English: Alcohol is a major risk factor for cancer, as we've just heard. In fact, it's a class 1 carcinogen, and it's the third biggest preventable risk factor for cancer and is linked to causing at least seven types of cancer from its corrosive effects: mouth and lip cancer; tongue, pharynx and laryngeal cancer; oesophageal cancer, all the way down; as well as being associated with liver cancer and bowel cancer; as well as breast cancer. Now, the minimum price for alcohol legislation targets the heaviest drinkers at risk of the biggest harm. It targets heavy drinkers. Harmful and hazardous drinkers, that is, who are not alcoholic. The alcoholic is not being targeted here, and cannot be targeted. As we've heard, the alcoholic carries on drinking. But the harmful and hazardous drinker who is not addicted will stop when the price gets too much. Because a major review of the evidence for minimum alcohol pricing, which looked at over 100 systematic reviews and meta-analyses - meta-analyses are reviews of reviews - shows that increasing the price of alcohol is associated with falls in both alcohol consumption and in alcohol-related harm. Alcohol-related harm is the huge increase in liver transplantation for alcohol disease that we've seen in recent years. Alcohol-related harm is domestic violence and abuse, especially at times of 6 Nations rugby matches and international football matches - anything that's associated with heavy drinking. Alcohol-related harm is assaults and falls, is crime, is attendances at accident and emergency departments. On some nights of the week in Wales, over 90 per cent of the patients in an A&E department have drunk too much alcohol - over 90 per cent of attendances, any night of the week, usually on weekends - contributing to packed accident and emergency departments, and the abuse, assault and vilification of medical, nursing and portering staff in those A&E departments. So, the minimum price for alcohol in this legislation is computed from a formula, as has been ascertained: the volume of alcohol x the strength of the alcohol x the minimum unit price for alcohol. So, it's not just all about the minimum unit price. A Saskatchewan study from Canada showed that increasing the minimum unit price by 10 per cent there led to an 8.43 per cent fall in alcohol consumption. The Swiss Government wrote to the health committee making similar points. Countless medical reviews over decades have concluded that if you make alcohol more expensive and more difficult to get hold of, then people drink less. Back in the 1960s and 1970s, alcohol was relatively more expensive than it is today, and also more difficult to get hold of, due to restricted opening times and sales. The night-time economy of liberalised opening hours and cheap, loss-leading booze had not been invented back then. In the medical world, this issue, I've got to say, is an absolute no-brainer. Doctors overwhelmingly support legislation that targets cheap booze and makes alcohol more expensive. Minimum alcohol pricing targets hazardous and harmful drinking of alcohol that falls foul of that formula, in that it's high-volume big bottles, high-strength, and cheap - as little as 18p per unit. Strong, white cider forms 25 per cent of the alcohol intake for harmful and hazardous drinkers in all except the most affluent socioeconomic groups - 25 per cent of the alcohol intake is the very cheap, strong, high-volume stuff that will be affected by this legislation, putting up the price of a bottle of white cider from around £3 up to about £11. Therefore, minimum alcohol pricing has the potential to do the greatest amount of good in health terms, and also to the poorer sections of society who already have other adverse health indicators. And, as John Griffiths said, it reduces health inequalities. Now, I know we'll have accusations of the nanny state - doctors always face that: 'This is the nanny state. What do the experts know?' 'There's no enjoyment left', some of my patients tell me when we were debating the smoking ban. 'There's no enjoyment left, doc. You'll ban sex next.' Well, no, we're talking about alcohol today. But we have been here before with the smoking ban. Big tobacco didn't want the smoking ban. Big alcohol doesn't want minimum unit alcohol pricing. There is a corollary. And I'm not saying, in closing, that minimum alcohol pricing will cure the problem of alcohol misuse, but it's part of a raft of measures that we must engage in to decrease the toll that alcohol exacts of Welsh society today. Diolch.
