“There are still 40,000 deaths a year. It is the city of Tarbes that is wiped off the map every year”, indignant Bernard Basset, doctor specializing in public health and president of the association Addictions France.
Bernard Basset, doctor specializing in public health and president of the association Addictions France, denounced Monday September 11 on franceinfo “the alcohol lobby” Who “has infiltrated the entire state apparatus” while the investigation cell of Radio France revealed on Monday that the cabinet of François Braun, Minister of Health, canceled in the spring two prevention campaigns on the risks associated with alcohol consumption. One of them should have been broadcast during the Rugby World Cup.
>> INVESTIGATION. When the Ministry of Health rejects two prevention campaigns on alcohol
According to the doctor, this lobby has infiltrated the state “from the presidency, to the Ministry of Health via the Prime Minister”, he said. To replace these campaigns, Public Health proposed to rebroadcast an old campaign from 2019, “two glasses a day and not every day”. It was the current Minister of Health, Aurélien Rousseau, who opposed it, reveals the Radio France investigation unit. The main Wine and Society lobby had sent an inflammatory letter to Emmanuel Macron last January to complain about the prevention campaign broadcast during the holidays. This campaign pointed out the paradox of toasting someone’s health when alcohol is not recommended for your health.
franceinfo: Are you surprised by these revelations?
Bernard Basset: That doesn’t surprise me at all. The alcohol lobby has infiltrated the entire state apparatus from the presidency to the Ministry of Health via the Prime Minister. He influences decisions and in fact grants himself a veto over campaigns. We cannot carry out a free information campaign on alcohol in France. What Public Health France pays for is the quality of its campaigns. His campaigns were excellent. The campaign that took place in January was very impactful. She asked a question: can we associate health with alcohol? No, obviously. This is very disturbing for the alcohol lobby.
Was the Rugby World Cup the right time to launch a prevention campaign?
We know that beer consumption, particularly during rugby, increases fourfold. There is still an interest in running a campaign. It makes an additional victim, it is Aurélien Rousseau, Minister of Health because you revealed that he canceled a campaign. Aurélien Rousseau presents himself as the minister of prevention. And now, what will happen? Every time he talks about prevention, we will tell him: “and alcohol” ? He’s going to drag this out for weeks and months. He has already discredited his speech on prevention.
Have you expressed your anger to the ministry?
We do it systematically. In fact, we knock on the door of the Ministry of Health and also on the door of the Interministerial Mission for the Fight against Drugs and Addictive Behaviours. It also has a key role in regulating these campaigns. What is shocking is that there is a sort of political endorsement of prevention campaigns. The mission of Public Health France is to carry out prevention, it is not to carry out government communication. It’s not about relaying Emmanuel Macron’s words, it’s about defending health. That’s not what’s happening. A powerful lobby can cancel campaigns, can influence campaigns. There are still 40,000 deaths per year. It is the town of Tarbes that is wiped off the map every year.
When Emmanuel Macron drinks a cold beer in a locker room at the rugby club, Stade Toulouse, is he in his role?
This image is shocking on two counts. It trivializes alcohol, but above all, it was an image that we describe as binge drinking (significant occasional alcohol consumption). We swallow bottoms up. The President has a duty to set an example. He cannot give this image where we drink without control on television, associating sport with alcohol consumption. He has a responsibility, even if he obviously does it for communication. But he has a duty to set an example.