A new report has drawn attention to the increasing impact of excessive alcohol consumption across Europe.
A panel of experts, alongside the medical journal The Lancet, argues that stronger measures are now needed, including significantly higher taxes on both alcohol and unhealthy foods, reports RTE.
Professor Frank Murray, Chair of the European Health Alliance on Alcohol and co-author of the report, said the extent of liver disease across Europe is “absolutely enormous”.
He said approximately 300,000 people die annually from liver cirrhosis and liver cancer — around 780 deaths each day — with alcohol as the leading cause, followed by ultra-processed foods, reports RTE.
He added that there is a “very big drive” within the report’s recommendations “to take public health measures to reduce the harms due to these products”.
Professor Murray said governments should adopt “evidence-based policies” to limit the harms caused by alcohol and ultra-processed foods, reports RTE.
He said these policies are “clearly well known,” and that there are “proven solutions” to many of the issues, but they are not being implemented.
Speaking to RTÉ’s News at One Prof Murray said: “A key recommendation is that the impact of industry – which has been very harmful in terms of the alcohol industry in particular – should be excluded from all public health discussions around those topics, that would be absolutely critical, reports RTE.
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“A second argument is that we should align taxes on alcohol and ultra-processed foods or unhealthy foods to the economic burdens that they impose,”, reports RTE.
“It seems quite unjust that the state bears all of the harms of the alcohol and unhealthy food industries while these industries are making enormous profits,” Professor Murray said, reports RTE.
He said the postponement in Ireland of alcohol health warning labels until September 2028 — originally due from 22 May 2026 — occurred “at the behest of the alcohol industry, which put intense pressure on the government”.
He described it as a “terrible shame…that the [drinks] industry got its way” in delaying the labels, noting there is a “good deal of evidence” supporting their effectiveness, reports RTE.
“They [health labels] sensitize people to what the harms are and help reflect upon their use of that product.”, reports RTE.
Alcohol Action Ireland CEO Dr Sheila Gilheany said the report demonstrates that delaying mandatory alcohol labelling in Ireland will not be “consequence-free” for some people.
“Along with the impact on liver disease, in the period of the delay more than 2,000 people in Ireland will have been diagnosed with cancer caused by alcohol. This includes some of the most common cancers in Ireland such as breast and bowel cancer with one in every eight breast cancers arising from alcohol.
“There will also be upwards of 10,000 babies born with Foetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD), which is a completely preventable neuro-developmental condition that has lifelong implications and is estimated to cost the Irish exchequer €2.4 billion a year in terms of service need. Labels are crucial to efforts to reduce incidences of cancer, liver disease and FASD in Ireland and indeed to change the conversation about this product which is heavily marketed as risk-free and essential to everyday living. What is essential is that there are no further delays to labelling’s implementation,” she Dr Gilheany said, reports RTE.
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