U.K. M.P.s call for alcohol clampdown

The U.K. Parliament's Health Select Committee - which has an advisory but not executive role - has called for a steep rise in alcohol prices to tackle the country's drink problem. The report claims that a minimum price of 50p a unit would save 3,000 lives a year while one of 40p would save 1,100. The report says that in some shops alcohol can be bought for 10p a unit and that the average moderate drinker would pay just 11p a week more if a minimum price of 40p a unit was set. Three times as much alcohol a head is drunk now than in the mid 20th century and ten million adults drink more than the recommended limits. Around 30-40,000 deaths every year could be alcohol-related and the total cost of alcohol to society has been estimated at £55bn. Other recommendations of the Committee included

• mandatory labelling of cans and bottles with warning details of units
• restrictions on advertising where children can see it and a ban on advertising before the 9pm watershed
• incentives for GPs to detect more problem drinkers
• targets for hospitals to reduced alcohol-related admissions
• Stronger enforcement by the police against serving people who are drunk

You can see a full copy of the report at

http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200910/cmselect/cmhealth/151/15102.htm