Million UK Casualties A
Year From Weekend
Drinking
9-13-3
- LONDON (ANI) -- Weekend
accidents and violent assaults have become a common feature these days.
A new survey has found that one million hospital casualty cases in the
U.K on Friday and Saturday nights are linked to alcohol.
-
- Among such incidents most are victims of violent
assaults in pubs and clubs and some are in road accidents.
-
- In order to have control over this, Prof Colin
Drummond, of St George's Hospital Medical School in London has said that
the age limit for drinking should be raised, there should be tighter
controls on alcohol advertising, explicit labels and unit measurements
on bottles. He further said raising prices should be considered by the
government, according to a report in telegraph.co.uk.
-
- A nationwide survey of 32 accident and emergency
departments on a Saturday night showed that 40 per cent of the
attendance was linked to alcohol, he said. Assuming Friday night figures
to be similar, this is equivalent to an annual figure of a million
alcohol-related attendances, he added.
-
- "There are lots of missed opportunities for
intervention," said Prof Drummond. Between 10 minutes and 30 minutes of
advice from a GP has been shown to cut the number of excessive drinkers
by 20 per cent.
-
- And raising the age limit from 18 to 21, as had been
done in some American states, had caused a significant drop in
alcohol-related road deaths, he added.
-
- While alcohol abuse in other parts of Europe was
falling, the reverse was true in the UK because of a range of factors
from increasing wealth, and levels of stress and depression, he said.
The UK also has probably the highest levels of under age drinking in
Europe, he argued. And, among 18- to 24-year-old women there has been a
70 per cent rise in alcohol abuse over the past 12 years.
-
- "I don't think it is just the Bridget Jones
phenomenon," said Prof Drummond. "The drinks industry is putting huge
effort into making drink more attractive to women, making pubs more
attractive."
-
- He also accused the industry of flouting voluntary
codes, notably those that caution against using sex to market
alcohol.
-
- Copyright © 2001 ANI-Asian News International. All
rights reserved.
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