Posted on 08/19/2007 8:55:17 PM PDT by neverdem
LONDON (AP) — Last call at a British pub can be like a contact sport, with a crush of drunken customers suddenly heaving toward the bar in search of one last round.
It's a hallowed British tradition, and doctors say an increasingly dangerous one.
Britain's taste for binge drinking, driven by a pub culture in which a good night out means packing in as many pints as possible before the traditional 11 p.m. closing time, could lead to a liver-disease epidemic within two decades unless Britons learn to drink more responsibly, authorities warned.
"There's been a frightening increase in alcoholic liver disease in recent years," said Dr. Ian Gilmore, president of the Royal College of Physicians.
Deaths from cirrhosis in Britain increased dramatically over the past two decades, while they fell steadily everywhere else in the Western world, according to government statistics.
In England and Wales, 17.5 deaths of every 100,000 men were due to cirrhosis in 2002, up from 8.3 in 1987. And in Scotland, the increase was even more dramatic: 16.9 cirrhosis deaths per every 100,000 men in 1987, up to 45.2 per 100,000 in 2002. In the U.S., every nine deaths per 100,000 in 2004 was attributable to cirrhosis.
"Deaths from cirrhosis [in Britain] are increasing out of proportion with anywhere else in the world," said Dr. Rajiv Jalan, a consultant hepatologist at London's University College Hospital.
Cheaper, more accessible alcohol is partly to blame.
Binge drinking in the European Union is highest in Ireland, Finland, Britain and Denmark, according to an EU survey published in March. The survey also found that almost one in five Europeans between the ages of 15 and 24 drink more than five alcoholic drinks in one sitting.
While other European countries also consume large amounts of alcohol, cultural differences might explain...
(Excerpt) Read more at washingtontimes.com ...
A sobering problem ...
They need not worry, sharia law will take care of that problem.
Now that there aren’t as many smokers to persecute, drinkers can step to the front of the line with the obese in tow. Enjoy your statist nanny state.
I’ll drink to that.
;-)
It used to be gin blossoms.
Aw no, not the old neighborhood.
In spite of an Islamic invasion due to excessive liberal immigration policies in the UK, good to see layers of capitalism are still working in the motherland.
The GIN CRAZE!
” the traditional 11 p.m. “
Unbelievable that this 11 p.m. law still exists in 2007 . Do the pubs still close for 3-4 hours in the afternoon as well ?
Better to start drinking more now so you can beat the rush a few years from now.
Cheaper, more accessible alcohol is partly to blame.
Let’s add a 100 pound tax to each drink!
BRILLIANT!
SARC/
That’s what the libs want to do in the U.S. with gasoline...
I was thinking of Hogarth too.
Bush's Anti-Aids Program Promotes Circumcision
Medicare Says It Won’t Cover Hospital Errors
FReepmail me if you want on or off my health and science ping list.
Thanks for the pic.
Creeping socialism in Britain folowed by creeping cirrhosis...
Hmmmmmmmmm......
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