Ep 3: The Commercial Determinants of Health With Christopher Snowdown

Why are there so many anti-alcohol stories appearing in the media? One of the harshest critics of the anti-alcohol movement is Christopher Snowdon, Head of Lifestyle Economics at the free market think tank Institute of Economic Affairs in the UK. In this wide-ranging discussion, we delve into the anti-alcohol movement, exploring its implications on personal freedoms and public health.

Topics covered include:

1. The history of the modern anti-alcohol movement and how it rose from the ashes of Prohibition;
2. The system of grants that sustains it;
3. The Total Consumption Model of alcohol, which suggests that the only way to help heavy drinkers is to get everybody to stop drinking;
4. The “commercial determinants of health” and why governments like the idea; and
5. Why alcohol policies often fail. 

Relevant documents:

• The World Health Organization and their Commercial Determinants of Health document.
• The work of Professor Tim Stockwell, whose meta-analyses that dispute the existence of the J-curve have received huge media attention. You’ll find Chris Snowdon’s criticisms here.
• The doomed MACH (Moderate Alcohol and Cardiovascular Health) trial.