MPs call for booze health warning labels to combat addiction
An all-party parliamentary group on alcohol misuse says it will try to impose health warnings on packaging to warn consumers of the dangers of heavy consumption in a report published today.
Alcohol will display health warning - similar to cigarettes
The study suggested several means of reducing the burden of alcohol abuse in the UK, such as including health warnings on alcohol products, raising the minimum price of the cheapest beverages and cutting the drink-driving limit.
The report stated: "Detailed nutritional labelling is ubiquitous on food products and soft drinks yet consumer information on alcohol products usually extends no further than the volume strength and unit 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."
Furthermore, the report suggested boosting funding for alcohol abuse treatment in addition to training social workers, midwifes and healthcare professionals in the care of parental substance misuse, foetal alcohol syndrome disorder and alcohol-related domestic violence.
The study found children would particularly benefit from the packaging warnings, claiming they are most at risk from low-price booze - citing that it is cheaper to purchase a three-litre bottle of cider than a cinema ticket. Also one in five children who drink consume over 15 units a week.
MP Tracey Crouch, chairwoman of the parliamentary group responsible for the report, said: “The facts and figures of the scale of alcohol misuse in the UK speak for themselves - 1.2m people a year are admitted to hospital due to alcohol; liver disease in those under 30 has more than doubled over the past 20 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.”
Sarah Hanratty, deputy chief executive of Portman Group, the responsibility body for drinks producers in the UK, said: "Government statistics show that awareness of both alcohol units and daily guidelines is increasing, and to continue these positive trends the alcohol industry voluntarily committed to improving health labelling on alcoholic products.
"In July, minister for public health, Jane Ellison MP, confirmed that the industry has met its target by achieving 79.3 per cent on its pledge to feature important health information on 80 per cent of labels on shelf by the end of 2013."
This comes after the ASA banned a WKD ad earlier this year which implied alcohol consumption boosts confidence.