Welsh: Mae alcohol yn ffactor risg mawr ar gyfer canser, fel rydym newydd glywed. Yn wir, mae'n garsinogen dosbarth 1, a'r ffactor risg ataliadwy mwyaf ond dau ar gyfer canser ac mae'n gysylltiedig ag achosi o leiaf saith math o ganser oherwydd ei effeithiau cyrydol: canser y geg a'r wefusau; canser y tafod, y ffaryncs a chanser laryngaidd; canser oesoffagaidd, yr holl ffordd i lawr; yn ogystal â bod yn gysylltiedig â chanser yr iau a chanser y coluddyn; a chanser y fron hefyd. Nawr, mae'r ddeddfwriaeth ar isafbris alcohol yn targedu'r yfwyr trymaf sy'n wynebu perygl o'r niwed mwyaf. Mae'n targedu yfwyr trwm. Yfwyr sy'n yfed i lefelau niweidiol a pheryglus, hynny yw, nad ydynt yn alcoholig. Nid yw'r alcoholig yn cael ei dargedu yma, ac ni ellir eu targedu. Fel y clywsom, mae'r alcoholig yn dal ati i yfed. Ond bydd pobl sy'n yfed ar lefel niweidiol a pheryglus nad ydynt yn gaeth yn rhoi'r gorau iddi pan fydd y pris yn rhy uchel. Oherwydd mae adolygiad pwysig o'r dystiolaeth ar isafbris am alcohol, a edrychodd ar dros 100 o adolygiadau systematig a metaddadansoddiadau - sef adolygiadau o adolygiadau - yn dangos bod cynyddu pris alcohol yn gysylltiedig â gostyngiadau yn lefel yr alcohol a yfir a'r niwed sy'n gysylltiedig ag alcohol. Niwed sy'n gysylltiedig ag alcohol yw'r cynnydd enfawr yn nifer y trawsblaniadau afu yn sgil clefyd alcohol a welsom yn y blynyddoedd diwethaf. Niwed sy'n gysylltiedig ag alcohol yw'r trais a'r cam-drin domestig sy'n digwydd, yn enwedig adeg gemau rygbi'r 6 Gwlad a gemau pêl-droed rhyngwladol - unrhyw beth sy'n gysylltiedig ag yfed trwm. Niwed sy'n gysylltiedig ag alcohol yw ymosodiadau a chwympiadau, yw troseddu, yw nifer o'r rhai sy'n mynychu adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys. Ar rai nosweithiau yr wythnos yng Nghymru, mae dros 90 y cant o'r cleifion mewn adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys wedi yfed gormod o alcohol - dros 90 y cant o'r achosion, unrhyw noson yr wythnos, fel arfer ar benwythnosau - gan gyfrannu at adrannau damweiniau ac achosion brys gorlawn, a cham-drin, ymosod a difrïo staff meddygol, staff nyrsio a staff porthora yr adrannau hynny. Felly, cyfrifir yr isafbris am alcohol yn y ddeddfwriaeth hon o fformiwla, fel y canfuwyd: faint o alcohol x cryfder yr alcohol x isafbris fesul uned am alcohol. Felly, nid yw'n ymwneud yn llwyr ag isafbris fesul uned. Dangosodd astudiaeth o Saskatchewan yng Nghanada fod cynnydd o 10 y cant yn yr isafbris uned yno wedi arwain at ostyngiad o 8.43 y cant yn yr alcohol a yfir. Ysgrifennodd Llywodraeth y Swistir at y pwyllgor iechyd yn gwneud pwyntiau tebyg. Mae adolygiadau meddygol di-rif dros ddegawdau wedi dod i'r casgliad fod gwneud alcohol yn fwy costus ac yn anos cael gafael arno yn arwain at bobl yn yfed llai. Yn ôl yn y 1960au a'r 1970au, roedd alcohol yn ddrutach nag ydyw heddiw o gymharu, a hefyd yn anos cael gafael arno oherwydd amseroedd agor a gwerthiant cyfyngedig. Nid oedd economi nos oriau agor llai llym ac alcohol rhad a werthir islaw'r gost wedi'u dyfeisio bryd hynny. Yn y byd meddygol, mae'n rhaid imi ddweud nad oes unrhyw ddadl o gwbl ynglŷn â'r mater hwn. Mae meddygon yn llwyr gefnogi deddfwriaeth sy'n targedu alcohol rhad ac yn gwneud alcohol yn ddrutach. Mae isafbris am alcohol yn targedu yfed alcohol i raddau peryglus a niweidiol sy'n mynd yn groes i'r fformiwla honno, yn yr ystyr ei fod yn gryf iawn ac yn cael ei werthu mewn poteli mawr a rhad - cyn lleied â 18c am uned. Seidr gwyn cryf yw 25 y cant o'r alcohol a yfir gan rai sy'n yfed i raddau peryglus a niweidiol ac eithrio ymhlith y grwpiau economaidd-gymdeithasol mwyaf cyfoethog - 25 y cant o'r alcohol a yfir yw'r stwff cryf a rhad iawn a gaiff ei effeithio gan y ddeddfwriaeth hon, gan godi pris potel o seidr gwyn o oddeutu £3 i oddeutu £11. Felly, mae potensial gan isafbris am alcohol i wneud cymaint â phosibl o les mewn perthynas ag iechyd, a hefyd i'r rhannau tlotaf o gymdeithas sydd eisoes â dangosyddion iechyd andwyol eraill. Ac fel y dywedodd John Griffiths, mae'n lleihau anghydraddoldebau iechyd. Nawr, rwy'n gwybod y cawn ein cyhuddo o fod yn wladwriaeth faldodus - mae meddygon yn wynebu hynny bob amser: 'Mae'n wladwriaeth faldodus. Beth y mae'r arbenigwyr yn ei wybod?' 'Nid oes unrhyw fwynhad ar ôl', meddai rhai o fy nghleifion wrthyf pan oeddem yn trafod y gwaharddiad ar ysmygu. 'Nid oes mwynhad ar ôl, Doctor. Fe fyddwch yn gwahardd rhyw gyda hyn.' Wel, na, sôn am alcohol rydym ni heddiw. Ond rydym wedi bod yma o'r blaen gyda'r gwaharddiad ar ysmygu. Nid oedd y cwmnïau tybaco mawr eisiau'r gwaharddiad ar ysmygu. Nid yw'r cwmnïau alcohol mawr eisiau isafbris am alcohol. Mae yna gysylltiad. Ac nid wyf yn dweud, wrth gloi, fod isafbris am alcohol yn gwella problem camddefnyddio alcohol yn llwyr, ond mae'n rhan o gyfres o fesurau sy'n rhaid inni eu defnyddio i leihau'r niwed y mae alcohol yn ei wneud i gymdeithas Cymru heddiw. Diolch.