| [00:00.10] |
From VOA Learning English, |
| [00:02.38] |
this is the Health Report. |
| [00:05.02] |
A new study has found that excessive alcohol drinking |
| [00:09.99] |
costs Americans more than $220 billion a year, |
| [00:16.67] |
that amount is equal to almost $2 a drink. |
| [00:22.00] |
But study organizers believe the biggest costs |
| [00:26.49] |
come from a loss of worker productivity. |
| [00:30.03] |
Robert Brewer works for America's Centers |
| [00:34.72] |
for Disease Control and Prevention, |
| [00:37.56] |
a public health agency. |
| [00:39.80] |
He helped to produce a report on the study. |
| [00:43.84] |
The researchers used findings from 2006 |
| [00:48.50] |
to examine different costs linked to heavy drinking. |
| [00:53.08] |
They looked at results from around the United States |
| [00:56.97] |
and found a lot of variation in different parts of the country. |
| [01:02.25] |
Alcohol-related costs include health care, |
| [01:07.68] |
the cost of trying cases for drinking-related crimes, |
| [01:12.70] |
and property damage from road accidents. |
| [01:17.34] |
Robert Brewer says the biggest cost is lost productivity. |
| [01:23.27] |
Many people with a drinking problem have lower-paying jobs. |
| [01:28.26] |
He says they may also be less productive when they are at work. |
| [01:34.68] |
"In addition to that, |
| [01:36.07] |
a number of people die of alcohol-attributable conditions. |
| [01:39.77] |
And many of those folks die in the prime of their life. |
| [01:42.55] |
So there's the personal tragedy there. |
| [01:44.94] |
But there's also a huge economic cost to somebody dying, |
| [01:48.44] |
for example, in an alcohol-related motor vehicle crash at age 35." |
| [01:52.67] |
The researchers were mainly concerned about the cost of heavy alcohol use. |
| [01:58.75] |
The study didn't look at the effect on individuals |
| [02:02.43] |
who drink a glass of beer or wine with dinner. |
| [02:07.06] |
Mr Brewer says the largest costs come from binge drinking |
| [02:12.80] |
when people drink a lot of alcohol in a short period of time. |
| [02:17.54] |
The study was based on the economic costs of heavy drinking |
| [02:23.01] |
in the United States, |
| [02:24.61] |
but Mr Brewer says many nations have problems |
| [02:28.90] |
with what the World Health Organization calls "harmful use of alcohol." |
| [02:34.83] |
"But I think that it is very reasonable to assume |
| [02:37.91] |
that harmful alcohol use is going to result |
| [02:41.15] |
in some of the same consequences in other countries, |
| [02:43.54] |
even if the costs associated with those consequences are different." |
| [02:47.53] |
The study on the economic costs of excessive alcohol use |
| [02:52.40] |
was published in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. |
| [02:57.14] |
Two years ago, a British medical examiner ruled that singer |
| [03:02.53] |
Amy Winehouse died as a result of drinking to much alcohol. |
| [03:09.05] |
Winehouse was only 27 years old. |
| [03:13.08] |
Tests show that she died after drinking enough alcohol |
| [03:18.21] |
to put her blood alcohol level at more than |
| [03:22.44] |
five times the legal drink-drive limit. |
| [03:27.03] |
The award winning singer had a well documented battle |
| [03:31.31] |
with drinks and alcohol. |
| [03:33.86] |
And that's the Health Report from VOA Learning English. |