Alcohol and your pension fund, a sobering truth
How your money is being used to promote alcohol brands and what you can do about it
In terms of consumer confidence and spending, the alcohol industry is where the tobacco industry was 20 years ago. Not even a generation ago, there was a likelihood that when you would go visit your physician, chances were high that they would be smoking a cigarette whilst listening to your health complaints.
Similarly smoking was considered as normal and even encouraged in such confined spaces as airplanes, the remnants of which can be seen in airplane seats nowadays having inbuilt ashtrays. China banned smoking on planes only 5 years ago in 2016.
We are all aware that smoking is implicated in cancer, but how many of us are aware that by the same statistical analyses, that alcohol also induces the growth of cancerous tissue? In the last 5 years, science has revealed how dangerous drinking even minimal amounts of alcohol can be for your risk of developing cancer. The reason why you feel horrible after a night’s drinking is because alcohol is bad for you. The notion that a glass of red wine is good for your heart health is completely misleading; no amount of alcohol is beneficial for a human body. In fact, the metabolites released after a night of drinking alcohol do so much damage to internal tissues, that they create a scenario in the body that resembles the effects of intense radiation poisoning. Yes you read right, the disease that people died of after the atomic bomb in Hiroshima and the Chernobyl and Fukushima reactor meltdowns. That disease.
At this moment in time, nearly $120 million of KiwiSaver funds are invested in the alcohol industry. In light of the knowledge that New Zealand banned smoking in public spaces in 2004 after it was irrevocably proven smoking was implicated in major health problems, we should be starting to look at the damage alcohol does. As opposed to smoking, alcohol not only damages the human body, but is also implicated in damaging human society, especially in the lower echelons of socioeconomic living spaces. Alcohol is the number one cause for child abuse in the world. Alcohol abuse is the harbinger of a whole myriad of domestic problems including violence, self-harm and emotional trauma. Some ethnicities are more prone to the negative effects of alcohol due to the lack of enzymes required for processing it. These ethnicities are ones whose cultures have only recently been exposed to alcohol and as such have not had the biological evolution required to metabolise it. These are most notably Native American, most Asian cultures, Pacific Islander and Māori.
The history of the Māori relationship with alcohol is very recent and dates back to the land grab of the 1800s where Māori travelled to British-enforced Land Courts to sell off their land and in turn were given credit to live in the township. Alcohol was used as a means to “bury the pain” of Maori losing their access to land, language and ancestry and its ill effects on this culture are still experienced to this day. The genetic and clinical testing that proved that Native Americans lack the genetics to metabolise alcohol efficiently, also shows that Māori and Polynesian physiologies are not equipped to process alcohol either. The suburb of Ōtara in South Auckland is nearly 80% Māori and Pacific Islander; according to David Rāwiri Ratū there are over 50 licensed alcohol outlets within 1.5 kilometres of the Ōtara shopping mall. Yes, alcohol has harmful effects on all humans but as a society, is it morally justifiable to allow such a concentration of liquor retailers in an area whose culture is disproportionately affected by alcohol abuse. Especially when this alcohol retail is not prevalent in more upmarket socioeconomic neighbourhoods like Parnell or the North Shore of Auckland?
Alcohol drives inequality and inhibits New Zealand from achieving the sustainability goals outlined in the 2016 Paris Accord, as such it is inconceivable that such a large portion of KiwiSaver funds is allocated to this market. Yes alcohol may be a safe investment with good returns, but the real question is, does that make it right? It has been shown that half of all alcohol bought is consumed in vast amounts, colloquially referred to as ‘binge-drinking.’ Savvy investment managers will argue that nearly 50% of the KiwiSaver allocated alcohol funds are invested in swanky brands such as LVMH - Moet Hennessey and that these high end brands are not the cause for concern because they are largely consumed in small amounts for celebratory circumstances; champagne at a wedding or a glass of cognac after dinner and are not drunk in amounts that would qualify as ‘binge drinking.’ Whilst this may be half true, it must also be pointed out that the bulk of KiwiSaver funds is invested on behalf of everyday workers such as teachers, builders, rubbish collectors, nurses, supermarket workers and so on, and ask yourself, how many of these people would ever in their life be partaken to a glass of expensive champagne or cognac?
Not many, if any.
Recently the results of a large scale UK clinical trial were released and the findings were pretty shocking, showing that any trace amount of alcohol results in decreased grey matter density in the brain. Furthermore, the rise in Wernecke's syndrome, alcohol related dementia and foetal alcohol syndrome all should have us thinking about our relationship with alcohol more clearly.
Whilst a drink or two a week might be okay and socially acceptable now, is it acceptable that we collectively as a society allocate funds reserved for our pensions into a luxury consumer item with such destructive effects on both our health and social well being? If the answer is no, then you should probably contact your KiwiSaver fund’s investment manager and demand that they divest your hard earned savings into something a little more ethically sound with equal return potential. Such investment options do exist especially in such an innovative country as New Zealand. If these shocking statistics aren't enough to shake your beliefs then maybe the knowledge that foetal alcohol syndrome, the tragic result of alcoholic parents having children, costs the NZ economy nearly half a billion dollars every year, will. You choose.
Again, it used to be considered ‘normal’ for people to casually smoke on airplanes and in restaurants. In hindsight this seems outrageous, yet it is perfectly acceptable and within your rights now, to demand change on an issue you don’t feel comfortable with. Just like it is reasonable to ask to not have second-hand smoke blown in your lungs, you can now request to not have your savings invested in propping up the alcohol industry. And consider that by doing so, you will have the opportunity to be directly involved in a positive progression for our team of 5 million. To make us healthier and more aware of the struggles many people are facing in this beautiful country of ours and to actually be actively involved in doing something about it.
Kia kaha!
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Thank you very much.
Mauri Ora.
“It takes generosity to discover the whole through others. If you realize you are only a violin, you can open yourself up to the world by playing your role in the concert.”
The legend himself, Jacques Yves Cousteau.