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From VOA Learning English, |
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this is the Health Report. |
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A new study has found that excessive alcohol drinking |
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costs Americans more than $220 billion a year, |
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that amount is equal to almost $2 a drink. |
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But study organizers believe the biggest costs |
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come from a loss of worker productivity. |
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Robert Brewer works for America's Centers |
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for Disease Control and Prevention, |
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a public health agency. |
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He helped to produce a report on the study. |
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The researchers used findings from 2006 |
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to examine different costs linked to heavy drinking. |
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They looked at results from around the United States |
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and found a lot of variation in different parts of the country. |
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Alcohol-related costs include health care, |
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the cost of trying cases for drinking-related crimes, |
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and property damage from road accidents. |
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Robert Brewer says the biggest cost is lost productivity. |
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Many people with a drinking problem have lower-paying jobs. |
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He says they may also be less productive when they are at work. |
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"In addition to that, |
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a number of people die of alcohol-attributable conditions. |
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And many of those folks die in the prime of their life. |
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So there's the personal tragedy there. |
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But there's also a huge economic cost to somebody dying, |
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for example, in an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash at age 35." |
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The researchers were mainly concerned about the cost of heavy alcohol use. |
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The study didn't look at the effect on individuals |
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who drink a glass of beer or wine with dinner. |
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Mr Brewer says the largest costs come from binge drinking |
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when people drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time. |
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The study was based on the economic costs of heavy drinking |
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in the United States, |
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but Mr Brewer says many nations have problems |
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with what the World Health Organization calls "harmful use of alcohol." |
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"But I think that it is very reasonable to assume |
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that harmful alcohol use is going to result |
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in some of the same consequences in other countries, |
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even if the costs associated with those consequences are different." |
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The study on the economic costs of excessive alcohol use |
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was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. |
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Two years ago, a British medical examiner ruled that singer |
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Amy Winehouse died as a result of drinking to much alcohol. |
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Winehouse was only 27 years old. |
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Tests show that she died after drinking enough alcohol |
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to put her blood alcohol level at more than |
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five times the legal drink-drive limit. |
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The award winning singer had a well documented battle |
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with drinks and alcohol. |
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And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English. |
