“Alcohol Fails” Media Interview

19 December 2017

Joyful festival is coming. Dr Karen LEE Ka-yin of the Centre for Health Protection, Dr LAU Fei-lung, Chairman of the board of clinical toxicology at the Hong Kong College of Emergency Medicine and Ms Sylvia LAM See-way, Chairman of the Hong Kong Dietitians Association were engaged in media interview. They stressed the alcohol-related harms and clarified the myths of drinking alcohol. They advised no binge drinking during festival. Alcohol causes cancer. There is no safe drinking level. The department has never advised non-drinkers to start drinking while drinkers should gradually decrease their drinking to reduce harm. If people choose to drink, they should understand the risk of drinking and control the amount of alcohol intake. Under the following circumstances, people should not drink, for example, pregnancy, children and youth, ill, on drug treatment, driving, before and after exercise, etc. The World Health Organization has never recommended alcohol drinking for the sake of improving health.