Alcohol Health Alliance; August 2025
Introduction
Businesses are vital to the economy and can make an important contribution to health improvement. However, unhealthy product industries cause ill health and impede economic growth. This report draws on evidence to highlight some of the common strategies and tactics used by the tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink industries to delay and disrupt policies that improve health and outlines what needs to change. Whilst the examples below are focussed on the industries linked to the three biggest killers in the UK (tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink), they present a common playbook used by other health-harming industries such as gambling and fossil fuels.
Action on Smoking and Health, Obesity Health Alliance and Alcohol Health Alliance are calling for public health policymaking to be protected from the vested interests of the tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink industries. We are calling on UK members of parliament to:
1. Avoid conflicts of interests and reject corporate hospitality (such as tickets to sporting or cultural events) from unhealthy product industries
2. Stand up for your constituents’ health and call on the government to adopt transparent principles for engagement and interaction with unhealthy product industries
3. Equip yourself to challenge common industry arguments that undermine public health
How serious are the health harms caused by these industries?
Industries will often claim that action only needs to be taken to address the harms from those who ‘over consume’ their products but the impact of harms from tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink are far-reaching across society. The harms from these products extend beyond the person consuming the products and affect loved ones, families and whole communities.
• The poor health caused and exacerbated by consumption of tobacco, alcohol and unhealthy food and drink is responsible for the majority of premature death in the United Kingdom. [1]
• They contribute to a wide range of chronic diseases, including cancers, type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, and dementia, as well as having significant mental health impacts. [1]
• Socially disadvantaged groups and people who have pre-existing health conditions suffer more harms. For example: Tobacco is responsible for up to half the difference in life expectancy between the highest and lowest socioeconomic groups. [2] Deaths caused by alcohol are more than twice as high in the most disadvantaged areas of England than in the least disadvantaged areas. [3] 46% of year six children in England who live in the most disadvantaged areas are currently living with overweight or obesity, compared to 26% in the least disadvantaged areas. [4] •
The risk of poor health increases when people use more than one product, such as combining tobacco and/or alcohol and unhealthy food and drink. [1]
The public want health policies protected from health-harming industries
Outside of tobacco, there are few rules which guide how governments engage with industries that harm in relation to health policy. The role of the tobacco industry is restricted through the UK’s commitments 2as a party to the World Health Organisation treaty on tobacco, The Framework Convention on Tobacco Control. [5] Public Health England had rules for engaging with industry [6] that went beyond tobacco but when the agency was closed this guidance was not adopted by Office for Health Improvement and Disparities (OHID).
The lack of guidelines other than for tobacco is out of step with public opinion. In a recent poll [7], most people supported the protection of government health policies from the tobacco industry (78%), the alcohol industry (71%) and the manufacturers of unhealthy food and drinks (71%). The public support similar protections for health policy from the gambling industry too (78%).
See graphic in original article: link
Tactics used by unhealthy industries: see also original article: link