Conservatives want to abolish alcohol units system

dirtydog

dirtydog

dirtydog

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The term "units of alcohol" should be scrapped in favour of centilitres of pure alcohol, the Tories have said.

The party said there was confusion over units and the UK should adopt specific measures, as much of Europe does, to help encourage safer drinking.

They also called for extra information to be given on labelling, including calorie content, as part of a voluntary agreement with the drinks industry.

But the proposals were given a lukewarm response by campaigners.

Alcohol Concern said it was in favour of more information being given, but added many people were beginning to get a grasp on units.

A spokeswoman added: "Allowing the industry to regulate itself is like a chocolate teapot. You need mandatory regulation."

The proposals were part of a series of policies - many already announced - which were published in the Conservative Party's new public health strategy.

Professor Alan Maryon-Davis, president of the UK Faculty of Public Health, said: "Changing to centilitres would be a big mistake and undo 30 years of public education about units of alcohol.

"The best way to tackle confusion is to have mandatory standardised labelling. It's time to stop pussyfooting around with the alcohol industry."
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http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/8455252.stm

I think this is a terrible idea. Many people are familiar with the units system and I don't think it would be any more meaningful to people to say their can of lager has 20cl of alcohol, than to say it has two units. It isn't broken, don't fix it.
 
sounds good to me, ive never got my head around the units system, were as centilitres of pure alcohol is clear as day as to how much alcohol is in per drink!
 
LizardKing said:
sounds good to me, ive never got my head around the units system, were as centilitres of pure alcohol is clear as day as to how much alcohol is in per drink!
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A unit of alcohol is 10ml of alchol

How much difference does it really make?

I can see people might find it difficult to figure out how many units are in a large glass of 14% wine or something but I don't honestly see that those people would be able to figure out how many ml of alcohol is in a glass instead.

edit - in fact, 1cl = 10ml, 1 unit = 10ml, this wouldn't actually change ANYTHING other than what was written after the number, surely? If it has 2 units now, it will have 2cl after the change. What an absolutely pointless waste of time :confused:
 
The number of times I've heard people argue over how many units are in a drink is ridiculous. A lot of people also think 1 unit = 1 drink, whatever that drink may be. It's also confusing when you take into consideration what strength ale/lager you are drinking. A pint of Heineken or Carling C2 may be 2 units, but a pint of Kronenbourg or Stella may not even be 1.5.

Labelling drinks with exact amounts makes sense.
 
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The funniest thing is, that one unit is one centilitre of alcohol.

So if it says 1.7 units, or 2 units etc, the equivalent is......1.7cl or 2cl of alcohol.

GO TORIES.

This is the biggest problem:

But recent research showed that only just over half of all drinks contain unit information - despite an industry pledge last year to improve compliance.
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If the drink industry can't get their act in order and make it 100%, it should be made mandatory.
 
The units system, and how many you should drink per week, is completely made up anyway with no practical benefit. Body mass, what you've eaten, and 500 other factors alter how much you can drink each week.

It's like 'BMI' rating .. just a useless form of measurement.
 
Kenai said:
A unit of alcohol is 10ml of alchol

How much difference does it really make?

I can see people might find it difficult to figure out how many units are in a large glass of 14% wine or something but I don't honestly see that those people would be able to figure out how many ml of alcohol is in a glass instead.

edit - in fact, 1cl = 10ml, 1 unit = 10ml, this wouldn't actually change ANYTHING other than what was written after the number, surely? If it has 2 units now, it will have 2cl after the change. What an absolutely pointless waste of time :confused:
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A drink with 7ml alcohol will measure at 0.5unit (yay marketing!). Three of those and you're at 1.5units, huzzah.. oh wait, no, you're at 2.1! Change it to 0.7cl (or 7ml) and you've got a more accurate measurement. :)
 
How hard can it be?

If your going to drive... don't drink... if you've been (properly) drinking in the last 12 hours... don't drive... if your getting drunk more than 2 days a week... you have a problem.

Whats all this units lark?
 
Dj_Jestar said:
A drink with 7ml alcohol will measure at 0.5unit (yay marketing!). Three of those and you're at 1.5units, huzzah.. oh wait, no, you're at 2.1! Change it to 0.7cl (or 7ml) and you've got a more accurate measurement. :)
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Or just demand accuracy in unit measurement? 0.7 units...
 
Oh and I don't go drinking with 14 yros... and I'd say 1 in 5 do think something along the lines of 1 drink = 1 unit.
 
Dj_Jestar said:
A drink with 7ml alcohol will measure at 0.5unit (yay marketing!). Three of those and you're at 1.5units, huzzah.. oh wait, no, you're at 2.1! Change it to 0.7cl (or 7ml) and you've got a more accurate measurement. :)
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This.
A wise idea in my opinion - no one really knows about units and what is appropriate. Nevertheless, it won't really change much. Harsher sentencing measures are essential to tackle the problems of excess drinking.

No idea the nonsense about calorie notification though, guess they're trying to target weight concious women?
 
Dj_Jestar said:
A drink with 7ml alcohol will measure at 0.5unit (yay marketing!). Three of those and you're at 1.5units, huzzah.. oh wait, no, you're at 2.1! Change it to 0.7cl and you've got a more accurate measurement. :)
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I was just about to ask where you got 70ml from but it seems you've edited it. :p

Even so, a drink with 7ml alcohol will not measure at 0.5 units, if that is claimed by the packaging then it's lying.

284ml (half pint) at 2.5% = 0.7 units, or 0.7cl of alcohol, if it being marketed as 0.5 then it is a lie and that needs to stamped out. Changing the unit of measurement won't make a blind bit of difference to any perceptions such as 'oh 0.7 is only about half'
 
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