10.02.14
Minimum pricing would affect harmful drinkers, not the poor
Introducing minimum pricing for alcohol would reduce deaths and hospital admissions amongst the highest-risk drinkers, without penalising moderate drinkers on low incomes, new research shows.
A study from the University of Sheffield, published in the Lancet, found that a 45p per unit price would have “negligible effects” on non-harmful drinkers.
The model analysed how consumers respond to price changes and estimates how people in different income brackets and socioeconomic groups would change their drinking and spending habits if a minimum price was introduced.
A 45p price would have the most pronounced effects on the 5% of the population classed as ‘harmful drinkers’, who would make up three quarters of the total reduction in alcohol consumption.
The study predicted 860 fewer alcohol-related deaths per year for this group and 29,900 fewer hospital admissions. Minimum pricing would reduce harmful drinkers intake by nearly 300 units a year, while for moderate drinkers on low incomes, consumption would reduce by just 3-8 units a year, with an increase in spending of 4p.
The study’s lead author, Dr John Holmes, said: “Overall, the impact of a minimum unit price policy on moderate drinkers would be very small, irrespective of income. The policy would mainly affect harmful drinkers, and it is the low income harmful drinkers—who purchase more alcohol below the minimum unit price threshold than any other group—who would be most affected.
“Policy makers need to balance larger reductions in consumption by harmful drinkers on a low income against the large health gains that could be experienced in this group from reductions in alcohol-related illness and death.”
Professor Petra Meier, director of the Sheffield Alcohol Research Group, and another author of the study, added: “Our study finds no evidence to support the concerns highlighted by Government and the alcohol industry that minimum unit pricing would penalise responsible drinkers on low incomes. Instead, minimum unit pricing is a policy that is targeted at those who consume large quantities of cheap alcohol. By significantly lowering rates of ill health and premature deaths in this group, it is likely to contribute to the reduction of health inequalities.”
Sir Ian Gilmore, the RCP’s special advisor on alcohol, and chair of the Alcohol Health Alliance said: “It is excellent to have this important confirmation of what we have been telling UK Government – a minimum unit price for alcohol would NOT damage the pockets of moderate drinkers whatever their income and is an evidence-based policy that is exquisitely targeted at those, and those around them, who are currently suffering harm. It is time for Government to stop listening to the vested interests of the drinks industry and act.”
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