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 Alcohol companies should be banned from sponsoring sporting events, says Dr Howard Stoate MP in the Fabian Review.
Stoate says that with young people drinking more than ever, a ban on alcohol advertising is needed to curb alcohol misuse and reduce its negative health impacts.
Stoate, a practising GP, says that a "radical measure" is necessary to prevent alcohol companies from associating themselves with the glamour of professional sport, and that a "complete ban on alcohol advertising or sponsorship within sport" is the best way of achieving this.
Alcohol sponsorship is common in sport, with Carling sponsoring the Carling Cup and Glasgow Rangers, and Everton and Liverpool both being sponsered by beer companies. The London Wasps rugby team is sponsored by Magner's (cider), and tennis has the Stella Artois championship.
Carling has already phased out alcohol sponsorship on its children's replica Celtic and Rangers football strips, but this gesture falls far short of the blanket ban called for by Stoate, or the "Loi Evin" law in France, which bans alcohol companies from sponsoring any sport or cultural event.
Stoate, a member of the health select committee, argues that the sport-alcohol link is important because more teenagers are drinking than ever before. "Since 1990 the alcohol consumption of 11 to 15 year olds in England has doubled. Alcohol misuse is having a growing impact on young people’s health", he says.
In a YouGov poll conducted for the Fabian Society, 42 per cent of respondents said that drinking by teenagers worried them - more than any other group. Younger people were less worried than older people, with 28 per cent of 18-35 year olds concerned about teenage drinking, compared with 55 per cent of over 55s.
Stoates' recommendations come in the health-themed spring issue of the Fabian Review, which commemorates the 60th anniverssary of the founding of the NHS.
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