Call to bar alcohol from Thailand-EU FTA
Bangkok Post | 20/07/2012
Call to bar alcohol from Thailand-EU FTA
The National Economical and Social Advisory Council (Nesac) has urged the government to exclude alcoholic beverages from the list of goods to be covered by the proposed Thailand-EU free trade agreement (FTA).
The council said the exclusion of alcoholic beverages is crucial to efforts to curb alcohol abuse in the country.
The scope of what will be covered in the Thailand-EU FTA talks is expected to be submitted for parliamentary endorsement next month.
Jiraporn Limpananont, a Nesac member, said that in future negotiations the Thai team must follow the cabinet’s decision to not include alcoholic beverages.
She was speaking yesterday at a seminar, organised by the Nesac, on preparing for changes that would take place once the FTA becomes a reality.
She also recommended the government accelerate the process of passing a bylaw to ban stores selling alcohol and sales of blended iced alcoholic drinks within a 500 metre radius of any educational institution.
Ms Jiraporn called on the government to consider raising the excise tax of alcohol to its ceiling and to step up crackdowns on illegal sales of alcoholic beverages to people under 20 years of age.
Thaksapol Thamrangsi, director of the Centre for Alcohol Studies, said one-third of all deaths of people aged between 15 and 29 are related to alcohol abuse.
He said each year about 250,000 youngsters become alcohol drinkers.
He said the World Health Organisation (WHO) had found that FTAs did have an impact on the health prevention policies of the nations party to such agreements.
The WHO recommends excluding alcohol and tobacco goods from FTAs as they are unhealthy, he said.
"With some products, the more they become available, the better for society. But alcohol and tobacco are not such products," Dr Thaksapol said.
Saman Futrakul, head of the Public Health Ministry’s office of the alcoholic beverages control committee, said alcohol abuse among the country’s youth should decrease once a bill limiting their access to alcohol is passed into law.
