Category: Alcohol Misuse News
Alcohol-related hospital admissions reach record level
Drinking over recommended limit raises cancer risk
Drinking more than a pint of beer a day can substantially increase the risk of some cancers, research suggests.
The Europe-wide study of 363,988 people reported in the British Medical Journal found one in 10 of all cancers in men and one in 33 in women were caused by past or current alcohol intake.
More than 18% of alcohol-related cancers in men and about 4% in women were linked to excessive drinking.
The Department of Health said it was taking action to reduce drinking.
Cancer charities say people should limit their drinking to lower the risk.
Motorists to be denied blood tests when stopped on suspicion of drink driving
Motorists who are marginally over the limit when stopped by the police are to lose the right to demand a blood test under the biggest changes to drink-drive law in over 40 years.
Phllip Hammond, the Transport Secretary, is to plug a loophole which enables motorists to sober up while police find a doctor or nurse to carry out the test.
It is among a series of far reaching changes unveiled as part of the Government’s response to recommendations on road safety made by Sir Peter North, former Principal of Jesus College, Oxford.
However the Government has angered road safety campaigners by rejecting Sir Peter’s call for the drink drive limit to be reduced from 80 milligrams of alcohol per 100 millilitres of blood to only 50.
Alcohol is costing us dearly – we need action now
A ‘responsibility deal’ is not enough. The BMA believes we need tough legislation to tackle the damage caused by alcohol
The cost of alcohol to British society is currently estimated at over £25bn per annum. This is not just the health costs, but also costs relating to crime and disorder, including domestic violence and fights and accidents on the streets. Health workers see the personal costs; we see the fractured families, the individual tragedies of wholly preventable death and disability. And we want action, now, to start to address this complex problem.
Drink deaths: failure to act will cost an extra 250,000 lives , say doctors
Soaring rates of liver disease will only be reduced by charging more for alcohol and restricting its availability, experts argue
Up to 250,000 people could die because of alcohol over the next 20 years unless ministers take strong action to tackle Britain’s chronic drink problems, leading doctors are warning.
The prediction comes in edition of the Lancet medical journal by three senior experts on alcohol, two of whom are advising the coalition on how to reduce drink-related harm.
In a scathing critique of the government’s approach to alcohol, the trio accuse ministers of pursuing policies that will make no difference to the soaring rates of drink-related liver disease. Ministers, including the health secretary, Andrew Lansley, are “too close” to the drinks industry and too reluctant to take effective steps, they say.