Responsible Drinking Among UK Adults?

2008 Funding for Research and Development Projects

This years priorities for applications