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Alcohol Social Criteria Screen
APPROVED by the ELCA Church Council – April
21-23, 1990
UPDATED by the Advisory Committee for Corporate Social
Responsibility – May 24, 2007
APPROVED by the ELCA Church Council – November 2007
Authority: The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America (ELCA) has laid out its concern for health in a social statement “Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor” [2003], acknowledging that health is central to our well being, and caring for it is a matter of shared stewardship. Predecessor church body statements speak specifically to the role of alcohol products as some of the most widely used and misused potentially dangerous drugs (Chemical Comforters and Drug Dependency [ALC, 1972]).
Wording of screen: The ELCA makes no investment in firms which are involved the production or marketing of distilled alcohol products for human consumption.
Definition of Problem: According to the United States Center for Disease Control there are approximately 75,000 deaths attributable to excessive alcohol use each year in the United States. http://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/quickstats/general_info.htm That means it is the third leading cause of lifestyle related death.
Recognizing that various investors will implement this along a continuum, for the purpose of this screen investment might include companies that produce distilled alcohol for human consumption. It could also include companies selling, promoting and marketing in this industry or supplying key component elements to the industry.
Social policy and studies:
Caring for Health: Our Shared Endeavor [ELCA, 2003]
/socialstatements/health/
Health, Life, and Death: A Christian Perspective [ALC, 1977]
A ministry of Healing Health and Health Care Today [ELCA, 2001] /ethics/pdf/ministryofhealing.pdf
Chemical Comforters and Drug Dependency [ALC, 1972]
Pastoral Counseling and the Alcoholic: A Study Paper of the Lutheran
Church in America
/jle/article.asp?k=332
