Shock adverts to warn on binge-drinking

A massive surge in binge drinking, particularly among young women, is to be tackled by hard-hitting government proposals to be unveiled this week.

Encouraged by the rise of alcopops and "celebrity ladettes" who can match men pint for pint, women are increasingly drinking heavily.

The scale of the problem is so great the Government has been prompted to draw up tough plans to curb binge drinking.

Ministers are preparing to use shock advertising campaigns and hard-hitting health warnings to force drinkers away from the bottle.

Alcohol producers and even bars and pubs could be told to put labels on glasses of wine, alcopops and bottles of beer warning consumers how much alcohol is inside.

Doctors and nurses will also be taught how to spot patients who are drinking too much and refer them to specialist units set up to deal with the problem.

In 1984, nine per cent of women were drinking more than the amount deemed safe. By 2000 the figure had almost doubled to 17 per cent - and experts warn the total is now higher.

Even the Portman Group, the organisation which represents the UK's alcohol manufacturers, has been forced to admit that tough action is on the horizon.

Chief executive Jean Coussins said: "We just do not know what the long-term effects of heavy drinking for young women are. We know that there has been a huge rise in heavy drinking among the 16-24 age group.

Because women now put off marriage and children until they are older, they may continue heavy drinking up to the age of 30. At the moment, we just do not know what effects this might have on fertility and we need to take action to make women slow down these habits."

The proposals are being considered by the Cabinet Office which will later this week unveil an interim report on the problems of alcohol abuse in Britain. They are drawing up a strategy for how the Government should reduce alcohol abuse over the next few years.

Present health guidelines suggest women should drink no more than two to three units of alcohol a night while men should not exceed four.

More than six in one evening is considered dangerous for a woman while more than eight for a man is thought of as unhealthy. A bottle of wine contains nine units.

Almost one in five people aged between 18 and 25 admit they regularly drink to get drunk. A quarter of women between 16 and 24 drink more than six units of alcohol in one evening at least once a week.

The popularity of harddrinking, fun-loving young women, typified by celebrities such as Zoe Ball and Sara Cox, has made it socially acceptable for women to drink to excess.

Professor Robin Touquet, an alcohol abuse expert at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington, said: "There is no doubt that there has been an alarming rise in the number of women binge-drinking. As a result, they are heading towards the death and disease levels suffered by men - women are literally drinking themselves to death."

Some 4,000 Britons die of alcohol-related liver disease every year - 1,600 of them are women. Doctors have also seen more cirrhosis cases among men and women in their twenties and thirties rather than forties and fifties.

Women have a greater risk of falling victim because their size means the effects of alcohol are stronger while their hormones make it harder to process alcohol.