British anti-drinking drive targets women

LONDON, March 22 (UPI) -- The British government plans a new campaign aimed at convincing middle-age women drinking can be dangerous to their health.

The center of the campaign is a newly found link between heavy drinking and breast cancer, The Daily Telegraph reports. Researchers say consuming 14 units of alcohol a week increases the risk of breast cancer by 60 percent.

Many in Britain are drinking more, and wine glasses have become larger and some wines more alcoholic. That means a woman who drinks one large glass of wine a day could be consuming more than 20 units a week.

A unit is 10 milliliters of pure alcohol -- roughly the equivalent of one small glass of wine.

Previous government campaigns have focused on teenagers and especially on binge drinking. Dawn Primarolo, the public health minister, acknowledged a change in target.

"This group of middle-age women is under everybody's radar," she said. "There is a great deal of harm being caused to them.

People need to be reminded of the health consequences. It is not only the issues around breast cancer but also, increasingly, liver disease, unplanned pregnancies and ruptured bladders. This is dreadful stuff."