Tories plan 'clearer' approach to drinks

The Conservatives want to introduce a new system to replace units of alcohol in a bid to encourage safer drinking. But will it make things clearer or just add to confusion? John Downing reports.

WHAT exactly is a unit of alcohol?

It was once classified as a single pub measure of spirits, a half pint of a normal strength beer or a standard 125 millilitre glass of wine.

But with the alcohol content in many drinks increasing, and wine served in 175ml glasses as standard in many outlets, there is confusion about how many units are in each drink.

The official classification for a 125ml glass of wine (12.5 per cent) is now 1.5 units.

If drinks are poured at home, the estimation of the number of units consumed is, of course, more inexact than in a pub.

This creates problems for those not wanting to exceed the limit for driving and who believe drinking just one glass of wine may be safe - it may, in fact, put them over the legal limit.

The Conservatives are proposing that the term "units of alcohol" should be scrapped in favour of centilitres of pure alcohol.

They say the current approach of using units is widely misunderstood and want it replaced with centilitres, arguing the public would have a better understanding of a system where the amount of pure alcohol was clearly set out.

Andrew Lansley, South Cambridgeshire MP and shadow health secretary, said: "To enable people to make the right choices we need to provide them with simple and correct information.

"Information is a basis for us to create a positive climate for changing behaviour.

"Units are not transparent. If you asked people how much alcohol is in a unit, not many would know.

"People also find it difficult to translate units to numbers of drinks."

Returning to the original question, what is a unit of alcohol? In purely volumetric terms, it is one centilitre (1cl) of alcohol so under the Tory proposals, information on units would simply equate to centilitres.

For those not familiar with all the units in the metric system, there are 100 centilitres in a litre. One unit is 10ml (or 1cl) or eight grams of pure alcohol.

As part of their proposals, the Conservatives have also called for extra information to be put on the labels of alcoholic drinks, including calorie content, as part of a voluntary agreement with the drinks industry.

But some campaigners on alcohol-related issues say such a system would only work if it was made mandatory.

Recent research shows that under the current voluntary agreement, drinks manufacturers only put unit information on the labels of around half of all drinks, despite an industry pledge last year to improve compliance.

The Tories' proposals have been given a lukewarm response by some campaigners.

Alcohol Concern said it favours more information on labels but said many people now have a grasp of alcohol units.

A spokeswoman for Alcohol Concern said:

"Allowing the industry to regulate itself is like a chocolate teapot - useless. You need mandatory regulation."

It wants five pieces of information to be on all labels. The first two would be the alcohol unit content and the sensible drinking limits - the Government recommends that men do not regularly exceed three to four units of alcohol a day, or two to three units for women.

Other information would be the www.drinkaware.co.uk web address, directing people to advice on drinking and its effects; a warning about drinking if pregnant or trying to conceive; and a "know your limits" message based on Government information.

It also wants a health warning, similar to those displayed on cigarette packets, to let people know that alcohol can increase the risk of diseases such as breast cancer.

Don Shenker, Alcohol Concern's chief executive, said: "If people want more information, the Government should provide it through mandatory labelling.

"It's consumer choice - if you don't have information, you can't make a choice yourself."

Official figures on the NHS Choices "know your limits" website, www.units.nhs.uk , reveal that around 10 million people drink more than the Government's recommended limits.

Between 15,000 and 20,000 premature deaths in England and Wales each year are associated with alcohol misuse.

Know your limits
Alcohol units guide (source: units.nhs.uk)

25ml single shot of spirits
(40 per cent): 1 unit

330ml bottle of beer/lager/cider
(4 per cent): 1.3 units

275ml bottle of alcopop
(5 per cent): 1.4 units

125ml (small) glass of wine
(12.5 per cent): 1.5 units

440ml can of beer
(5 per cent): 2.2 units

Pint of beer/lager/cider
(4 per cent): 2.3 units

175ml (standard) glass of wine
(14 per cent): 2.5 units

330ml bottle of super-strength beer/lager/cider
(9 per cent): 3 units

250 ml (large) glass of wine
(13 per cent): 3.3 units

1 litre of beer/lager/cider
(4 per cent): 4 units

1 litre of beer/lager/cider
(6 per cent): 6 units

750ml bottle of wine
(11 per cent): 8.3 units

1 litre of super-strength beer/lager/cider
(9 per cent): 9 units

750ml bottle of wine
(14 per cent): 10.5 units