Ministers "too cosy with the alcohol trade as doctors warn extra 250,000 lives are at risk from liver disease"

Ministers "too cosy with the alcohol trade as doctors warn extra 250,000 lives are at risk from liver disease" -

A group of leading doctors will today brand ministers’ strategy for tackling Britain’s booze culture ‘inconsequential’ and blame ministers for being ‘too close’ to the drinks industry. The liver disease specialists claim up to 250,000 extra lives could be lost in the next 20 years if the Government fails to introduce proper minimum pricing for alcohol.

Professor Sir Ian Gilmore, past president of the Royal College of Physicians; Nick Sheron, from the University of Southampton; and Chris Hawkey, of the Queen’s Medical Centre, University Hospital, Nottingham, are launching their attack in The Lancet journal. They argue that while stores such as Asda and Tesco are part of Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s Responsibility Deal Board that is supposed to tackle the issue, UK drinks producers and retailers are ‘reliant on people risking their health to provide profits’. Ministers aim to tackle Britain’s chronic booze culture by banning the sale of alcohol below cost price and increasing duty on high-strength beer.

Professor Gilmore says the plans are ‘inconsequential because of the tiny fraction of sales that fall into either category’. A survey last week found that this minimum price scheme would have affected just one out of 3,600 alcohol offers currently in shops. Under the Government’s plans, a drinker would typically end up paying just over 20p per unit for lager and wine.

But experts are calling for a minimum price of 50p a unit – which would cause a significant dent in alcohol sales. Using figures from the Office for National Statistics, the doctors predict that over the next 20 years between 160,000 and 250,000 extra lives could be lost in England and Wales if the Government fails to act.