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May 30, 2007:
All alcoholic drinks in the United Kingdom are
to carry health-warning labels by the end of 2008
under a voluntary agreement between the government
and the alcohol manufacturing industry.
The new labels will detail alcoholic units and
recommended safe drinking levels.
Bottles and cans being make in the United Kingdom
currently show alcohol percentages but only some
state what this equals in alcoholic units, reports
BBC News.
Caroline Flint, Minister for Public Health, says
that what exactly the labels will say has not yet
been decided, but the warnings will not be as
strong as for cigarettes.
The measure to have health warnings on alcoholic
drinks was first proposed three years ago, but the
government and the manufacturers have struggled to
agree on a format and it is not known how many
companies will sign up for the scheme.
If the industry does not comply, Public Health
Minister Caroline Flint said, the government would
introduce legislation.
The proposed warning labels will include words
like ‘know your limits’ or ‘drink responsibly’ and
also will give details of the amount of units each
drink contains.
Besides giving information about units, the labels
will also warn that drinking alcohol should be
avoided if pregnant or trying to conceive.
A small glass of wine, half a pint of beer, or one
measure of spirit are each classed as one unit,
but it depends on the percentage of alcohol the
drink contains.
With some strong beers and ciders, a pint or a
large bottle can add up to three units or more.
A unit of alcohol is 10 milliliters of pure
alcohol, which means that a pint of
ordinary-strength lager or a 175-millilitre glass
of red or white wine each contains two units of
alcohol.
Over 7 million people in the United Kingdom drink
more than the recommended daily amounts – three to
four units for men and two to three units for
women.
The warning labels will also give the website
address for the education campaign group Drink
Aware.
According Caroline Flint, the “landmark, voluntary
agreement will help people calculate, at a glance,
how much they are drinking and whether they are
staying within sensible drinking guidelines.”
While the agreement has been reached by health
ministers in England, it will effectively apply to
the whole of the United Kingdom as manufacturers
are unlikely to take a different line depending on
where it is sold.
However, Annette Fleming, chief executive of
Aquarius, a Midlands-based alcohol and drugs
charity, doubts whether warning labels would make
any difference. She asked at a BBC Radio
interview: “Once people have had one drink out of
a bottle, are they really going to be bothered to
read the tiny print that talks about units?”
Kevin Hawkins, director-general of the British
Retail Consortium, remarked that the new measure
is yet another practical demonstration of
retailers’ responsible attitude to selling
alcohol.
BY OUR PHARMA CORRESPONDENT
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