Local view for "http://purl.org/linkedpolitics/eu/plenary/2007-09-04-Speech-2-323"
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"en.20070904.28.2-323"2
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"Mr President, a European alcohol strategy is long overdue, but we would have liked to have seen it brought forward more boldly and courageously. We have heard about the horrendous costs of EUR 125 billion a year, not to mention the great human suffering resulting from accidents or domestic violence, or the 10 million children living in families with alcohol problems. That is why it is important not to bow to the massive pressure being exerted by the alcohol lobby.
I am hugely disappointed by the announcements made by the speakers from the two big Groups, who obviously do not endorse the vote in the Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety, whose key concern is to bring in warning labels together with bans on advertising. Mr Maaten told us about the risks, about the major problem of drinking during pregnancy, about the appalling effects of foetal alcohol syndrome and the irreversible damage done to the development of the child’s brain. We know about the experiences in the USA and today experts have again confirmed that warnings do have the required effect, especially in pointing out to pregnant women that drinking has devastating effects.
Why then are we not courageous enough to say that we are prepared to implement these ideas transparently and to use warning labels as wake-up calls for the women concerned? Why do we bow to the pressure of the lobby industry? I beg you once again from my heart: we would be acting like cowards if we gave way and did not have the courage to introduce those warnings, which have proved effective, and to endorse the vote by the Committee on Public Health. The same applies to advertising bans. We know, and the WHO has said it, that the European Union would save EUR 95 billion a year if we really introduced advertising bans and warning labels. After all, we know that adverts are particularly persuasive in inducing young people to consume. That is why I really can only beg you from my heart to have the courage tomorrow to implement this report. Without legislative measures in the field of warning labels and advertising bans, the alcohol strategy will be a paper tiger."@en1
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