Health warnings on alcohol bottles should be compulsory – MPs

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http://www.theguardian.com/society/2014/aug/11/alcohol-abuse-health-warnings-labels



Up to 1.2 million people are admitted to hospital each year due to alcohol

Health warnings on alcohol bottles should be compulsory – MPs
Matthew Taylor
The Guardian, Sunday 10 August 2014

Health warnings should be compulsory on bottles of wine, beer and spirits to raise awareness of the dangers of excessive drinking and the growing problem of liver disease, a group of MPs has said.

The recommendation is part of a series of measures put forward by the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Alcohol Misuse to tackle what it says is an epidemic of alcohol abuse in Britain.

Conservative MP Tracey Crouch, the chair of the group, said people should be as aware of the dangers posed by excessive drinking as they are of the risks associated with smoking. "The facts and figures of the scale of alcohol misuse in the UK speak for themselves: 1.2 million people a year are admitted to hospital due to alcohol; liver disease in those under 30 has more than doubled over the past 10 years; and the cost of alcohol to the economy totals £21bn. Getting political parties to seriously commit to these 10 measures will be a massive step in tackling the huge public health issue that alcohol is."

The report, which also recommends a minimum unit price on alcohol, states that although health warnings are prominent on tobacco products, alcohol packaging only outlines alcohol content. "In order to inform consumers about balanced risk, every alcohol label should include an evidence-based health warning as well as describing the product's nutritional calorific and alcohol content," it states.