The room was bleak, the meetings went on forever, and the speeches were excruciatingly dull.
Yes, it was the United Nations’ fourth High-Level Meeting (HLM) on Noncommunicable Diseases and Mental Health, and the outcome was a new Political Declaration that will guide global health policy to 2030.
Crucially, it stopped short of treating alcohol like tobacco.
The HLM followed weeks of heavy politicking. Public health campaigners pushed to scrub the term “harmful use” of alcohol and replace it with language implying all drinking is inherently dangerous. They also wanted binding commitments to raise taxes, restrict availability, and mandate cancer warning labels.
None of these demands made it into the final text.
Italy defends wine
A series of meetings was held in an anonymous room at the UN, with world leaders given just a few moments each to propose solutions to chronic diseases. And it was broadcast live.
The best thing was that the organisers would cut people’s microphones if they went a second over their allotted time, regardless of how important the speaker. (I wish wine conferences would do this.)
The worst part was that most of the day was spent with droning politicians delivering boilerplate talking points. The civil society groups were much more forceful when they spoke, and I wonder if they get things done simply because they’re sparkier.
But Maurizio Massari, Permanent Representative of Italy to the UN, was worth hearing. He criticised the earlier drafts of the Political Declaration because they put the blame for health problems on specific ingredients.
“Calorie-rich foods or wines may be consumed in moderation, as per the Mediterranean diet,” he said. “Instead of restrictive approaches, we need a pact between all actors involved.” He called for giving people objective information, but leaving them with “freedom of choice”.
He repeated these talking points on two separate occasions. To me, his testimony calls into question the media narrative that earlier drafts of the Political Declaration were watered down after pressure from industry. Given how passionately the Italians (and the Spanish) feel about their food and wine culture and the Mediterranean diet, I bet they fought back hard against some of the initial proposals to tax everything that moves, along with the declaration that any use of alcohol is harmful.
They’re also generally not on board with the demonisation of high calorie foods, because they don’t want olive oil swept up in draconian legislation. (This same sticking point has come up in discussions in the European Parliament).
What this means for the alcohol sector
Governments reaffirmed the WHO’s 2010 Global Strategy and the 2022 Alcohol Action Plan, which focus specifically on harmful consumption and emphasise a “whole-of-society” approach involving government, civil society, and the private sector.
This means IARD will retain its official NGO status at the UN, ensuring the industry continues to have a recognised role in commenting on global policy.
Governments now have less cover to impose sweeping restrictions. Instead, they must justify policies within a framework that recognises moderate drinking and values partnership with industry.
Aside from the alcohol question, the Political Declaration is good news for society generally, because a majority of governments have agreed on targets to tackle chronic diseases, which represent a growing burden on healthcare systems, particularly in low income countries. There was also a lot of agreement about the need to broaden access to affordable medicines and technologies, which can only be a good thing.
The Declaration has now been referred to the UN General Assembly, which means it’s now going through a formal process and will likely be adopted as a resolution in the near future.
Two New Podcasts!
I’ve been quiet about all the podcasts I’m doing — I’m just terrible on social media. But these latest two are (IMHO) really good, so I present them for your consideration.
Why Does Natural Wine Make Some People So Angry?
Once again, Lulie and I tackle the big questions on A Question of Drinks. We cover the rise of natural wine, the angry response to it, and some of the unfortunate spinoffs that piggybacked off it. I think it’s one of our best episodes yet.
How Bonterra Built a New 50,000 Case Brand by Thinking Like CPG
For my latest episode of Drinks Insider, I spoke to Kate Herbert, the Senior Marketing Director of Bonterra, about how they developed and launched their new Ranch Wine. Also, Kate used to work in pet food! So of course I had to get some consumer insights out of her about that.
You know the drill! Both A Question of Drinks and Drinks Insider are on Spotify, Amazon and Apple — and please leave a comment or rating!