Comment to Dr Sally Adams-Merry´s article in The Guardian

Dr Sally Adams-Merry asked in The Guardian article does drinking „really lead to violence in the skies?“. She agreed that there is an overly free availability of alcohol at the airports but asked then „What is the real magnitude of the problem caused by alcohol-fuelled air-rage?“. Based on available numbers „If we take this as a typical year, then the 442 passengers arrested on suspicion of being drunk represents approximately 0.00018% of all air travellers.“

This calculation seems to imply that the problem is really small and probably over exaggerated.

COMMENT: Is it correct to approach the issue through that kind of calculation? Could we do that with terrorists in the airplanes? What would be the outcome? Have any of you seen any terrorists while flying? In other words, we have taken measures based on possible, theoretical, threat, not through calculating that if the terrorist attacks on airplanes have risen pass certain percent, then it is acceptable to take steps.

Or what about drunk drivers? We are not setting BAC levels based on balance between sober and drunk drivers. Or even based on number of accidents caused by drunk drivers. The measures would be there even if the accident rate is down to zero.

Alcohol should be banned from the context of flying because it has a proven potential to cause problems and uncontrolled behavior. Flying requires ability to follow certain rules and in case of emergency ability to act responsibly and according to the crews instructions so that people would´nt be a danger to themselves or others. Every person acts a bit differently while under the influence of alcohol, that´s for sure. What is also sure is that the ability to control and be controlled by others is decreased. And thats why alcohol and flying cannot mix.

Now, coming back to the frequency of the problem, it is clear that official numbers are underestimating the actual issue. Is there a frequent flyer who can say that he or she has´nt witnessed a situation where someone´s blood alcohol concentration level was causing problems?

Dr Adams-Merry then asked a question „Does alcohol actually make people more aggressive?“ and concluded that „researchers have had a hard time establishing a causal relationship between alcohol and aggression at all.“ She did refer to a study from 1997 that said that different research approaches„provide some evidence of an association between alcohol consumption and violent behavior, but no firm conclusion can be drawn about whether alcohol plays a causal role in such behavior.“ I would consider it a bit odd that a health psychology expert as Dr Adams-Merry would raise these doubts as there still is a clear body of evidence for a strong link between alcohol and aggression. WHO published book „Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity“ says that „a causal link between alcohol intoxication and aggression has been supported by epidemiological and experimental research, as well as by research indicating specific biological mechanisms linking alcohol to aggressive behaviour.“ Drug and Alcohol Review Journal published in this June edition article confirming alcohol to be a cause of intimate partner violence. „Research over the past 30 years has demonstrated that excessive alcohol use meets all of the epidemiological criteria for causality.“

Justification for more regulations should look further from mere air rage incidents. Safety is not the only problem as drunken behaviour and even mere public drinking can disturb other people among whom are also children. Harm to others from drinking, or we may call it also passive drinking, affects people on different levels. In a closed environment like aircraft, the behaviour of persons who have been drinking and/or are intoxicated may interfere other peoples rights and personal space. Loud voices and indecent manners can and mostly do disturb also those passengers to whom these behaviours are not directed to. Again, who has´nt been disturbed by something like that.

And then there is this typical alcohol industry argument: „An airport-wide ban could see moderate drinkers penalised for the behaviour of a handful of individuals.“ The interest of the producers is to keep alcohol acceptable in everyday circumstances and that people should be able to drink (of course moderately) where ever they like. This argument is speaking about drinking. We are talking about flying and safety. And as such, this context defines alcohol once again as a No Ordinary Commodity.

Lauri Beekmann is the Secretary General of NordAN

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