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Myths about alcohol price cuts debunked by doctors
View(s):By Kumudini Hettiarachchi
Alcohol – the myths and misconceptions are many, some spread due to ignorance and others propagated wilfully by promoters.
These are the myths and misconceptions that two Consultant Psychiatrists are set on debunking with reams of evidence.
“A price reduction in alcohol does not bring down but increases consumption across all strata of society. Such a price-cut also does not wean people away from illicit liquor,” reiterates Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Amila Isuru.
These facts come in the light of media reports of the government declaring that the state sugar company could produce a lower cost alcohol using the byproduct ethanol to “wean” people from moonshine.
When low-priced alcohol is in the market, argues Dr. Isuru who is a Senior Lecturer in Psychiatry, Faculty of Medicine and Allied Sciences, Rajarata University, the consumption rises, as many more can afford it. More people in the lower and middle classes who could not buy alcohol because of high prices would be able to do so.
He says that the result would be “disastrous” as most of the income earned by them would be spent on the cheaper alcohol, taking away from their families the precious little they have to feed and educate their children and also for health.
Citing a study among labourers in the Colombo area conducted a few years ago by a group of nurses from the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), he said that the findings were revealing. The labourers were spending nearly 50% (half) of their paltry earnings on alcohol.
“Alcohol and poverty are closely linked,” says Dr. Isuru also citing a study by Senior Professor of Psychiatry, Diyanath Samarasinghe printed by FORUT in 2014.
Bringing up another alarming trend that would come about with a price-cut, Dr. Isuru stresses that more adolescents would be able to buy this harmful drink and all strategies to alleviate alcohol use would be negated.
The stark reality, according to him, is that an increase in alcohol use due to a price reduction, would yield a plethora of negative reactions among people. They include:
- An increase in physical and psychological illnesses – cancers; cirrhosis; cardiovascular disease (CVD), the leading cause of death globally and includes heart attacks and stroke; and mental illness among others.
- A rise in the crime rate.
- A rise in domestic violence.
- A rise in self-harm.
“The myth about people turning to illicit liquor if prices of legally-produced liquor are high is erroneous and not substantiated by research in Sri Lanka. In 1996 the reduction of a price of a pint of beer showed a 200% spike in beer consumption, while illicit liquor consumption remained unchanged. The World Health Organization (WHO) has also proven these claims to be false,” says Dr. Isuru.
Explaining that “most” evidence with regard to steps taken to reduce the use of illicit alcohol comes from Russia, Consultant Psychiatrist Dr. Prabath Wickrama says that the Russian government formed the Federal Service for Alcohol Market Regulation and published a national strategy concept to reduce alcohol abuse and alcohol-dependence at the population level from 2010-2020.
“There were multiple actions which included scientific taxing on alcohol leading to an increase in alcohol prices. There were also multiple other measures, most aligned with the WHO’s 10 factor method, with the single goal of reducing per capita consumption. Ten years after the concept’s adoption, alcohol consumption seems to have declined by about a third,” he points out.
He stresses that despite increases in prices both illicit and legitimate liquor consumption reduced because policymakers had implemented specific measures to counteract illicit liquor including monitoring the supply chain and anti-counterfeit legislation.
Alcohol consumption seems to have declined by about a third in Russia, the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health has stated in an article.
On other hand, Dr. Wickrama is quick to point out, there is enough evidence to suggest that a reduction in alcohol prices increases consumption especially among adolescents and harmful drinkers. The financial consequences then affect their purchasing power which will lead a percentage of them to resort to illicit liquor.
| Serious harm to health including cancer – no safe drinking limit Overwhelming is the evidence of the close link between alcohol and health. “Alcohol is the third leading cause of preventable cancers worldwide,” is the stark revelation in an Advisory on ‘Alcohol and Cancer Risk 2025’ by the Surgeon General of the United States of America. The advisory states: “The direct link between alcohol use and cancer was first established in the late 1980s and evidence for this link has strengthened over time. “This body of scientific evidence demonstrates a causal relationship between alcohol use and increased risk for at least seven different types of cancer, including breast (in women), colorectum, oesophagus, liver, mouth (oral cavity), throat (pharynx) and voice box (larynx). “The more alcohol consumed, the greater the risk of cancer. For certain cancers, like breast, mouth and throat cancers, evidence shows that this risk may start to increase around one or fewer drinks per day.” In a World Report in the Lancet Volume 405 on February 1, this year, author Sharmila Devi asks: “Should alcohol carry cancer Associations between alcohol consumption and cancer are scientifically well established, but the public are often unaware of the links, she states, harking back to a Lancet Editorial written 35 years ago which raised the risk of alcohol causing cancer. The WHO identified alcoholic beverages as a group 1 carcinogen in 1988. There were 741,300 cancer cases worldwide attributable to alcohol consumption in 2020, according to a global burden of cancer study cited by the US Surgeon General, the report states. It adds that in 2026, Ireland will become the first country to legally mandate alcohol producers to provide comprehensive warnings on alcohol products…………Other countries that are developing cancer warnings include Norway, Thailand and Canada. While quoting WHO Regional Adviser for Alcohol, Illicit Drugs and Prison Health at WHO Europe, Carina Ferreira-Borges, as saying: “Alcohol industry lobbying is one of the factors behind the slow progress in disseminating the public health risks of drinking”, the report further states that Michael Pignone of the American Association for Cancer Research steering committee has called for policy solutions as the three major exposure risks for cancer are smoking at number one, obesity at number two and alcohol at number three. Dr. Amila Isuru, meanwhile, underscores that there is absolutely “no safe drinking limit”, as touted by Sri Lankans who say that they have one or two drinks. | |
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