Who's to blame for the alcohol epidemic?
Last year I was asked to be interviewed by BBC Radio WM in the West Midlands of the United Kingdom. They asked me to talk about the shocking discoveries broadcaster Adrian Chiles had uncovered when he was forced to put his own drinking under the spotlight.
A year later and Adrian is back and he's not happy. He's claiming that the alcohol producers are not playing fair.
Tonight BBC Panorama will run a special on how the alcohol industry is not helping when it comes to the growing problem drinking epidemic in the UK.
This is no shock to me!
I have long said that the alcohol companies are acting as badly as the Big Tobacco companies of the '70s and '80s.
Adrian says, throughout creating a docudrama called Drinkers Like Me last year, I discovered just how much I was boozing, and what damage I 'd done myself. I wasn't anywhere near as healthy as I thought I was, my liver was struggling for sure. More than that, I discovered that my drinking could also be responsible for my high blood pressure and other health concerns.
If I am being honest I would say I really wanted to find somebody else to blame for this mess I had found myself in.
However, it does appear that the booze makers actually aren't being as honest and transparent as they really need to be. I still appreciate a beer or two and, even though I have reduced the number of drinks I have per week, I most likely still dust off a lot more than the advised safe maximum amount of alcohol use.
I am not here to preach
Folks everywhere must have the opportunity to partake of what they like, but they ought to do this with full facts made available to them. The drinks industry appears hell-bent on holding this important information back from us.
Think about a bar, with its never-ending row of frosted beer and lager taps. On a few, you will see clear labeling of the amount of alcohol in the drink. But why doesn't it advise you the number of units of alcohol there are in a serving?
Even MacDonalds has to show it's calorie information these days, so why doesn't alcohol have to do the same?
It goes without saying, if you pay for a pack of chips to go with the beer, it needs to have complete dietary details plainly and clearly noted on it.
It seems there is effectively a dispensation for beer, wine, and spirits.
The alcohol industry is getting away with murder
If it's got booze in it, then there's no requirement to have the health details on there. For that reason, while there need to be transparent facts on sodas and candy, surely something as damaging to the nation's health as alcohol must have the same requirements placed upon it?
That just feels plain wrong!
A few years ago the UK chief clinical specialists calculated and published the latest UK drinking standards at a brand-new reduced amount, for both males and females. Several years later, on the substantial bulk of alcoholic goods we checked out for my TV show, many manufacturers still aren't choosing to make this at all clear.
Nobody really understands units anyway
Little wonder that less than one in five of us understand how much is too much, as it's on barely any labels whatsoever. In many cases, the outdated guidance, just under 30 units for males and 20 for females, is all you'll get.
When it comes to the UK saf
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