Two long-awaited studies on underage drinking were presented to Congress this week, setting off a flurry of efforts to encourage lawmakers to act on recommendations to address the problem, which costs the nation an estimated $53 billion annually in losses stemming from traffic fatalities, violent crime, and other behaviors that threaten the well-being of America's youth.

The Institute of Medicine's report, Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility, calls for higher federal and state taxes on alcoholic beverages, stricter state drinking laws, improved state identification cards, and better policies for detecting and stopping underage drinking parties.

Meanwhile, a Federal Trade Commission report said the alcohol industry has made progress in it's efforts to curb advertising targeted toward underaged drinkers, but recommended that the alcohol industry use independent, third-party reviewers to determine whether ads complied with industry code standards, particularly to address complaints about underage appeal.

The release of the two reports prompted response from activists who support the findings and from detractors in the alcohol industry. Below are articles about the two reports and the reaction they received.

• Reducing Underage Drinking: A Collective Responsibility
  The Institute of Medicine
  To tackle the problem of underaged drinking, a new report from the National Research Council and Institute of Medicine of the National Academies offers a comprehensive strategy that requires a deep, shared commitment from many institutions and individuals, including alcohol manufacturers and retail businesses, the entertainment industry, and parents and other adults in local communities.
  
  
• FTC Report Cites Improvements in Alcohol Industry Self-Regulation
  Federal Trade Commission
  The FTC conducted an investigation of nine major alcohol advertisers, analyzing their advertisements, marketing plans, and consumer research. The Report's analysis indicates significant improvement in standards for the placement of alcohol ads, as well as improvement in the adoption of external advertising review mechanisms. The Report also found no evidence of targeting underage consumers.
  
  
• Program Galvanizes Action at the State, Local Levels
  Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center
  A national evaluation of a comprehensive federally sponsored initiative shows that the program has galvanized action at the state and local levels to reduce underage drinking, according to Mark Wolfson, Ph.D., of Wake Forest University School of Medicine. The evaluation is cited in the National Academy of Sciences report: "Underage Drinking, a Collective Responsibility," which was released in Washington.
  
  
• Report Provides Roadmap on Underage Drinking
  Center for Science in the Public Interest
  Federal anti-drug strategy virtually ignores underage drinking and leaves the booze industry with a near monopoly as the primary educator of young people about alcohol. We hope Congress takes the Academy’s recommendations to heart and moves forward with a massive, hard-hitting media campaign that begins educating America’s kids and families about the dangers of underage drinking.
  
  
• Report Hailed by Field, Denounced by Industry
  Join Together Online
  A much-anticipated report on underage drinking, released this week, called for cooperation between the alcohol industry, health organizations, governments, parents, and others to combat what the authors called the nation's biggest youth drug problem. However, the report also called for raising excise taxes on alcohol to discourage drinking, a recommendation that led some alcohol industry leaders to immediately try to torpedo the document.
  
  
• MADD Praises Report, Combats Industry Tactics to Discredit
  Mothers Against Drunk Driving
  Despite months of attempts by the alcohol industry to unduly influence today's National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report on underage drinking, Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), members of Congress and other advocacy groups praised the findings as an important step in finally putting underage drinking on the nation's policy and public health agenda.
  
  
• Raising Taxes Is Not the Answer, Say Distillers
  Distilled Spirits Council
  The Distilled Spirits Council today said it was pleased the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) underage drinking study "recognized the critical role parents and adults play in further reducing underage drinking" but denounced the call for increased taxes on alcohol saying, "research shows raising taxes would do little to reduce underage drinking and would severely impact the hospitality industry and responsible adult consumers."
  
  
• Alcohol Marketers Change Ad Guidelines
  Ad Age
  Brewers and distillers today announced major changes to their advertising guidelines on the heels of two new reports on underage drinking from the Federal Trade Commission and the National Academy of Science. In the biggest change, the Distilled Spirits Council of the U.S. and the Beer Institute announced they will only buy advertising in media that has an audience that is 70 percent adult, up from the current 51 percent.
  
  

More: Order the NAS Report | Read Full FTC Report (pdf)