Britain's Drink Problem - BBC Panorama

as for many people social drinking has always been a big part of my life then last year I took a hard look at quite how much I was putting away okay yesterday but four pints of Guinness plus four bottles of beer before dinner bloody other sight points not including wine yesterday I realized gone and damaged my health you're at risk of disease progression disease progression to cirrhosis cirrhosis end stage liver disease and liver failure why is it we understand public health messages like eating five a day and stopping smoking but never quite get our heads around what doctors say is a safe level of drinking who didn't know it was 14 units for me [Music] why don't our whole producers spell out what the guidelines are we've got this ridiculous silver on white again you can't actually see it again no mention of the 14 unit maximum I want to know why this multi-billion pound industry is allowed to regulate itself make up its own rules is there a problem that we need to address particularly for the baby boomer generation who are aging yes I think there is should the industry be responsible for that no identic should in England alcohol's the cheapest it's been in 30 years and debts through alcohol are the highest in 20 years so I've been trying to stop people dying of liver disease by changing alcohol policy we're just not winning the drinks industry are winning and the reason they're winning is because the government spends more time listening to the drinks industry than they do listening to doctors and the chief medical eyes [Music] [Music] like many of us Claire Haughton like to drink at the end of the day to unwind she never thought it would have such devastating consequences for a life having lost a home she's now living in this Caravan in Oxfordshire it's really really nice to meet you we're gonna do shake hands or hug come on let's do it how you doing Eclair a busy working mum one glass of wine became another and then another they'd always been a drinker when did he really start taking off that would be the wine o'clock time what was your wine o'clock I never know what timing yeah yeah yep five so this was kids at the time the other kids tea on the table yeah yeah I was making their tea gotta wine onto my food gasps by battle time for the boys and then they're in bed and then they're in bed and that's good we go sit down friend of the glass on and a nice candle on you know yeah and then there's no stopping them you might as well crack on until bedtime yeah I did I did a quick drink to unwind every evening turned into very much more so that's I mean you say you're well into more than a hundred units absolutely but I had no idea I just drank what moment did you realize what state you were in what was that a GP visit Elizabeth it's what my liver failed during that liver failure so little things have got that bad before it before you realize what was happening to you yeah on his say from what happened you got some pain or bloated up two days later I just couldn't move with the pain we went to A&E and I was on the bed we being wheeled up the corridor and all I saw was the live a unit yeah and it was at that point I knew the doctors told my husband it was I've had a would about ten days left so from that moment since she saw that live award sign you haven't not a drop not have you come close no like so many of us Claire enjoyed drinking without understanding what a risk she was taking with her health you know what when I was drinking I had absolutely no idea and I still really don't know I'm not clear what a unit is if it said on the box and if it mentioned the liver and in the body you know like a picture of a liver what was doing to my body I would have actually a thought that I would have thought twice so thank you angry what make you angry it is industry because I know they need to make their money fair dues but come on you need to put it out there because it will be saving lives it will be saving people not having to give that house up not having to give their children liver units across the country are now treating 20,000 people with alcohol-related liver disease and that number is rising many of those patients aren't what most of us would think of as problem drinkers I've come to the Royal Liverpool Hospital to meet one of the country's leading liver specialists so this looks very much like the sharp end to me of what you do this is the sharp and this is the liver ward which I've been on for longer than I care to remember and over that time I've seen an increase in the harms from alcohol to the liver particularly in young people and this is that this is the frightening thing that we see people in their 20s and 30s who had no warning and suddenly present with advanced liver disease why would that be when we hear that alcohol consumption is falling gently well I think the consumption is falling particularly amongst the young but we think those people that are drinking are often drinking in a more destructive and harmful pattern than they were the peak age of death from alcohol is between 45 and 55 when people are you know still in their prime so what would you say to a heavy drinker says nothing on the way I feel fine the liver has got fantastic reserved so you can you can you know appear perfectly normal on about 10 percent of your liver working and then the first thing they know is they go yellow we go jaundiced and they're in liver failure sometimes these people can die within weeks as well as causing liver disease I now realize drinking is linked to all my Trinity of middle-age malaise hypertension reflux and anxiety stroke depression in total it's linked to 200 illnesses and 7 cancers including bowel and breast cancer in 2016 with scientific evidence about the health risks piling up new low-risk drinking guidelines were introduced by the UK's chief medical officers it was set at 14 units a week for men