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The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK

Background: Charities exist to pursue a public benefit, whereas corporations serve the interests of their shareholders. The alcohol industry uses corporate social responsibility activities to further its interests in influencing alcohol policy. Many charities also seek to influence alcohol and other...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Lyness, Sarah M, McCambridge, Jim
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Oxford University Press 2014
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24913316
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cku076
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author Lyness, Sarah M
McCambridge, Jim
author_facet Lyness, Sarah M
McCambridge, Jim
author_sort Lyness, Sarah M
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description Background: Charities exist to pursue a public benefit, whereas corporations serve the interests of their shareholders. The alcohol industry uses corporate social responsibility activities to further its interests in influencing alcohol policy. Many charities also seek to influence alcohol and other policy. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between the alcohol industry and charities in the UK and whether these relationships may be used as a method of influencing alcohol policy. Methods: The charity regulator websites for England and Wales and for Scotland were the main data sources used to identify charities involved in UK alcohol policy making processes and/or funded by the alcohol industry. Results: Five charities were identified that both receive alcohol industry funding and are active in UK alcohol policy processes: Drinkaware; the Robertson Trust; British Institute of Innkeeping; Mentor UK and Addaction. The latter two are the sole remaining non-industry non-governmental members of the controversial responsibility deal alcohol network, from which all other public health interests have resigned. Conclusion: This study raises questions about the extent to which the alcohol industry is using UK charities as vehicles to further their own interests in UK alcohol policy. Mechanisms of industry influence in alcohol policy making globally is an important target for further investigations designed to assist the implementation of evidenced-based policies.
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spelling pubmed-41109572014-07-25 The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK Lyness, Sarah M McCambridge, Jim Eur J Public Health Alcohol Policy Background: Charities exist to pursue a public benefit, whereas corporations serve the interests of their shareholders. The alcohol industry uses corporate social responsibility activities to further its interests in influencing alcohol policy. Many charities also seek to influence alcohol and other policy. The aim of this study was to explore relationships between the alcohol industry and charities in the UK and whether these relationships may be used as a method of influencing alcohol policy. Methods: The charity regulator websites for England and Wales and for Scotland were the main data sources used to identify charities involved in UK alcohol policy making processes and/or funded by the alcohol industry. Results: Five charities were identified that both receive alcohol industry funding and are active in UK alcohol policy processes: Drinkaware; the Robertson Trust; British Institute of Innkeeping; Mentor UK and Addaction. The latter two are the sole remaining non-industry non-governmental members of the controversial responsibility deal alcohol network, from which all other public health interests have resigned. Conclusion: This study raises questions about the extent to which the alcohol industry is using UK charities as vehicles to further their own interests in UK alcohol policy. Mechanisms of industry influence in alcohol policy making globally is an important target for further investigations designed to assist the implementation of evidenced-based policies. Oxford University Press 2014-08 2014-06-09 /pmc/articles/PMC4110957/ /pubmed/24913316 http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cku076 Text en © The Author 2014. Published by Oxford University Press on behalf of the European Public Health Association. All rights reserved. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/ This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/), which permits unrestricted reuse, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.
spellingShingle Alcohol Policy
Lyness, Sarah M
McCambridge, Jim
The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title_full The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title_fullStr The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title_full_unstemmed The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title_short The alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the UK
title_sort alcohol industry, charities and policy influence in the uk
topic Alcohol Policy
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4110957/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24913316
http://dx.doi.org/10.1093/eurpub/cku076
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