we need the truth about alcohol – it should be labelled, just like food | katherine brown |...

We need the truth about alcohol – itshould be labelled, just like food

Katherine BrownIt is now classified as a group one carcinogen, alongside tobacco and asbestos,yet by a bizarre twist, alcohol is exempt from EU labelling laws

Friday 8 January 2016 09.00 GMT

T oday saw the publication of a new set of lower risk drinkingguidelines by all four UK chief medical officers. The most notabledifference between these and the current guidelines is that men

have been advised to cut down their weekly intake to no more than 14units – the equivalent of half a bottle of whisky. This brings therecommendations for men in line with those for women.

Such advice will undoubtedly be met with wild accusations of statenannying from the usual libertarian camps. Yet these guidelines do notrestrict behaviour but rather empower the public to take control of ourhealth.

Some of the impetus for revising the drinking guidelines came fromemerging evidence about the link between alcohol and cancer. TheWorld Health Organisation now classifies alcohol as a group onecarcinogen, alongside tobacco and asbestos. However, public opinionpolls show that half of Britons don’t associate the nation’s favouritedrug with cancer, which makes the case for publicising thisrelationship even more urgent. This is an issue of consumer rights:every drinker has the right to know and the government has a duty toinform them about the health risks associated with alcohol.

These new guidelines are purely a tool to enable drinkers to make fullyinformed decisions about their health. But it’s up to the government to

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ensure the message is carried loud and clear to the majority of Britswho regularly drink. The most obvious place to start would be to labelalcohol products with clear, legible information that is easy to see andunderstand.

At present there are no mandatory requirements for alcohol labels. Infact, in a bizarre twist of EU legislation, alcohol is exempt from thelabelling regulations that require ingredients listings and calorieinformation on all other food and drink. Consequently, consumers getmore information about the contents of a pack of chewing gum thanthey do for a bottle of wine: a psychoactive, carcinogenic and addictivesubstance.

Unsurprisingly, voluntary commitments by alcohol producers to labeltheir products with health information have not proven to be effective.A recent evaluation of the government’s “responsibility deal” withalcohol companies showed that less than half of those who committedto provide clear unit information and pregnancy warnings did so evenunder their own definition of “best practice”. And surely no one wouldexpect any manufacturer to associate their product with the C-wordvoluntarily.

Consumers need clear, independent advice on health risks. Thegovernment cannot continue to rely on the drinks industry to act aschief messenger to the public. We’ve seen this approach fail miserablywith tobacco companies who, like the global alcohol producers, have aclear vested interest in thwarting attempts to reduce harmfulconsumption of their products. Why else would leading spiritsmanufacturers take the Scottish government to court to try to stop theintroduction of minimum unit pricing – a policy that promises to savethousands of lives by reducing consumption among the heaviestdrinkers? Given that minimum pricing will largely target harmfuldrinkers, one could question just how much the alcohol producers relyon this group to make a profit.

The public deserve to be given a better chance at making healthierchoices. We’re performing poorly against our European neighbourswhen it comes to alcohol-induced ill-health and, as research by theNuffield Trust showed recently, our NHS is struggling to cope withincreasing hospital admissions due to alcohol. The NHS has called for a


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TopicsAlcohol Cancer Health European Union

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“radical upgrade in prevention and public health”, and preventionneeds to become a priority for this government.

A recent report from the World Cancer Research Fund indicates that33% of cancer cases in the UK could be avoided if we modified certainlifestyle behaviours, including reducing our alcohol intake. However,we can’t expect people to take control of their wellbeing and makehealthy choices unless we equip them with the power to do so. It’stime we were all told the truth about alcohol.


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we need the truth about alcohol – it should be labelled, just like food | katherine brown |...

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