Source: Times of India
NEW DELHI: India has proposed to the World Health Organization (WHO) to set up a framework for control of alcohol consumption on the lines of the WHO Framework Convention on Tobacco Control (WHO FCTC).
FCTC was the first international treaty negotiated under the auspices of WHO that was developed in response to the globalization of the tobacco epidemic.
It was adopted by the World Health Assembly on May 21, 2003, and came into force on February 27, 2005. It has since become one of the most rapidly and widely embraced treaties in the United Nations’ history.
Upset about “alcohol being let off the hook with the WHO deciding against setting reduction targets on its consumption”, India said that it was surprised that countries weren’t pushing for a cut down on alcohol even when its clear that 3.2 lakh young people aged between 15 and 29 years die annually from alcohol-related causes, resulting in 9% of all deaths in that age group.
A senior health ministry official said, “In case of tobacco, there is no doubt over its harmful effects. However, with alcohol it isn’t very clear what the threshold for harmful drinking would be. Some member states have also argued that in many people, slight amount of alcohol can actually prove beneficial.”