The Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) welcomed the opportunity to make a supplementary submission to the NT Alcohol Policies and Legislation Review The Tobacco effect: The alcohol industry casting doubt.
Recognising how powerful vested interests have conspired to undermine science by merchandising doubt, and have run deliberate yet effective campaigns that have distorted public debate and mislead the public, this submission sought to expose the industry tactics and set the record straight.
The alcohol industry’s submissions to the NT Alcohol Policies and Legislation Review are replete with examples of this merchandising of doubt: there is not enough proof to justify regulation, and insufficient evidence to act; insisting the science is uncertain; emphasising true but irrelevant facts; cherry-picking facts out of context; and claiming the science is being manipulated to fulfil a political agenda. After all, these tactics used by the alcohol industry to resist government regulation and undermine good public policy are straight out of the tobacco industry’s playbook.
FARE’s submission also identifies industry attempts to cast doubt on the quality of independent scientific peer reviewed research, and reveals how the alcohol industry is desperate to resist government regulation, and will undermine the science and the scientists to do so.
