Alcohol Unit Labelling Essential In Fight Against Binge Drinking Timebomb

12.00.00am UTC (GMT +0000) Fri 17th Sep 2004

Liberal Democrats today described today's Government figures, which show that one in five men and one in eleven women are binge drinkers as "shocking".

The Government survey showed that 21% of men drank more than eight units and 9% of women drank at least six units on at least one day in the previous week. Binge drinking levels in women are creeping up from 8% last year.

Commenting, Liberal Democrat Shadow Health Secretary Paul Burstow MP, said:

"The Government needs to look beyond the containment of the problem and start dealing with the causes. Alcohol abuse amongst both men and women is storing up huge long-term health costs.

"The Government is ignoring the ticking health timebomb of Britain's binge drinking culture. Their Alcohol Strategy fails to get to grips with the binge culture, which is putting the lives and health of so many at risk. Clear labelling with numbers of units should be mandatory."