Early March, 9 health professionals (pulmonologists, addictologists, nutritionists) had challenged Emmanuel Macron on the dangers of alcohol. The latter had entrusted to drink “wine at noon and in the evening” and had assured that the law would not be toughened under his mandate. Today, they are back with an open letter presenting 10 measures to fight against alcoholism.
Discourage and raise awareness
The first, and most important, measure they propose is the establishment of a floor price per unit of alcohol, regardless of the drink. They would also like the tax to be proportional to the content in grams of alcohol. This would be to discourage consumption. “We testify to the risks of alcohol, responsible annually in France for 49,000 deaths, including 15,000 cancers“, they write.
The other proposals aim to make the public aware of the dangers of alcohol, such as the indication on the containers of the quantity in grams of alcohol and sugar and the number of calories. But also in “ban[sant] on any medium, all additional non-legal notices such as ‘consume with moderation'” and “register[vant] on the containers and on any advertisement for an alcoholic beverage the words ‘alcohol is dangerous to health’ in a clear, legible and contrasting manner”.
Differing opinions
The Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn declared at the end of March that she was against this last measure, because “this sentence can suggest that we are for a prohibition action, that is to say that we do not want to alcohol at all, but that is not the case today”. The doctors denounce, them, “the disinformation carefully organized by the alcohol sector” and “the lobbying power of an industry which infiltrates all levels of society (…) up to the highest level of the State ” .
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