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Be aware of D rinkaware
Author(s) -
McCambridge Jim,
Kypri Kypros,
Miller Peter,
Hawkins Ben,
Hastings Gerard
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
addiction
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.424
H-Index - 193
eISSN - 1360-0443
pISSN - 0965-2140
DOI - 10.1111/add.12356
Subject(s) - government (linguistics) , memorandum , political science , public health , general partnership , addiction , public policy , public relations , memorandum of understanding , public administration , business , medicine , law , psychiatry , nursing , philosophy , linguistics
In 2006, D rinkaware was established as a charity in the United Kingdom following a memorandum of understanding between the P ortman G roup and various UK government agencies. This debate piece briefly reviews the international literature on industry social aspects organizations, examines the nature of D rinkaware's activities and considers how the public health community should respond. Although the B ritish addiction field and the wider public health community have distanced themselves from the P ortman G roup, they have not done so from D rinkaware, even though D rinkaware was devised by the P ortman G roup to serve industry interests. Both long‐standing and more recent developments indicate very high levels of industry influence on B ritish alcohol policy, and D rinkaware provides one mechanism of influence. We suggest that working with, and for, industry bodies such as D rinkaware helps disguise fundamental conflicts of interest and serves only to legitimize corporate efforts to promote partnership as a means of averting evidence‐based alcohol policies. We invite vigorous debate on these internationally significant issues and propose that similar industry bodies should be carefully studied in other countries.