Shocking warning from drink group Balance
May 4 2009 by Adrian Pearson, The Journal
NORTH East families have been warned a shameful record of middle-class drinking has left them facing a “cancer timebomb”.
Medical experts tasked with reducing the region’s soaring number of alcohol-related hospital admissions say they now believe people regularly having a few glasses of wine after work are as a big a health problem as city-centre binge-drinkers.
And last night there were calls for a minimum price for alcoholic drinks as a way of saving the region from itself.
Balance, the team set up by the Government to change the region’s drinking culture, is seeking to convince people that alcohol-related problems are just as likely to start in North East homes as they are from too many nights out.
Colin Shevills, director at the drinking task force, said he planned an awareness campaign to show people the health risk behind their daily drinking.
He said: “The challenges in the region are enormous, we have higher rates of hospital-related admissions than virtually any other region in England, something like 35% higher than some areas, including the highest level of binge drinking.
“But anti-social drinking is not necessarily our biggest problem. It is the most obvious issue and many people would say yes we have a problem with alcohol there.
“Yet the reality is there is a hidden aspect to the amount of alcohol we drink and that is you and me going home after a stressful day at work and having a glass of wine or maybe two or maybe three maybe most or every night of the week, and that is a ticking timebomb for our personal health.