and women but how many of us know what the advice is and what it means [Music] it's quiz time at my local okay folks thanks for having me I'm going to ask you seven questions to test your knowledge on alcohol how many units of alcohol is that in a double gin and tonic the number of units in a drink isn't displayed in pubs and bars so I suspect they'll struggle how many units of alcohol are in a pint of San Miguel at five percent ABV the answers to this one are all over the place okay is everybody ready for the answers a pint of San Miguel the answer is 2.8 units so that zero points all around happy milliliters of your average 12.5% wine do you have to drink to have drunk one unit of alcohol and no consensus on this one at all that is 85 milliliters believe it or not still no points for anyone that's more than 85 you drinking there by the way the average drinker doesn't appear to be startlingly clued up now to those weekly low-risk drinking guidelines what is the maximum recommended weekly intake of alcohol expressed in units stated by the government's chief medical officers per week for women it is 14 units [Music] disappointingly for men it is also 14 units that's around seven pints of beer a bottle and a half of wine or fourteen shots a week which to regular social drinkers doesn't sound very much who didn't know it was 14 units for men well how did you do in my little quiz I don't know why I think this but you look like clever men of the world we did you didn't know that 14 units is the recommended limit yeah right an American grass chelate you wise men and women do the only one who seemed to know that 14 units is the chief medical officers recommended limit so just you did okay it is absolutely amazing to me that nobody in that room apart from one woman on one table knew that the advice was not to drink more than 14 units a week not knew it and rejected the advice but didn't know the advice in the first place that's just mad if people like ox aren't really aware of it there's something wrong in the bloody message innocent language you are only 16% of us are aware of the 14 unit guideline the limits were at 28 units a week for men and 21 for women three years ago when the chief medical officers changed that to 14 units for both men and women they asked drinks producers to make sure the new guidelines were clearly shown on bottles and cans [Music] catherine's every from the Institute of alcohol studies has comrade to take me through just how much progress the industries made on this since 2016 okay I've got some bottles in to look at the labeling with you please aren't all mine I got them earlier it doesn't represent my daily intake just so you know what should there be on every bottle so we would argue that consumers should have information about the chief medical officers low-risk drinking guidelines so you should say fourteen units don't drink any more than that on it okay let's see how this one does so small enough to use my torch to light it up well it doesn't give the 14 units a week it gives a daily intake and also is a different one for men and different one for women so that reflects the old guidelines that were updated by the UK chief medical officers in January 2016 it's not acceptable to be displaying the old guidelines on products because they could be inadvertently passing consumers at greater risks so what this information might indicate is that as a man you can drink a hundred percent more than the current weekly guideline so this information really does need to be removed okay some rosy or white zinfandel my god that's so small I mean how hard is that to read that silver on white and again it's the old guidelines so some products on the shelves don't actually provide health information on the label but they advise consumers to visit an alcohol producer or industry websites for information drink away wait how many recorded instances in the history of the world does anyone go looking forward to drinking that oh I'll just go to the drink away website and check for more healthy form a just not gonna happen it's an unreasonable assumption that consumers especially in crowded shows and supermarkets are going to check up websites every time they purchase an individual genre right on here 2.8 units for the whole lot so not much on there why aren't there rules for this currently there is no mandatory regulation around health information units and guidelines on alcohol products in the UK it's entirely self regulated by the alcohol industry and there are no penalties for alcohol producers who give drinkers wrong out of date advice Oh Stella I've been known to drink more than one of these at one sitting we've got this ridiculous silver on white again again no mention of the 14 unit maximum panorama checked a hundred labels in stores across the UK only 14 have the new lower safe drinking limits on them this does have the up-to-date 14 units a week RT does yet that against difficult to read Jack Daniels wants this gun the old guidelines as well I think that this self regulatory system is failing consumers no one's saying you've got a right alcohol kills on it put the units and put the maximum weekly suggested intake again I'm getting sick of looking on these it's all the same it's all the same it's all the same story the organization responsible for self regulation is the Portman group they issue guidance to produce us on what health advice should go on their labels but doctors question how it can be trusted to do this when it is entirely funded by the alcohol industry the industry isn't regulated as such it's self regulated what would you say about that regime that's very attractive to government because they're not picking up the bill the problem is that industry has a primary responsibility to its shareholders if people drink less they will make less money and that conflict of interest is not always appreciated by government and I think government