Tougher Measures Needed To Reduce Alcohol Related Harm, Say UK Doctors

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Main Category: Alcohol / Addiction / Illegal Drugs
Also Included In: Urology / Nephrology
Article Date: 24 Dec 2007 - 0:00 PDT

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Two top doctors have called on the UK government to employ tougher measures to reduce alcohol related harm.

Ian Gilmore, President, Royal College of Physicians (RCP) and Nick Sheron, a liver specialist at Southampton University Hospital say that current measures, such as education and public information have not done much to change people's drinking behavior or to reduce harm. Proven measures should be considered, such as price hikes, forbidding the advertising of alcohol, and reducing alcohol's availability.

The authors explain that alcohol is most definitely a significant health problem in the UK. Alcohol is causing more deaths than cervical cancer, breast cancer and MRSA combined.

They ask whether we have a duty to find a way of reducing alcohol's health burden to society - or would this be an example of creating a nanny state.

Alcohol is the cause of much more damage to third parties than smoking, they write. Half of all violent crimes and one third of domestic violence cases are caused by alcohol to some degree.

The authors point to evidence that raising the price of alcohol is the most successful and cost effective way to alter drinking behavior. While disposable income in the UK grew by 91% during the period 1980-2003 the price of alcohol just went up by 24%. This means that alcohol was 54% cheaper in real terms in 2003 than it was in 1980.

Retailers and producers say that raising alcohol prices would not reduce consumption. If this were true, say the authors, then all the fundamental principles of marketing are wrong (people buy less of something when it becomes more expensive, they buy more of something when it becomes cheaper).

The authors wonder how many more British lives will be damaged before the government does anything really concrete about it.

"Reducing the harms of alcohol in the UK"
Ian Gilmore, Nick Sheron
BMJ 2007;335:1271-1272 (22 December), doi:10.1136/bmj.39426.523715.80
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Written by - Christian Nordqvist
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