The new U.N. political declaration on noncommunicable diseases (NCDs) could have been a turning point for global health. Instead, the final text arriving at the General Assembly is riddled with weak, optional wording on alcohol – the direct result of lobbying by the alcohol industry and its most powerful front group, the International Alliance for Responsible Drinking (IARD), as detailed in a new Reuters investigation.
In May, the draft included WHO-backed measures such as raising alcohol taxes, limiting availability, and protecting people and communities from alcohol advertising. By September, those commitments had been seriously diluted. Taxes and availability measures were downgraded to suggestions countries should merely “consider” in line with “national circumstances.” Other evidence-based alcohol policy measures were deleted from the text altogether.
Coordinated Pressure
The watering down coincided with a lobbying campaign by national trade associations and multinational giants. Mexico’s National Chamber of the Tequila Industry (CNIT) urged its government to push for deletion of tax and availability measures. Heineken pressed negotiators to replace advertising bans with narrow limits only on marketing to minors. Belgian Brewers wrote to government offices in Brussels demanding softer language and warning against “radical positions.”
Reuters recently exposed this network of interference. The alcohol industry front group IARD worked as one of the orchestrator behind the scenes, boosting its funding to “take back control of the alcohol debate” and openly claiming credit for the softened outcome. Its CEO Julian Braithwaite framed the diluted text as recognition that governments want to distinguish between “moderate” and “harmful” use – precisely the narrative that protects alcohol profits while denying scientific consensus that no level of alcohol use is risk-free.
IARD’s Real Mission: Protecting Profits, Not Health
IARD’s role is not limited to interfering in UN processes. Built on the foundation of ICAP, it was created to coordinate Big Alcohol’s global lobbying and messaging. Its governance rests with AB InBev, Diageo, Heineken, Pernod Ricard and other multinationals, making it an industry mouthpiece disguised as a “responsible drinking” NGO.
As researchers have documented, IARD specializes in shifting responsibility from corporate practices to individual behavior, demanding a seat at health policy tables, and promoting selective science that questions or downplays alcohol’s proven risks. These tactics mirror those of tobacco front groups, aimed at delaying or derailing effective public health measures.
A Declaration Shaped by Industry, Not Evidence
The impact of the lobbying is clear. According to analysis done by Movendi International, the final U.N. political declaration fails to deliver on alcohol policy and represents a missed opportunity to protect health.
Instead of adopting the proven, cost-effective solutions identified by WHO – increased alcohol taxes, limits on availability, and bans on alcohol marketing – the final text weakens the language to vague, optional suggestions or removes proven measures entirely. Taxation and availability are reduced to language urging governments to merely “consider” such steps, while marketing restrictions have been erased altogether.
This outcome ignores decades of evidence and lets Big Alcohol off the hook, leaving governments with a hollow declaration that accommodates corporate interests instead of delivering on urgent health needs. The declaration undermines global efforts to reduce NCDs by sidestepping the single most effective measures against alcohol harm.
This case is a textbook example of the alcohol industry’s Dubious Five playbook: denial of scientific evidence, distortion of risk, distraction through “responsible drinking” rhetoric, diversion by claiming partnership, and manipulation of political processes. The conflict of interest could not be clearer: corporations that rely on heavy alcohol use for profits were allowed to reshape U.N. commitments meant to save lives.