This is a confusing but interesting article. I already know that a lot of alcohol is definitely harmful to health, but I was under the impression that 4-7 drinks a week for women did not change disease profiles, and that any amount over that did. Do we have a doctor in the house, or an expert on the health effects of alcohol?
Alcohol as harmful as smoking, study warns
Last Updated Fri, 04 Feb 2005 18:29:39 EST
CBC News
LONDON - Alcohol causes almost as many deaths and disabilities worldwide as smoking or high-blood pressure, a study warns.
Alcohol causes 4 per cent of diseases worldwide, compared to 4.1 per cent for tobacco, a study suggests. (CP file photo)
In this week's issue of the British medical journal The Lancet, an international team of researchers points out that alcohol is linked to more than 60 different medical conditions.
"Overall, four per cent of the global burden of disease is attributable to alcohol, 4.1 per cent to tobacco and 4.4 per cent to high blood pressure," writes lead researcher Robin Room, of Stockholm University in Sweden.
"In most cases, alcohol has a detrimental effect on health."
The review of alcohol and public health policies came a few days before Britain is to introduce legislation that allows bars, off-licences and nightclubs to remain open around the clock – a decision the study condemns.
Raising price would chop deaths
The researchers – Room, Dr. Jurgen Rehm of the Center for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto and Thomas Babor of the University of Connecticut – note that alcohol can contribute to many health problems, including cancers of the mouth, liver and breast, heart disease, stroke and cirrhosis of the liver.
They also stressed its role in car accidents, drownings, falls, poisonings, self-inflicted injuries and murders.
Using information on British alcohol-related deaths and alcohol prices, they estimate that if the cost were raised by 10 per cent, cirrhosis deaths would drop by seven per cent in men and 8.3 per cent in women.
The higher prices would also reduce deaths from other drink-related causes such as alcohol dependence or poisoning by nearly 30 per cent in men and 37.4 per cent in women, they predicted.
Further limits on the hours that alcohol is available in stores and bars would also reduce its effects, they said.
Policies often ruled by politics, interest groups: researcher
Yet despite evidence that alcohol causes as much harm as tobacco and high blood-pressure, public-policy decisions are governed all too often by political instead of health concerns, Room said.
"A stark discrepancy exists between research findings about the effectiveness of alcohol control measures and the policy options considered by most governments. In many places, the interests of the alcohol industry have effectively exercised a veto over policies, making sure that the main emphasis is on ineffective strategies such as education."
He concludes by calling for an international agreement on alcohol control, similar to the World Health Organization's Framework Convention on Tobacco Control that comes into effect on Feb. 28.
The agreement, which was ratified by 40 countries including Canada, sets international standards on tobacco price and tax increases, tobacco advertising and sponsorship, labelling, illicit trade and second-hand smoke.
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