KEY POINTS:
The struggling health sector took another knock in November with news that the death rate for teenage girls had risen. Alcohol was the main culprit.
All other age and gender groups registered declining death rates in Statistics New Zealand's latest life tables, continuing a gradual lengthening of the human lifespan that dates back to the origins of modern medicine in the early years of the Industrial Revolution.
But this time there was an exception. Deaths of girls aged 15 to 19 increased from 157 in 2000-2002 to 186 in 2005-2007 - a small rise, but enough to slightly reduce the overall increase in the average life expectancy of a newborn baby. Their most common causes of death were accidents, violence and poisoning.
"Alcohol is a primary driver of all of those," says Rebecca Williams of Alcohol Healthwatch, an agency funded by the Ministry of Health to reduce alcohol-related harm.
"Where we have seen young men carrying the heavy burden around alcohol, we are now seeing young women fast catching up.
"I think the implications of that are a little bit scary if you start tracking that out on to the impact on the family and the workplace. To me, that's a marker that our policies are not serving to protect and prevent harm."
Almost 20 years after the the Sale of Liquor Act 1989, Mrs Williams says the tide of opinion is beginning to turn again as the effects of liberalisation become clear, especially for young women.
Her hopes rest on a complete review of the 1989 law which Helen Clark's Labour Government entrusted in August to Law Commission president Sir Geoffrey Palmer, who was Justice Minister and then Prime Minister in the Government that passed the law two decades ago.
Incoming National Justice Minister Simon Power confirms that the review will go ahead.
"There is a strong sense that the whole liberalised approach hasn't worked that well and that our act hasn't achieved its object," Mrs Williams says.
International research reviewed by a 13-member expert committee of the World Health Organisation, which included Massey University's Professor Sally Casswell, has developed a consensus around the most effective ways to reduce the harm that alcohol causes.
As summarised by Professor Casswell in 2005, the most effective measures are raising taxes and alcohol prices, raising the drinking age, lowering the allowable blood-alcohol level and more random breath testing.
Random breath testing is already common and Mr Power has signalled a willingness to look at lowering the blood-alcohol level of drivers from 0.8 grams per litre to 0.5 as in Australia and many other countries.
CUTTING ALCOHOL HARM
Most effective
* Raise taxes/prices
* Raise drinking age
* Lower blood alcohol level
* Random breath testing
Moderately effective
* Reduce liquor outlets
* Reduce opening hours
* Suspend drivers' licences
* Community mobilisation
* Enforce on-premise controls
Some effect
* Bar staff training
* Advertising bans
No effect
* Voluntary bar codes of practice
* Media campaigns
* School-based education
* Warning labels
Source: Sally Casswell and Anna Maxwell, Social Policy Journal of NZ, July 2005. Warning labels added from World Health Organisation.
