Bid to cap strength of drinks

Finnish researchers are recommending that beer and other drinks with more than 3.5 per cent alcohol be banned from shops to curb alcohol-related deaths.

A joint study by three research institutes said restricting the availability of higher-alcohol drinks in Alko, the state-owned monopoly drinks store, would prevent about 350 alcohol-related deaths a year. About 3,000 people die in Finland each year because of diseases or incidents related to alcohol.

The ban would be modelled on a similar move by neighbouring Sweden in 1977, which helped curb alcohol-related deaths. Finland’s current limit for alcohol content at the stores is 4.7 per cent.

The report released yesterday said Finland’s alcohol consumption is now highly problematic, having tripled over the past 40 years, with the quantity of pure alcohol consumed by each person estimated at about 10.2 litres per year. Deaths directly caused by alcohol have also tripled.

The move to reduce the alcohol content in beer in stores would reduce total alcohol consumption by 9 per cent, the researchers say.

“The public health and economy would benefit. There would be a bigger work force, and public health costs would fall.

“Some jobs would be cut in the brewing industry, but restaurants would need more workers as demand shifts,” said Aki Kangasharju, the head of the Government Institute for Economic Research.

“It is not a matter of beer taste, there are plenty of tastes around with 3.5 per cent. It is more of a cultural thing.”