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Ministers have approved the controversial move costing
the exchequer £10 million in an effort to persuade women, especially
in their thirties and forties, to cut down on their drinking with new
evidence showing that their excessive consumption is harmful for health,
says Dawn Primarolo, the Public Health Minister.
Three former Health Secretaries have already called
for higher taxes on alcohol to curb Britain's binge-drinking culture.
From all accounts the taxes are slated to go up in the next month's budget
and there is already a talk of the death of £2.99 a wine bottle,
the lowest price at a supermarket.
Primarolo said: 'I'm concerned that a lot of women are
drinking much more than they think they are.' Recent studies reported
already in delWine, indicate that the glass size has gone up from 125
mL to even 250 mL and 375 mL in some cases. With alcohol content going
up from 12% to 15-16% made her remark, 'these are women who may think
that one glass of wine equals one unit. But with the increased (alcohol)
strength of wine and large size of glasses these days, it could be anything
from one and a half units up to three and a half units, if it's a large
glass of Rioja.
'The health warnings featuring graphic warnings will
be quite stark and they need to be quite stark. We want to ensure that
women know the consequences of drinking, and know more about units so
they can decide how much they are going to drink,' she added.
However, the government fears that too much tax hike
would encourage 'booze cruise' shopping, encouraging drinkers to go to
France for cheap imports to drink at home. It also has sympathetic ears
for the moderate drinkers who would resent being clobbered with higher
taxes.
An interesting example of such moderate drinkers who
understand the benefits of moderate wine drinking is the British Medical
Association. It has recently applied for a late drinking license for its
London headquarters, which already has an 11am-11pm license. BMA wants
it to be extended from 9am to 1am.
The campaign, which is currently being developed and
is expected to be launched in the spring, aims to inform the public about
how much they are actually drinking and cut the number of alcohol related
hospital admissions.
It will give clear information about how many units
there are in alcoholic drinks and aims to challenge perceptions that say
it is all right to be drunk.
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