Women drinkers to be target of ad campaign
- From: "MCP" <gf010w5035@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 24 Feb 2008 07:10:32 GMT
http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2008/feb/24/drugsandalcohol.health
Women in their thirties and forties are to be targeted in a government
anti-drinking advertising campaign featuring graphic warnings that their
behaviour could lead to breast cancer or liver failure.
Ministers have approved the controversial move in a bid to try to persuade
women, especially middle-aged wine drinkers, to cut down amid evidence that
their excessive consumption is wrecking their health.
Dawn Primarolo, the Public Health Minister, told The Observer last night that
women aged 30 to 50, whose drink-related problems often go unnoticed, would be
a key focus of the £10m campaign this summer. The move came as three former
Health Secretaries called for higher taxes on alcohol to curb Britain's
binge-drinking culture.
Primarolo said: 'I'm concerned that a lot of women are drinking much more than
they think they are and that it's damaging and hurting them in terms of their
health. These are women who may think that one glass of wine equals one unit.
But with the increased strength of wine and large size of glasses these days,
it could be anything from one and a half units up to three and a half units,
if it's a large glass of Rioja.
'The health warnings will be quite stark and they need to be quite stark. We
want to ensure that women know the consequences of drinking, and know more
about units so they can decide how much they are going to drink,' the minister
said.
Patricia Hewitt, Health Secretary from 2005 to 2007, said she had pleaded with
the Treasury for higher alcohol duty 'at every Budget' and felt its time had
now come. 'Alcohol in real terms is a great deal cheaper than it was 20 years
ago and when young people have so much more money to spend, there's no doubt
it is a contributing factor,' she said.
'Although no Chancellor likes to make themselves unpopular by putting up
taxation on alcohol, I think if the public see it as part of a co-ordinated
attempt to reduce alcohol abuse and the antisocial behaviour that goes with
it, then there would be public support.'
Frank Dobson, Tony Blair's first Health Secretary in 1997, said there was
'clearly a good case for increasing the general level of taxation on alcohol'
and in particular on alcopops, which were 'a major contributor to the dreadful
situation we have now'. Alan Milburn, who followed Dobson at the Department of
Health, said the government should first attempt to strike a deal with
retailers on a sensible pricing of alcohol, but added: 'Short of that, I don't
think we should rule out changes in taxation.'
Their comments reflect fierce debate in Whitehall, with the chief medical
officer, Professor Sir Liam Donaldson, backing tax rises. However, the
Treasury is said to be resisting, fearing tax hikes would simply boost 'booze
cruise' shopping, encouraging drinkers to go to France for cheap imports to
drink at home.
'You have got people buying drink [across the Channel] for large groups of
friends, then houses full of very cheap alcohol and no control over kids'
access to it. That is one of the big factors,' said a senior Whitehall source.
The Chancellor also fears that moderate drinkers would resent being clobbered
with higher taxes.
The government's insistence that pub opening times do not cause binge drinking
has, however, focused attention on other measures, including tax. Duty on
spirits has been frozen since 1997: duty on table wine and beer has only risen
with inflation.
One option is new tax bands to penalise strong wines which contain up to 15
per cent alcohol. Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade
Association, said the measure had 'certainly been discussed' but would be
complicated and discriminate against some producers.
Hotter climates produce sweeter grapes, which - as sugar turns to alcohol
during fermentation - mean stronger wines. The growing popularity of southern
hemisphere wines had driven the change in strength, he said: 'It has gone up
since the Seventies, when we were all drinking 11 per cent German Rieslings.
The reason the average level is up is we now drink wines from Australia, South
Africa and South America.'
One leading critic of 24-hour drinking laws was wrongfooted yesterday when it
emerged that the British Medical Association had just applied for a late
drinking licence for its own London headquarters, BMA House. It already has an
11am-11pm licence, but wants to be able to serve alcohol from 9am to 1am.
Use of the bar is a perk of membership for doctors. However, a spokeswoman
insisted it wanted to stay open later because it sometimes hosted weddings,
adding: 'We have had issues before when people have decided not to hold
weddings at the BMA because of an early licence.'
.
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