The Pitfalls of Big Alcohol Being at the Policy Table: Dutch Alcohol Industry Derails Efforts to Prevent, Reduce Alcohol Harm

In the Netherlands Big Alcohol has a seat at the alcohol policy roundtable and is part of the government’s Prevention Agreement.
As a consequence of institutionalized conflicts of interest and Big Alcohol interference, the best alcohol policy solutions to tackle the country’s alcohol burden remain absent. It has become almost taboo to bring up alcohol pricing policies at the alcohol policy roundtable. The National Prevention Agreement signed in 2018 does not include a single alcohol policy best buy solutions.
Despite ambitious targets in the Prevention Agreement, the new coalition government is set to increase alcohol availability even more, benefiting Big Alcohol but putting people and communities at even greater risk of alcohol harm.