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In a report published on 8 January 2010, the Health Committee of the UK Parliament warns that the drinks industry and supermarkets hold more power over government alcohol policies than expert health professionals.
English MPs’ report calls for radical overhaul of alcohol policy.
It says the drinks industry is dependent on hazardous and harmful drinkers for three-quarters of its sales and if people drank responsibly, alcohol sales would plummet by 40%.
The Committee calls for the introduction of minimum pricing, a rise in the duty on spirits and industrial white cider, tighter and totally independent regulation of alcohol promotion, vastly improved alcohol treatment services, better early detection and intervention, a mandatory labelling scheme for alcoholic drinks, and much better use of expert advice.
The report flatly rejects as a myth the suggestion that minimum pricing would unfairly affect moderate drinkers: at 40p per unit it would cost a moderate drinker (6 units per week) 11p per week more than at present, and a woman drinking the maximum 15 units per week could buy her weekly total of alcohol for six pounds.
Three times as much alcohol per head is drunk as in the mid 20th century, 30-40,000 deaths every year could be alcohol related and liver disease rates are soaring. The total cost of alcohol to society has been put at £55bn. (Source: Eurocare Newsletter December 09-January 10)