More than half of French people are in favor of an increase in the price of alcoholic beverages and 70% of them a total ban on promoting them. But if they seem aware of the risks associated with excessive consumption, they approach the subject more lightly when it comes to moderate consumption. Yet the risks are real.
More than half of French people (54%) are in favor of an increase in the price of alcoholic drinks, according to a survey Opinion Way produced for the League against cancer. Seven in ten are also in favor of banning their advertising, including on the Internet, and 81% of our population would like the risks associated with alcohol consumption to be specified on drink labels. These (encouraging) figures show a general awareness of the ravages of alcohol and support the recommendations of the French scientific community.
Last April, several doctors and addictologists, including public health specialists, challenged Emmanuel Macron with a series of 10 measures, including the establishment of a floor price on alcohol. According to them, the government should “tax alcohol in proportion to the content in grams of alcohol and define a minimum selling price per unit of alcohol”, to reduce excessive consumption. Doctors also demanded that “the containers the quantity in grams of alcohol and sugar, the number of calories in a clear, legible and contrasting manner” be indicated on each product marketed. Likewise, they suggest “prohibiting on any medium all additional non-legal statements such as’ To be consumed in moderation ‘” and “write on the containers and on any advertising for an alcoholic drink the statement’ Alcohol is dangerous for health ‘in a clear, legible and contrasting manner’.
Alcohol increases the risk of breast cancer
According to the survey, 82% of French people know that the risk of cancer increases by consuming alcohol on a daily basis, but 53% of the overall population (i.e. more than one in two French people) is unaware that alcohol consumption even moderate, can be a risk factor, especially in breast cancer. 39% think liver cancer is the most serious risk. However, alcohol is the cause of 8,081 new cases of breast cancer per year in France, i.e. more than colorectal cancer (6,654 cases), of the oral cavity and of the pharynx (5,675 cases), liver (4,355 cases), esophagus (1,807 cases) and larynx (1,284 cases). Even in very small quantities, the ethanol contained in alcoholic beverages is indeed transformed in the body into compounds that promote the development of the disease.
Disturbing data when we know that women are slowly catching up with men in terms of alcohol consumption. Among people born between 1891 and 1910, “men were 2.2 times more likely than women to drink alcohol, 3 times more likely to drink alcohol problematically, and 3.6 times more likely to drink alcohol. ‘be affected by harmful effects linked to alcohol “details an article published in 2016 by the British journal British Medical Journal (BMJ). Ratios that fall respectively to 1.1 times, 1.2 and 1.3 for populations born between 1991 and 2000, aged between 18 and 27 today.
It is estimated in France that between 500,000 and one million women are addicted to alcohol. Much more stigmatized by society than men, alcoholic women pass for irresponsible mothers, light, stupid, fragile women. But alcohol dependence is a serious disease, recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) since 1978.
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