The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Extend minimum prices for alcohol, says expert
Adviser to WHO says other parts of UK and Europe ought to follow Scottish lead
Minimum unit pricing for alcohol should be implemented in all parts of the UK and extended across Europe, a health expert has suggested.
Professor Jurgen Rehm, an adviser to the World Health Organisation (WHO), suggested people should drink no more than one unit of alcohol per day.
He described the pricing policy as serious “ammunition” in the fight against alcohol-related harm and lamented the relatively low levels of use of pricing measures across Europe.
The call came amid predictions minimum unit pricing (MUP) in Scotland will have a “significant impact” on health outcomes north of the border.
The Scottish Government policy to set a minimum price of 50p per unit of alcohol came into force in May after years of delays due to a legal challenge.
It was estimated the move could save 392 lives in its first five years in Scotland, where on average there were 22 weekly alcohol-specific deaths and 697 hospital admissions.
Figures presented at a joint meeting on alcohol and health in Edinburgh, led by the WHO and the Alcohol Policy Network in Europe, show the continent continues to have the highest levels of alcohol consumption in the world.
Every day, around 800 people in the EU, Norway and Switzerland die from alcohol-attributable causes and there have been “no significant changes” in alcohol consumption since 2010.
Prof Rehm, a senior director at the Institute for Mental Health Policy Research at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Canada, said a drop in alcohol-related deaths in Europe from 301,000 in 2010 to 291,000 in 2016 cannot be described as a big success.
He also pointed to “huge problems” with drinking among young people in Europe – particularly binge-drinking.
Asked about the likely impact of MUP in Scotland, he said: “Very clearly minimum unit pricing is going to have a significant impact.”
He pointed to the “pretty great success” of similar pricing restrictions in countries like Russia, saying it reduces consumption among binge drinkers and those with a dependency on alcohol.
Drink-related accidents, injuries, violence and public disorder will also go down with increases of MUP he said.
Asked if he would like to see every country in Europe introduce that policy, he said: “Obviously from a public health perspective, yes, we would like not only minimum pricing policies, we would like minimum pricing policies which are relatively high.”
Prof Rehm suggested people should consume no more than one unit of alcohol per day as he pointed to figures showing 29% of all alcohol-attributable deaths in the EU are from cancers.
He hit out at past government guidelines, saying: “There is no safe drinking.”
In response, Dr Eric Carlin, director of Scottish Health Action on Alcohol Problems said: “SHAAP strongly support the UK CMOs’ guidance which is no more than 14 units per week.
“However, it is true to say that no level of alcohol is risk free.”
Very clearly minimum unit pricing is going to have a significant impact. PROFESSOR JURGEN REHM