has to wave a stick and accept the fact that the industry cannot give unbiased advice on this topic and while the well the arrangement is a voluntary one then it does he will not step up to the plate when the guidelines were changed almost three years ago the Portman group was given until September of this year to get out of date health advice removed from labels on bottles like these so why hasn't it done so why do so few labels fail to refer to the 14 units the 14 units recommended safe drinking guideline do you buy it it's not my job to write the science they said it's 14 units and that's what matters now so I think the industry's job is to communicate the 14 units in the context of wider risk and in the industry does that in which case how come only 16% of the population are aware of the 14 unit guideline 16% one in five I mean it's poor the message isn't getting through well you're absolutely right that there's more to do it will take time for people to understand the new guidance we understand that but that's why we're looking at different ways to communicate them but the simplest way of communicating it is putting it on the bottles we are Smirnoff here look that's got the old eunuchs says four units a day possible for men it's 28 units a week that's miles more that's twice well they're just an eclair area that's the old guidance we three years on - three years on now and this has been produced since then I mean what why haven't they changed it when the updated guidance came out the industry was given a period of grace to change labels that period of grace ends in September this year there's ongoing discussions amongst my members about how they communicate that risk and how they communicate the CMO guidance what commitment can you give us that by October after this ludicrously long grace period is over we will finally have the up-to-date guidance in some barely legible form probably will be on these bottles the period of grace is then over and it will have 14 units or expressed in a daily thing if you must that will be on there we're talking to our members about what they're going to do on their labels those discussions are ongoing and we'll see where they're at by September and it's not just these new low-risk drinking guidelines the industry's refused to embrace it's also opposed proposals designed to tackle the link between low prices and alcohol harm in England alcohol is now more affordable than it's been at any time in the last 30 years often cost in little more than soft drinks some alcohol is incredibly cheap see this one three liters a very strong cider for less than four quid easily enough to not make clean out to put another way you 14 units your weekly recommended limits will cost you just two pounds 41 the government under David Cameron proposed something called minimum unit pricing the thinking was this had push up the price of the cheapest booze the booze often associated with problem drinking it was a proposal welcomed by many in the medical profession it's a tax which is focused exquisitely focused on really heavy drinkers most people will not drink white cider and they simply won't drink it at 16 pence a unit well if that goes up to 50 pence a unit that's a three-fold increase in price that's going to have a very marked impact on their behaviour and that is why when the evidence has been studied mu P is the most effective way to reduce alcohol related harm [Music] today many drinks companies remain firmly opposed to the measure this is the International Wine Fair in London where producers from 32 countries have gathered to show off their ways that's quite strong isn't it that one thirteen and a half I'm here to meet Myles bail a former civil servant who now represents 300 wine and spirits companies in their negotiations with government what was minimum unit pricing so vociferously lobbied against but don't quite get it I mean I look our long-held position was that we thought it'd be unfair on the less well-off and ineffective well the Northern Ireland a seen fit to try as well so just why not England but but but we were other got this the wrong way around and we am I think if you have managed to achieve a huge 15% decrease in consumption since 2004 15 in 15 years and increase we are all right liver disease at the same time bizarrely which we've seen as well increase an incident of that well look I mean some of those that how statistics are compiled is there a problem that we need to address particularly the baby boomer generation who are aging yes I think there is should the industry be responsible for that no I don't think should government yes should be furnished should encourage it Public Health Lobby should do something I think we quite like to help would like to know what to do about that but but it's definitely not our area of expertise nor should it be the Scottish government facedown fierce opposition to explants to introduce minimum pricing one of his biggest opponents was the Scotch whisky Association it fought a bitter core battle arguing it would be a restraint on trade the government won and from May last year alcohol in Scotland can't be sold for any less than 50 pence per unit I'm in Glasgow to see what effect it's having [Music] are you doing is me it must be the Tydeus shop in all of gas now I've bought this very fine bottle it's extremely cheap and very strong I picked this up for three pounds 79 in a less civilized part of the country known as England right now what could you do this for me now three pounds seventeen island what would this cost here eleven pounds we used to store care it was between four pounds and five before the minimum placing came and after that like I said to over da lovin since minimum pricing was introduced sales of strong white cider have fallen by almost three quarters so overnight people stopped buying it yeah people just wonder one EP 11 pound for a three litre cider look