The Scottish Parliament should introduce minimum pricing for alcohol, according to dental public health experts at the British Association for the Study of Community Dentistry (BASCD).
At its conference in London, delegates called on the Scottish and UK Governments to introduce new measures to curb binge drinking, anti-social behaviour and to tackle Scotland's entrenched alcohol-related health problems.
Scotland has one of the fastest growing chronic liver disease rates in the world, with one in three divorces linked to alcohol problems and 65,000 children under 16 estimated to be living with parents with alcohol problems. Alcohol contributes to a wide range of diseases and injuries including mouth cancer, assaults, accidents and injuries to teeth, jaws and the facial skeleton, the conference was told.
Dr Colette Bridgman, President of BASCD, said, 'One in 20 deaths in Scotland is attributable to alcohol. There is no doubt that cheap drink is damaging Scotland's health. As the relative price has dropped, consumption has risen. Stopping the sale of cheap alcoholic drinks would benefit health and won't harm business.' The conference delegates voted in favour of a nationwide minimum price for alcohol.
Dr Bridgman said that in Scotland, one in four (27%) men and nearly one in five (18%) women are binge drinking. The younger age groups (16-24) drink most and are most likely to exceed weekly and double daily limits. Fifteen of the 20 local areas in the UK with highest male alcohol-related death rates between 1998 and 2004 are in Scotland.
A recent study conducted at the University of Glasgow found that poverty was the major determinant of alcohol-related facial injuries. 'The scar on the face of Scotland: deprivation and alcohol-related facial injuries in Scotland' investigated influences on the incidence of alcohol-related facial injuries was published online in the Journal of Trauma on 13 November 2009.
