This week, the Riigikogu's support group dedicated to reducing the harm caused by tobacco, alcohol and narcotics held a roundtable to discuss how to improve the situation.

A recent study showed that almost 40 percent of new cancer cases are linked to risk factors that could have been prevented.

According to Vahur Valvere, president of the Estonian Cancer Society, there are now over 2,300 new alcohol-related cancer cases in Estonia each year.

Vahur explained that alcohol does not cause cancer in a single way, but through the combined effect of several different processes.

"Alcohol weakens the body's defense systems, suppresses the immune system, and interferes with the normal division and death of cells," said Valvere.

"If cells do not die naturally, uncontrolled cell growth occurs. Alcohol also changes the microbiome of the colon, which in turn promotes the development of colon cancer, for example," he added.

Women drinking more alcohol than before

According to Anneli Sammel, head of the drugs and addictions department at the Estonian National Institute for Health Development, alcohol consumption has become normalized in Estonian society.

The difference between alcohol consumption among women and men has fallen. However, a recent survey shows that the majority of women who consume alcohol do not realize doing so increases the risk of breast cancer. Breast cancer is the most common form of malignant cancer among Estonian women.

"Men have reduced their alcohol consumption, while among women, alcohol consumption has increased slightly since 2014. However, women's awareness of the link between the risk of breast cancer and alcohol is extremely low: 89 percent of women do not associate breast cancer with alcohol consumption," said Sammel.

The participants in the roundtable discussion acknowledged that policies aimed at reducing alcohol consumption are complex and multifaceted. They must, therefore, be well thought out and implemented.

The complexity of the issue was clearly evident during the discussion.

Tanel Kiik (SDE) believes excise duty increases could create a significant price difference between non-alcoholic and alcoholic beverages, which would motivate more people to opt for non-alcoholic beverages.

"I'm afraid that telling people to drink water or juice might not work. I am a big consumer of non-alcoholic beer. My ideal, or dream, is that if, for example, someone says they brought sauna beer from the store for the evening, everyone would assume it is non-alcoholic and that someone bringing alcoholic beer would be the exception. Raising alcohol excise duties is one mechanism that can help achieve this," Kiik said.

Diana Ingerainen (Eesti 200) was less optimistic.

"We still ought to look at the actual impact non-alcoholic beer or gin has. They are a part of alcohol producers' advertising campaigns, and unfortunately, non-alcoholic drinks with labels similar to those of alcoholic drinks actually cause an increase in consumption," said Ingerainen.

If politicians do not want to restrict the availability of alcohol by, for example, imposing sales restrictions or raising excise duties, they could at least make efforts to improve public information about the issue, the participants said.

Lack of information about contents of alcohol products

Lauri Beekmann, a member of the board of the Estonian Tobacco and Alcohol Control Coalition (ETAK), criticized EU legislation that exempts alcohol producers from the obligation to list ingredients of their products on the packaging.

This is all the more important as studies conducted in Estonia and other countries show that people's awareness of the links between alcohol and cancer, and indeed between alcohol and many other health risks, remains low.

In Beekmann's view, it is difficult to find reasonable arguments for giving in to pressure from the alcohol industry and exempting alcohol producers from the obligation to share this information.

"Of course, it is every individual's personal responsibility to make sensible decisions, but if people have misconceptions and insufficient information, can we really expect them to make responsible and sensible choices?" Beekmann asked.

"We have had poor experiences with excessive increases in excise duties, and we should learn from that. However, when we talk about providing information, the consumer's right to know the contents of a product, there is no reason to make exceptions for alcohol," said Beekmann.

---

Follow ERR News on Facebook and Twitter and never miss an update!