Doctors warn about the dangers of alcohol and demand the establishment of a floor price to fight against excessive consumption.
“We bear witness to the risks of alcohol, responsible annually in France for 49,000 deaths including 15,000 cancers”, write several doctors and addictologists, including public health specialists, in an open letter addressed to Emmanuel Macron. After having challenged the President of the Republic at the beginning of March, the collective this time publishes 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 demand 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’.
10 effective measures to protect against the risks of alcohol#alcohol #risks health and social #public health #prevention #care #research #labeling #Politics #advertising #disinformation #lobbyhttps://t.co/3djdi53vmV
– Amine Benyamina (@Prabenyamina) April 16, 2018
The government’s position in favor of the wine lobby
But last March, the Minister of Health Agnès Buzyn said she was “hostile” to the appeal of these doctors on RTL, believing that toughening the health message about alcoholic beverages “may suggest that we are for a prohibition action, that is to say that we do not want alcohol at all, but this is not the case today “. And to specify: “I think that the French should be informed about the fact that alcohol harms health in a manner proportional to the dose and that each one must be able to choose” his alcohol consumption.
For his part, Emmanuel Macron had pledged not to toughen the regulations related to alcohol during his mandate. As such, doctors denounce “carefully organized disinformation by the alcohol industry” and “the lobbying power of an industry which infiltrates all levels of society (…) up to the highest level of the State. “. Asked about the paradox between her fight against addictions and this tolerance in terms of alcohol, Agnès Buzynslit to give way in front of the wine lobby.
Why are doctors asking for a floor price?
A recent study published on April 14 in the journal The Lancet suggested that the recommendations in terms of alcohol consumption should be reviewed. This research followed nearly 600,000 people from different developed countries and looked at their alcohol consumption and the thresholds at which it becomes particularly dangerous. In this population, alcohol consumption is associated with a greater risk of myocardial infarction, coronary heart disease, stroke, fatal hypertension, etc.
According to their results, people who consume between 100 and 200 g of alcohol per week have a reduced life expectancy of six months when they reach 40 years; for those who consume between 200 and 350 g of alcohol per week, life expectancy is reduced by one to two years. Finally for those who exceed 350 g per week, life expectancy is reduced from 4 to 5 years.
The study therefore recommends not to exceed 100 grams of alcohol per week. Knowing that ten grams of alcohol correspond to a standard dose of different alcoholic drinks: a glass of 25 cl of beer, 10 cl of wine or 3 cl of strong alcohol. France, which is one of the 3 countries with the largest consumers with 18.2 glasses of alcohol per week and per French, is still far from it.
Recommendations in the nails in France
Each country issues its own recommendations. In the United States, for example, the threshold is 196 g per week for men and 98 g for women. In Belgium, it is 210 g for men per week, and 140 g for women. The World Health Organization (WHO) considers that consumption becomes particularly harmful when it is 40 grams of alcohol per day for women and 60 g for men. In France, experts from Public Health France and the National Cancer Institute published recommendations on alcohol consumption last May: you should not exceed 100 g per week and abstain two days per week. week, according to them.
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