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Last Updated: Oct 29, 2008 - 11:04:25 AM |
Foodconsumer.org reports: About 123 college presidents want the government to lower the drinking age 18, news media report.
The college leaders argued that
lowering drinking age can reduce incidence of binge drinking and make
it easy for colleges to enforce the drinking law.
Currently, the federal drinking age is
set at 21. Some states attempted to lower the drinking age, but did
not seem to get enough support. The federal government has made it
clear that states that pass any law to lower the drinking age will
have their access to federal highway funds limited.
The petition called "Amethyst
Initiative" which has already stirred up a fierce debate nationwide
was initiated by former
Middlebury
College President John McCardell.
McCardell has enlisted a big company of
college presidents with many from prestigious institutions and public
schools such as Duke, Dartmouth and Johns Hopkins, and public schools
including
Ohio
State and the University of Maryland.
Mothers Against Drunk Driving and the
International Association of Chiefs of Police opposed any attempt to
lower the drinking age which said in a statement that changing the
law is a "terrible idea" that would "jeopardize the
lives of more teens", The Associated Press reported.
A health observer affiliated with
foodconsumer.org said that college presidents should know the fact
that alcohol is a carcinogen - a cancer causing agent that can raise
risk of cancer. Although not all drinkers get cancer, some will
because of drinking.
He said lowering the drinking age could
give a wrong message to young
students that drinking alcohol is okay
boosting consumption of alcohol.
He suggested that parents should do
their home and should not leave their children in the hands of
college presidents. Regardless of the drinking age law,
college
students should know that drinking can pose a health risk for some
people and should drink responsible, the foodconsumer.org observer
urged.
Cited below is a summary on alcohol and drinking by National Toxicology Program. Those who want to drink to be cool need to read this.
SUBSTANCE PROFILES REPORT ON CARCINOGENS , ELEVENTH EDITION
Alcoholic Beverage Consumption*
Known to be a human carcinogen
First Listed in the Ninth Report on Carcinogens (2000) Carcinogenicity
Consumption of alcoholic beverages is known to be a human carcinogen
based on sufficient evidence of carcinogenicity in human studies that
indicate a causal relationship between consumption of alcoholic
beverages and cancer. Studies indicate that the risk of cancer is most
pronounced among smokers and at the highest levels of consumption.
Consumption of alcoholic beverages is causally related to cancers of
the mouth, pharynx, larynx, and esophagus. Cohort and case control
studies in a variety of human populations are notable for their
consistency in reporting the presence of moderate to strong
associations with dose-response relationships for these four sites.
Evidence supports a weaker, but possibly causal, relation between
alcoholic beverage consumption and increased risk of cancers of the
liver and breast (Longnecker 1994). The effect of a given level of
alcoholic beverage intake on absolute risks of cancer of the mouth,
pharynx, larynx, and esophagus is influenced by other factors,
especially smoking. However, smoking does not explain the observed
increased risk of cancers associated with increased alcoholic beverage
consumption (IARC 1988, Longnecker and Enger 1996).
No adequate experimental animal carcinogenicity studies of alcoholic
beverages have been reported in the literature. Studies specifically
examining the carcinogenicity of ethanol in animals have not yielded
results that would suggest that the ethanol component of alcoholic
beverages is solely responsible for the increases in cancer observed in
people consuming alcoholic beverages.
Additional Information Relevant to Carcinogenicity Increased
frequencies of chromosomal aberrations, sister chromatid exchanges, and
aneuploidies have been found in the peripheral lymphocytes of
alcoholics. Ethanol-free extracts of some alcoholic beverages induced
sister chromatid exchanges in human cells in vitro and mutations in
bacteria (IARC 1988).
The mechanism by which consumption of alcoholic beverages can cause cancers in humans is not established.
Properties
Ethanol and water are the main constituents of most alcoholic
beverages. Using a standard measure of most drinks, the amount of
ethanol consumed is similar for beer, wine, and spirits (10 to 14 g).