when you buy anything and paid that amount for that they've gotta go for the sped up but how much of the new rules affected the price of other drinks here so this stuff here what what increased in price nothing majorly yeah maybe the earth depends here or there but nothing as drastic as your rate ciders what else what about the wine so the minimum price is four pounds fifty for wine now but yeah you've got nothing at that price anyway not one of the arguments from the alcohol industry was that you're going to effect sensible drinkers so do you think it has no no not in the slightest if you're only buying maybe see two bottles away you know you don't maintain an extra 50 pins or in a bottle I mean it's not and the grand scheme of things it's not a major place deferens what do these customers make of Scotland's new tougher drink law okay all right minimum unit pricing have you got a view on it people so and these replicas really it's worth a try yeah yeah are you gonna pop these in your eyes when you spawn cool enjoy your day have a nice all the best my minimum pricing is that the only restriction placed on alcohol sales here Scottish stores can't promote alcohol on multi buy so there's no three for a tenner or buy four for the price of three and shops have to stop selling alcohol by 10:00 at night at the Royal Glasgow infirmaries liver units doctors are encouraged by what they're seeing we could certainly have the impression that we're seeing fewer patients with the most severe forms of alcohol-related liver disease we still are seeing a lot of patients with our colleague liver disease let's be very clear that this is still a major problem but the most severe florid forms of the condition alcoholic hepatitis seems to be less less frequent than it was previously so I think it is vital that we take an action do nothing and sitting in our hands I would have led the persistence of an informal situation so taking this action I think has been the right thing to do it's too early to know whether these first impressions will translate into hard statistics and if they do whether even that will persuade the producers to embrace minimum pricing alcohol related illnesses are costing the NHS an estimated three and a half billion a year the UK alcohol industry is worth 16 billion pounds to the economy and provides tax revenues of more than 10 billion which is why doctors think the industry is so effective when it comes to lobbying against alcohol health initiatives I mean I've been this game for about 20 years I've been trying to stop people dying of liver disease by changing alcohol policy and if I'd thought 20 years ago that this is where we were I just would have been so depressed I mean we're not we're just not winning the drinks industry are winning and the reason they're winning is because the government spends more time listening to the drinks industry than they do listening to doctors and the chief medical officer the World Health Organization says government's shouldn't sit down with the alcohol industry to discuss health policy panorama has found out that there are meetings between our Department of Health and the drinks companies on average twice a month the man from the industry's Portman Group though insists they're on the side of the angels for me I would love everyone who chooses to want to drink to drink but to drink with them the chief medical officers low risk guidelines okay wait that would cost the industry around somewhere north of 10 billion pounds a year if everyone started drinking moderately who isn't at the moment are you sure the people who pay you would be up for that well this is an industry that genuinely does care about harm actually losing so demonstrably so my members alcohol producers don't benefit from people who misuse alcohol we want to stop people misusing alcohol and get sustainable businesses built on people drinking in moderation and drinking sensibly the Department of Health told us it is important to hold the alcohol industry to account and says it's working with the industry to get the chief medical officers guidance shown on labels the department also said that while evidence from Scotland will remain under review there are no plans to introduce minimum unit pricing in England the former public health minister Steve brine takes a different view on that and says self-regulation isn't working I don't think we should be setting ourselves up for an argument for a punch-up with the industry in practice though if it was working we would have proper labeling would you agree I would agree it's completely not working at the moment working with industry for the simple reason that it's all a voluntary arrangement so working with industry with the stick backed up by legislation is what we have seen make change in the obesity space for instance so we sugar it was carrot and stick with the alcohol industry yeah it's all carrot it's all America at the moment and there's no stick behind it at the moment so I want to see us work with the alcohol industry yes but I want the alcohol industry to know that we are deadly serious about making a change here if they if they won't come with us [Applause] it doesn't seem a lot to us for the alcohol industry to meet its own commitment to label its products properly and if it doesn't do so for the government to lay the law down to force them to do it now as for minimum unit pricing while England will soon be the only part of the UK where someone with serious alcohol addiction issues and inevitably heading for serious harm will still be able to pick up a three litre bottle of super strong cider for less than four quid and that apparently is something the Westminster Government is entirely relaxed about [Music] you

Channel: BBCPanorama

Views: 339,728

Keywords: alcohol, drinking, Britain, BBC, BBC Panorama, Adrian Chiles

Id: ab5zCIfWeMs

Length: 28min 51sec (1731 seconds)

Published: Tue Jan 28 2020