French authorities are forced to start a fight for sobriety
As RFI notes, alcohol remains the second leading cause of premature death in France, after smoking, claiming 41,000 lives each year. Therefore, the French Ministry of Health has launched a new campaign for sobriety.
The campaign against alcohol abuse runs in the country from March 26 to April 14. It is conducted by the National Health Agency (Santé publique France), which monitors public health, warns about threats and epidemics, and is responsible for disease prevention. The campaign slogan sounds pleadingly firm: "For your health, maximum two glasses a day – and not every day!"
Two glasses (or goblets) a day, according to doctors, is the limit beyond which drinking increases the risk of various (often very serious) diseases: strokes, cancer, hypertension, cardiovascular disorders. And the French consume on average almost three (2.7) glasses of alcohol per day.
Contrary to popular belief, even moderate consumption of alcoholic beverages poses health risks, notes the French health agency. An international study published last year by the influential medical journal The Lancet showed that "safe" doses of alcohol simply do not exist: just one glass increases the risk of disease by half a percent.
French narcologist Bernard Basset commented on the results of his colleagues' 20-year work: "This study changes a lot with its scale and persuasiveness, the number of scientists who participated in it. It kills the myth of one glass of wine that has a beneficial effect, including on the heart. This is not true – and the study in The Lancet clearly shows this."
On the first day of the fight for sobriety, the agency published in its Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin fresh results of a study on the French people's craving for alcohol. The conclusions and estimates are based on a survey of 25,000 people.
Nearly a quarter of French people (23.6%) aged 18-75 exceed the recommended drinking maximum. The at-risk group includes ten and a half million people out of France's 67 million population. Although, of course, this does not refer to hardcore alcoholics.
19% of French people drink more than two glasses during the week. A tenth of respondents admitted that their weekly "dose" exceeds 10 glasses. And 8% drink almost daily (more than five days a week).
It is unlikely to surprise anyone that the French Ministry of Health concludes that alcohol abuse is most common among men. 33% of men exceed the safe dose of alcohol, compared to only 14% of women. Young and mature French people indulge in drinking differently. The younger generation drinks "rarely but heavily," occasionally but in large amounts. Older people, having settled down, drink less but more regularly. A third of abusers are people with low incomes (less than 1200 euros per month).
The French Health Agency warns: health risks arise even with one glass of alcohol per day. The goal of the anti-alcohol campaign, according to the agency's director general, Dr. François Bourdillon, is "to allow the French to make an informed choice in alcohol consumption with the least risk to health."
These days, a video is being aired on French television channels warning about the "destructive effect" of alcohol: "No more car accidents, no one crawls home on all fours, no one wakes up with a gloomy stranger, and no fights break out near bars. There is no need to go that far for alcohol to begin its destructive effect. By drinking more than two glasses a day, you increase the risk of stroke, cancer, and hypertension."
While the French Ministry of Health warns once again, France still ranks in the top three developed countries in terms of alcohol consumption per capita, and also leads the world ranking of per capita wine consumption. According to OECD data for 2016, France consumes 11.7 liters of pure alcohol per capita per year. Among economically developed countries, only Lithuania (13.2 liters) has higher rates; the Czechs are on par with the French, followed by Austria in the consumption ranking. The World Health Organization also ranks France third – but in the global ranking of per capita consumption (12.3 liters per person). However, after Lithuania and Estonia and before the Czech Republic.
In the wine consumption ranking, the French hold the lead: 44 liters per person per year. The top three wine lovers include residents of Slovenia and Croatia.
But the French seem to be smoking less and less. On March 25, the French government proudly announced that since 2016, the number of smokers in the country has decreased by 1.6 million people. One million French people quit smoking in 2017, and 600,000 people gave up the bad habit in just the first half of 2018. The authorities rely on their policy of constantly raising cigarette prices: by 2020, the price of a pack in France will rise to 10 euros.
Smoking remains the leading cause of premature death in the country, claiming 78,000 French lives each year.