In its annual report published on Tuesday, the association attacks in particular the head of state, whom it accuses of supporting the wine sector, to the detriment of public health issues.
The image made people react, sometimes smile. But above all, it boosted the association Addictions France. At the end of the Top 14 final, Saturday June 17, Emmanuel Macron was filmed in front of the camera drinking a bottomless beer. This sequence “illustrates how alcohol lobbies, through political support, undermine the work of health organizations”denounces the association on its website, Tuesday, June 20.
The beer swallowed up in one go by the president is not the only example of his proximity to the alcohol sector, regrets Addictions France. In its annual report on the practices of alcohol lobbies, published the same day, the association attacks Emmanuel Macron more broadly, whom it describes in “chairman of wine”.
Addictions France recalls in particular que on January 7, 2022, a few months before his re-election, Emmanuel Macron had been named “personality of the year” by The French Wine Review. “You defend wine systematically and very often associate it with the very idea you have of France, when your predecessors seemed to have abandoned this jewel of our country”had congratulated the editorial director of the magazine, Denis Saverot, during the award ceremony.
On this occasion, Denis Saverot also thanked Emmanuel Macron for having declared, a few years earlier, that he drank wine “every day, noon and evening”. “For us, it’s the best slogan”, he had welcomed, while this habit exceeds the recommendations of the health authorities, which set the threshold for alcohol consumption at “two glasses a day maximum and not every day”.
A partnership between the alcohol lobby and food banks
Every year, recalls Public Health France, 41,000 deaths are attributable to alcohol, its consumption, “even at low doses”, multiplying “the risks of cancer, hemorrhagic cerebrovascular accidents (CVA) and heart rhythm disorders”.
Addictions France also highlights a partnership signed in September 2021 between the Prévention et moderation association and the French federation of food banks, to “promote responsible consumption among food aid recipients through the training of volunteers”. This association brings together manufacturers of beer, spirits and aperitif wines. In other words, “an alcoholic lobby, unrelated to professionals and health associations”deplores Addictions France.
This “immersion of alcoholics in the field of prevention” is seen as a “valorization of a sector whose products harm the health of populations”according to Addictions France, which denounces healthwashinga practice of “promote arguments or actions related to health to make people forget the impact of their activity on the health of populations”. The association says it fears the consequences of the “transmission of biased information on the harm of alcohol to precarious audiences”, who are most at risk of drinking alcohol.
A lack of transparency on the labels
In its annual report, Addictions France also tackles the lack of transparency in the labeling of alcohol. The association regrets that it is not possible to choose a bottle taking into account its composition and calorie content at a glance, as with any soft drink. “This delay is indicative of the influence of industrialists on the public decision-making process: for more than five years that the subject has been on the agenda, the alcohol lobbies have used all the tricks and the complexity of the procedure European legislation to avoid the introduction of legitimate, and expected, consumer information”denounces Addictions France.
According to the association, alcohol lobbies are particularly active in Brussels, while 77% of Europeans said, during a public consultation on the subject, “in favor of full labeling of ingredients and nutritional information directly on the containers, for all types of alcohol”.