Manufacturer of sachets with alcoholic beverages, the so-called alco-tubes, announced that it was withdrawing the entire batch from the market and immediately stopping their production. This is the result of the intervention of journalists, specialists and politicians in this matter.
photo AdobeStock/malgo_walko
The Zdrowie PAP website dealt with the issue of alcoholic beverages in sachets confusingly similar to the packaging of fruit purees in August, even before “alco-tubes” hit store shelves. (Article entitled “Experts: alcohol in sachets and online is a threat to children”)
– For me it is a scandal, a terrible idea for two reasons: firstly, that a child could reach for such a sachet, and secondly, it is the availability of alcohol. Making alcohol more attractive has one goal: to attract people and interest an increasing number of people, including young people. There are no words to describe it in a censored way – admitted addiction treatment specialist, psychiatrist Dr. Bohdan Woronowicz.
– Any making the form of alcohol offered more attractive, especially in products targeted at younger consumers, is ethically questionable. Building a consumer market from an early age of adulthood is at the expense of Poles’ health, warned Dr. Hab. Andrzej Silczuk, MD, clinician and university lecturer, psychiatrist who has been dealing with addictions for years.
The introduction of the controversial product to the market turned out to be possible due to loopholes in the regulations.
The National Center for Addiction Prevention provided a response to the Zdrowie PAP website, according to which “the sale of alcoholic beverages in pouch packaging does not seem to violate the provisions of the Act of October 26, 1982 on upbringing in sobriety and counteracting alcoholism (…), as it does not result in any restrictions on the form, size or shape of the packaging.
KCPU also admitted that it does not have legal measures that would effectively prevent phenomena appearing in public space, such as innovative solutions introduced by alcoholic beverage producers.
Meanwhile, the “alcohol tubes” scandal led to decisive personnel decisions.
“Today, Minister Izabela Leszczyna accepted the resignation of Piotr Jabłoński – director of the National Center for Addiction Prevention (KCPU) and dismissed him from his position,” the Ministry of Health announced on Wednesday, October 2 on the X platform.
State institutions reacted to the introduction of vodka in sachets.
The Ombudsman for Children asked the Ministry of Health to introduce immediate legal changes prohibiting the sale of alcohol in packaging that resembles children’s products in shape, color or graphics. She appealed to the manufacturer to stop producing and selling alcohol in such tubes and to withdraw from the market existing batches of products that may be misleading and pose a threat to children.
“Alco-tubes are not only misleading, but also deliberately downplay the potential risk of alcohol consumption by children. Children who are not aware of the contents of the packaging can easily reach for such a product, considering it to be a familiar, harmless fruit puree. These products may also mislead adult caregivers, which creates a high risk of accidental consumption by children,” we read on the BRPD website.
The idea of this form of alcohol sales was also criticized by the Speaker of the Sejm, Szymon Hołownia.
“Will an adult buy a ‘monkey’ in a package like a children’s musical? Mercy. The target here is the child. Curious and encouraged by the fact that the poison is packaged like a medicine, they are supposed to cross the symbolic border, buy a “musik” for school (maybe the seller won’t notice it among other similar packages, maybe a friend with ID will buy it) and, completely unsymbolically, start drinking. This is “playing with conventions” and “courage to experiment”. (…) Dear sachet vodka company, what you are doing is pure EVIL,” he wrote on his social media.
The topic of the controversial product was raised on October 1 during the Tuesday meeting of the Council of Ministers. On the order of Prime Minister Donald Tusk, the relevant officials dealt with the matter.
“I have put all officials on alert to find effective methods to counteract this practice,” the head of government said in a recording posted on the X platform.
In another statement, the Prime Minister announced that “the Minister of Health will prepare a law for the future that will systemically eliminate this type of threats.”
The Chief Sanitary Inspector began an inspection of plants producing alcohol sachets and stores selling them.
Barbara Nowacka, the Minister of Education, also reacted.
“I’m a parent too. When I saw it, I was deeply shocked,” she said.
She announced that she would send a letter to the Ministry of Health regarding the packaging in which alcohol is sold.
“Alcohol in tubes is a scandal,” wrote the head of the Ministry of Education on the X platform.
Vodka in sachets disappeared from stores
In response to the scandal, the manufacturer of alcoholic beverage sachets announced that it was withdrawing the entire batch from the market and immediately stopping production.
“We regret that the Voodoo Monkey product, although produced and marked in accordance with applicable regulations, has aroused negative and unintended associations. Therefore, the management board of OLV decided to immediately withdraw the entire batch of products from the market and immediately stop production. We apologize for the situation,” the company wrote in a statement sent to PAP.
Prime Minister Donald Tusk announced that the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development will prepare a regulation as soon as possible that will provide the basis for combating the sale of alcohol in tubes. The government will also develop solutions to prevent similar situations in the future.
The case will also have further consequences.
“There is no room for any negotiations – this type of threat must disappear. And the people who allowed this to happen can certainly expect consequences,” announced the head of government.
The younger a child drinks alcohol, the greater the damage
Experts have long been opting for stricter anti-alcohol regulations. The average age of initiation to alcohol is currently 13 years, and the average age of first intoxication is 14 years. Children attending the 4th and 5th grades of primary schools are already drinking alcohol.
– And although recently it has been said that young people have stopped drinking a bit, as you can see, the alcohol lobby is doing everything to make drinking more attractive and to increase the availability of alcohol, and since it can sneak between regulations, we have such solutions – he concluded. alcohol-tubes” by Dr. Bohdan Woronowicz in a comment for the PAP Health Service.
According to experts, the state should protect especially young people, because the younger the body, the greater the damage caused by alcohol. Alcohol is a toxin and the products of its metabolism, such as acetaldehyde, are many times more toxic than the alcohol itself.
– The difference in drinking alcohol by a child and an adult is like watering a small plant and a large tree with a harmful substance. Moreover, by giving children access to alcohol, they learn that they can regulate their well-being in an unnatural way, that they can become someone else, and this stays with them for life, the psychiatrist emphasized.
Monika Grzegorowska,zdrowie.pap.pl
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