Beer, wine, and spirits also contain volatile and nonvolatile flavor
compounds that originate from raw materials, fermentation, wooden casks
used for maturation, and synthetic substances added to specially
flavored beverages. The exact composition of many beverages is
confidential business information, though many published data define
the organic compounds typically present at low levels. Several of the
components and contaminants identified in beer, wine, and spirits are
known or suspected human carcinogens, including acetaldehyde,
nitrosamines, aflatoxins, ethyl carbamate (urethane), asbestos, and
arsenic compounds (IARC 1988).
Use
Alcoholic beverages have been made and used by most societies for
thousands of years (IARC 1988). Consumption trends, including overall
level of alcohol consumption, beverage choice, age and sex differences,
and temporal variations, differ among and within societies. In many
cultures, alcohol also has been used in medicine and various
pharmaceutical preparations.
Production
All alcoholic beverages are produced by the fermentation of fruit or
other vegetable matter. Most commercial and home production involves
fermented beverages that are classified, based on raw materials and
production methods used, as beer, wine, or spirits, although smaller
quantities of other kinds of fermented beverages (cider, rice wine,
palm wine, etc.) also are produced. Beer is produced by fermentation of
malted barley or other cereals with the addition of hops. Wine is made
from fermented grape juice or crushed grapes; fortified wines include
additional distilled spirits. Distilled spirits, so named because of
liquid distillation to increase the alcohol content after sugar
fermentation, originate from sources of starch or sugar, including
cereals, molasses from sugar beets, grapes, potatoes, cherries, plums,
and other fruits (IARC 1988). Although ethanol can be chemically
synthesized from ethylene, alcohol synthesis for use in beverages is
not employed by the alcoholic beverage industry because of the presence
of impurities from the synthetic process.
In 1990, American wine production was 4.5 million metric tons (10
billion pounds), beer production was 375 million hectoliters (10
billion gallons), and spirit production was 18.5 million hectoliters
(490 million gallons) (ARF 1994). World total production of the same
beverages was 29 million metric tons (6.4 billion pounds) of beer, 1
million hectoliters (26.4 million gallons) of wine, and 58 million
hectoliters (1.5 billion gallons) of spirits. In the United States in
2001, per capita consumption of beer was 21.7 gallons (82.1 L), of wine
was 2.0 gallons (7.6 L), and of distilled spirits was 1.3 gallons (4.9
L) (USDA 2003). The United States International Trade Administration
(ITA) tracks import and export data for various categories of beer,
wine, distilled spirits, and other alcoholic beverages. In 2002, U.S.
domestic exports and imports of many alcoholic beverages ranged from
millions to billions of liters (ITA 2003).
Exposure
A downward trend in alcohol consumption occurred in the United States
and many European countries from the turn of the twentieth century
until the period between the world wars. Alcohol consumption in the
United States increased from the 1940s until the early 1980s, and then
began to decrease steadily. By 1993, consumption had declined to the
lowest level since 1964. Apparent per capita consumption expressed in
gallons of pure alcohol per year was 1.6 gallons in 1940, approximately
2.2 gallons in 1964 and 1993, and approximately 2.8 gallons in 1980.
Per capita consumption of wine and beer in the United States was
relatively stable over the period beginning in the early 1980s and
continuing into the 1990s when overall alcohol consumption was falling
(Williams et al. 1995). Most of the decrease in alcohol consumption can
be attributed to decreased consumption of spirits. Per capita
consumption of wine was the same in 1993 as it was in 1977, while
consumption of spirits fell by almost 35% over the same period. Per
capita consumption of beer decreased from 1981 to 1985, fluctuated
thereafter, and in 1993 was 1% below 1977 consumption levels (NIAAA
1997). The total number of drinks consumed in the United States in 1999
was about 65.5 billion for beer, 13.7 billion for wine, and 29.3
billion for distilled spirits. Underage drinkers (aged 12 to 20)
consumed 19.7% of the total, and adult excessive drinkers (more than 2
drinks per day) accounted for 46.3%. The heaviest adult drinkers
(highest 2.5%) consumed 27% of the total (Foster et al. 2003).
