In an interview with the Journal du Dimanche, Claude Evin, former Minister of Health, believes that the Health Act is a total failure on alcohol.
For Claude Evin, former Minister of Health, the relaxation of the law that bears his name is akin to a health scandal. In fact, the Health Act undermines the fight started 25 years ago against alcohol advertising. “Excessive alcohol consumption kills, breaks families (domestic violence) and lives (car accidents), so we cannot promote it as we would for example with a perfume”, laments the former Director General of the Regional Health Agency (ARS) of Ile-de-France in an interview with the Sunday Newspaper.
During the second reading examination of the Health Bill, the deputies unraveled the Evin law passed in 1991 and authorized by a large majority the distinction between advertising on alcohol and oenological information. A text adopted in December during the solemn vote even though the addictologists and the Minister of Health, Marisol Touraine, had spoken out against this modification. But as Claude Evin emphasizes, the minister “did not benefit from the support of François Hollande” on this issue.
The health of the French sacrificed
“The Health law is a total failure on alcohol: it legitimizes the circumvention of the Évin law”, he continues. “We will see, at a time when young people are watching TV or on Saturday nights at the cinema, terroir-stamped pubs for Polish vodkas or Scotch whiskey. The big winners of this health decline will be the advertisers who are eyeing this gigantic market and the sellers of beers and strong spirits, who will rush into the breach ”, denounces Claude Evin.
With a bitter taste, he deplores that the health of the French has been sacrificed for economic reasons. He also regrets the “taboo” surrounding alcohol in France. A taboo that could be broken if a real public health policy, combining pedagogy and education, was carried out.
@Pourquoidoctor Loi Evin, 25 years old. Alcohol, tobacco, games, the need to regulate! For a coherent approach https://t.co/RkT7TMMwys
– Federation Addiction (@FedeAddiction) January 11, 2016
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