It doesn't warn that you have to slather yourself with sunscreen to avoid cancer. To be consistent with their crusade against cigarettes, the health police have to go after alcohol. The most recent calculations by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention place the number of alcohol-related deaths in the United States each year at 108,000. While cigarettes kill in middle age or later, alcohol kills people in their prime, often in car crashes. Alcohol not only kills, it wounds.
Accidents are only the beginning.
Alcohol-induced liver diseases kill 20,000 yearly. In 1993, some 708,255 patients were treated for alcoholism, and alcohol addiction was the fourth-leading cause of hospital stays for men ages 16 to 44, requiring a total of more than 1 million days of hospital care, compared with 741,000 for heart disease. Two thirds of all violent crimes are committed by perpetrators using alcohol, and 1 in 500 babies is afflicted with fetal alcohol syndrome. Still, drinking exacts a huge toll. Behind the tobacco deal was concern about children being hooked by advertising.