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• 1 in 25 deaths worldwide linked to alcohol consumption, study finds 

One in every 25 deaths worldwide can be linked to diseases or injuries related to alcohol consumption, concludes a Canadian-led study, which equates the libation's burden of harm to that of smoking almost a decade ago.

In 2004, the most recent year for which global statistics are available, 3.8 per cent of all deaths were attributable to alcohol (6.3 per cent for men and 1.8 per cent for women), the study found.

Most of the deaths blamed on booze result from injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, liver disorders like cirrhosis and violence, say the authors, whose study is one in a series of papers on the global impact of alcohol published in The Lancet this week. . . .

"Worldwide, more people abstain than drink," principal researcher Jurgen Rehm, a senior scientist at the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health in Toronto, said Thursday. . . .

Rehm said the global burden of disease from drinking is about the same size as that of smoking in 2000 (tobacco use rates have been steadily dropping in some countries due to public health measures), but is sure to get worse as more people add wine, beer and spirits to their list of libations. "The big message is treat alcohol like tobacco," not as a substance that is relatively benign except for "those bad alcoholics," he said. "That is not true, neither for Canada nor globally."

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