Alcohol Claims 30,000 Lives Per Year in Britain

Health experts have warned that if the current trend continues by the year 2031 about 250,000 deaths will occur due to alcohol abuse unless the Government deals with this problem as seriously as it did with smoking. According to WHO Britain ranks 16^th on the world's highest drinking levels list. Experts have accused the ministers of being too close with the brewers and bars because of which they fail to introduce stricter norms. An article published in The Lancet claims that in recent years deaths due to liver diseases have doubled in Britain. In England and Wales, alcohol claims up to 30,000 lives per year. While in countries like France where the marketing laws are strict, there has been profound fall in this number.

President of the Royal College of Physicians, Sir Richard Thompson, said, "How many more people have to die from alcohol-related conditions, and how many more families devastated by the consequences before the Government takes the situation as seriously as it took the dangers of tobacco? We already know from the international evidence that the main ways to reduce alcohol consumption are to increase the price and reduce the availability of alcohol, yet the government continues to discuss implementing marginal measures while ignoring this evidence."




Source-Medindia