The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) is a nonprofit education and advocacy organization that focuses on improving the safety and nutritional quality of our food supply and on reducing the carnage caused by alcoholic beverages. CSPI seeks to promote health through educating the public about nutrition and alcohol; it represents citizens' interests before legislative, regulatory, and judicial bodies; and it works to ensure that advances in science are used for the public's good.
Address: http://www.cspinet.org/about/index.html

Taxes
Alcohol Policies Project : advocacy for the prevention of alcohol problems, Center for Science in the Public Interest Tax Index. This is a listing of the states who have recently increased alcohol taxes in their states. Address: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/taxguide/TaxFacts.htm

On BeerServesAmerica.com, the beer industry crows about contributions to society by supplying jobs, economic development, and charitable donations, and the most important part, beer, "America's beverage. That must be the beer talking [See the CSPI/MADD flyers: 1 2 3]. There's more to the story. This site seeks to complete the picture and balance the beer industry's self-serving claims. For more information on pro-health alcohol policies and actions you can take to help reduce alcohol problems, visit the Alcohol Policies Project and the Campaign for Alcohol-Free Sports TV. Address: http://www.beersoaksamerica.org/

Advertising
"Alcohol advertising and young people", CSIPNet.
--Young people view approximately 20,000 commercials each year, of which nearly 2,000 are for beer and wine. For every "just say no" or "know when to say when" public service announcement, teens will view 25 to 50 beer and wine commercials.
--In 2000, brewers spent more than $770 million on television ads and $15 million more on radio.
--Since dropping its own TV ad ban in 1996, liquor-industry expenditures on broadcast commercials (primarily on cable TV) have skyrocketed from $3.6 million to more than $25 million in 2000.
--Diageo, maker of Smirnoff Vodka, Captain Morgan's Rum, and Cuervo Tequila, has announced plans to spend as much as $1 billion on television liquor ads over the next five years.
Address: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/iss_ads.htm

"Young people and alcohol", Alcohol Policies Project, Center for Science int he Public Interest.
--Approximately 9.7 million current drinkers in the United States are between the ages of 12-20. Of these young drinkers, 18.7% engage in binge drinking and 6% are heavy drinkers.
--On average young people begin drinking at 13.1 years of age.
--By the time they are high school seniors, 80% have used alcohol and 62% have been drunk.
--Girls are beginning to drink at younger ages. In the 1960s, 7% of 10-to 14-year-old females used alcohol, by the early 1980s, that figure had risen to 31%.
--Due to heavy drinking, nearly one out of every five teenagers (16%) has experiences "black outs", after which they could not remember what happened the previous evening.
--Young people have easy access to alcohol. In alcohol purchase attempts made by researchers across the U. S., buyers who appeared to be underage were able to purchases alcohol with no questions asked at least 50% of the time.
--Alcohol is a factor in the four leading causes of death among person ages 10 to 24; motor vehicle crashes, unintentional injuries, homicide, and suicide. Address: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/iss_youth.htm

Changes in label warnings and point-of-sale health warnings, Underage Drinking, Binge Drinking, Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, Women and Alcohol, and more. Address: http://www.cspinet.org/booze/fctindex.htm

updated 07/28/10