Britons 'ignoring advice on alcohol harm'

23:33 Britons 'ignoring advice on alcohol harm' 0 Comments

Many people fail to pay attention to the government's guidelines on alcohol consumption, England's public health minister has said. Government warnings about the dangers of alcohol misuse do not appear to have had a significant effect on people's behaviour, it has been claimed. Public health minister Anne Milton told MPs that, while the dangers associated with smoking and obesity were generally accepted by the public, many people still did not accept that exceeding the guideline limits for alcohol consumption was risky. She also argued that many people are reluctant to accept government messages about how to behave. Speaking to the House of Commons science and technology committee, Ms Milton said: "I think [the guidelines] have an impact in as much as we know that the first step in changing behaviour is people being aware of the harm it can cause. "[But] I still think that whereas people accept the harm that smoking causes, they accept the problems being overweight causes, there is still some issue about accepting the harm that alcohol causes." The minister also pointed out that, even when people are aware of the potential risks associated with a certain behaviour, many choose to ignore the dangers - hence the fact that 22 per cent of people in England still smoke. Earlier this month, the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Physicians called for the existing guidelines on alcohol consumption to be retained. They told the Commons inquiry that greater clarity and consistency was needed to ensure consumers were able to understand messages on healthy drinking levels.