The WHO versus personal responsibility

The Daily Mail has picked up on the WHO's dishonest guide to journalists that I wrote about last month. It probably isn't the kind of coverage they were after.

Now you can't even say 'responsible drinking'! Fury as woke WHO advisers claim phrase unfairly 'shames' drunken thugs 

The World Health Organization has come under fire for claiming the phrase 'responsible drinking' stigmatises drunks.

... The document says the 'risk to health starts from the first drop of any alcoholic beverage' and it is therefore 'not possible to consume safely – no matter how responsibly the drinker behaves'.

However, some studies have found potential links between moderate consumption and health benefits - a point recognised by the UK's own alcohol guidelines.

The controversial WHO guide says: 'Across the population, any level of alcohol consumption, regardless of the amount, is associated with a greater risk of loss of healthy life.

'The vague notion of "responsible drinking" that is actively promoted by alcohol producers and marketers, does not define when to stop drinking or suggest the option of not drinking.

'It does, however, create a mistaken impression that the alcohol industry is part of the solution to harms from drinking rather than a driver of the problem.'

 

The article includes a quote from yours truly...

 

Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, said: There is a growing tendency among nanny state activists to erase the concept of free will and personal responsibility.

'We see this not only with regards to alcohol, but with food and gambling.

'Their aim is to pin all the blame on the people who sell products rather than on the people who misuse products.

'This gives them the excuse for endless restrictions on individual liberty masquerading as controls on industry.'

He added: 'It beggars belief that the WHO is commissioning temperance activists to write reports about alcohol.

'This report is strewn with factual errors and scaremongering, which its authors presumably hope journalists will repeat.

'It explicitly recommends total abstinence from alcohol and pushes draconian nanny state policies.

'Member states need to tell the WHO to stay in its lane, distance itself from fanatical pressure groups and focus on its day job.'