Since 1971, the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Administration
(SAMHSA 2003) has conducted an annual survey on the use of illicit
drugs, alcohol, and tobacco by the civilian, noninstitutionalized
population of the United States aged 12 years old or older. This
survey, now called the National Survey on Drug Use and Health (formerly
called the National Survey on
Drug
Abuse)
reports prevalence and trends of alcohol consumption at three levels.
These include current use (at least one drink in the past 30 days),
binge use (five or more drinks on the same occasion at least once in
the past 30 days), and heavy use (five or
SUBSTANCE PROFILES
more drinks on the same occasion on at least 5 different days in the
past 30 days). According to the 2001 National Household Survey of Drug
Abuse, 63.7% of persons aged 12 years or older reported alcohol use
during the past year. Although this was a significant increase compared
to the 61.9% reported in 2000, it was well below the peak of 72.9% in
1979 (Foster et al. 2003, SAMHSA 2003). In 2002, 51% (about 120 million
people) were current drinkers, 22.9% (about 54 million people) were
binge drinkers, and 6.7% (about 15.9 million people) were heavy
drinkers. The highest prevalence of both binge and heavy drinking was
for young adults aged 18 to 25. In all age groups, except for the
youngest age group (12 to 17), males were more likely than females to
report past month alcohol drinking (SAMHSA 2003).
Regulations and Guidelines
No specific regulations or guidelines relevant to reduction of exposure to alcoholicbeverage consumption were identified
*No separate CAS registry number is assigned to alcoholic beverages.
REFERENCES
ARF. 1994. International Profile (Alcohol and Other Drugs). Toronto, Ontario: Alcoholism and
Drug
Addiction Research Foundation.
Foster, S. E., R. D. Vaughan, W. H. Foster and J. A. Califano, Jr.
2003. Alcohol consumption and expenditures for underage drinking and
adult excessive drinking. Jama 289(8): 989-95.
IARC. 1988. Alcohol Drinking. IARC Monographs on the Evaluation of
Carcinogenic Risk of Chemicals to Humans, vol. 44. Lyon, France:
International Agency for Research on Cancer. 416 pp.
ITA. 2003. Chapter 22: Beverages, Spirits and Vinegar. International
Trade Administration. U.S. Department of Commerce.
http://www.ita.doc.gov/td/industry/otea/Trade-Detail/.
Longnecker, M. P. 1994. Alcoholic beverage consumption in relation to
risk of breast cancer: meta-analysis and review. Cancer Causes Control
5(1): 73-82.
Longnecker, M. P. and S. M. Enger. 1996. Epidemiologic data on
alcoholic beverage consumption and risk of cancer. Clin Chim Acta
246(1-2): 121-41.
NIAAA. 1997. Ninth Special Report to Congress on Alcohol and Health.
NIH Publication No. 97-4017. Washington, DC: National Institute on
Alcohol
Abuse and Alcoholism. 420 pp.
SAMHSA. 2003. Results from the 2002 National Survey on Drug Use and Health: National Findings.
Department of Health and Human Services, Substance Abuse and
Mental
Health
Services
Administration. Last updated 9/23/03.
http://www.samhsa.gov/oas/nhsda/2k2nsduh/results/2k2results.htm. Last
accessed: 2/23/04. USDA. 2003.
ERS/USDA Data: Food consumption (per capita) data system. U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Last updated: 7/10/03.
http://www.ers.usda.gov/data/foodconsumption/spreadsheets.asp and
select alcoholic beverages. Last accessed: 2/23/04.
Williams, G. D., F. A. Stinson, S. L. Stewart and M. C. Dufour. 1995.
Apparent per capita alcohol consumption; national, state and regional
trends, 1977-92. Rockville, MD: National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and
Alcoholism, Division of Biometry and Epidemiology, Alcohol
Epidemiologic Data System.
© 2004-2008 by foodconsumer.org unless otherwise specified
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