FRANCE COUNTS COST OF ALCOHOL AND TOBACCO CULTURE

The social cost to France of the consumption of alcohol, tobacco and
illegal drugs is more than pounds 21bn a year, according to an official
study published yesterday.

The received view that the French were able to control their drinking
habits is untrue, the report indicates.

"Consumption is exceptionally high and the final bill is extremely heavy,"
it says. "There is a collective misunderstanding of the dangers of alcohol
in a country where a regular intake is perceived as a protection against
heart problems."

A quarter of the population was addicted to tobacco.

Professor Pierre Kopp, of Sorbonne, produced the report for the French
office of drugs and a special ministerial mission on the impact of legal
and forbidden substances.

His panel of experts found that illegal drugs were not nearly as big a
problem as alcohol and tobacco. Overall, 2.68% of the gross national
product was being spent on social problems caused by alcohol and tobacco -
far more than France's defence budget.

About pounds 375 of public and private money for each man, woman and child
was being spent each year on medical treatment, lost productivity,
absenteeism, uncollected taxes, unpaid health contributions and
preventative measures. The figure excludes the cost of alcohol-related
crime and road accidents.

In what Professor Kopp described as "l'exception franE7aise", in France
alcohol presented a greater cost to society than tobacco or illegal drugs.
In Canada, Australia and Scandinavia tobacco presented the greatest social
cost.

In France, drink was responsible for nearly 53% of the overall social cost
of alcohol, tobacco and illegal drugs.

"In fact this 'exception francaise' is far higher than our figures show
because we don't include crime and accidents as they do in Australia and
Canada," Professor Kopp told Le Monde. "Nor can we can we count the cost of
theft, rape, domestic violence, child abuse, attempted suicides and
delinquency linked to drink."

In 1997, 82,287 deaths were connected directly to alcohol, tobacco and
illegal drugs. Of these, alcohol accounted for 42,963 deaths, tobacco
41,777 and illegal drugs 547.

The French alcoholic drinks industry has run advertising campaigns
encouraging the consumption of wine and spirits to improve health. Claude
Risac, chairman of Entreprise et prevention, which carries out
investigations on behalf of the industry, questioned the reliability of the
figures.

"I hope the government will not act cynically and use these supposed social
costs as an excuse for demanding higher contributions from the drinks
industry," he said.

But other reports show that, despite halving their consumption of alcohol
in the last 30 years, the French still drink more than any other Europeans,
with the exception of the Portuguese. The average annual consumption is
about 64 litres of wine and 38 litres of beer, involving an expenditure of
more than pounds 9bn.

About pounds 7bn is spent on tobacco in France, with an average 19
cigarettes a day smoked by about 13.5m smokers.

L'exception francaise

Annual cost to the state of:

Alcohol F115,420bn Tobacco F89,256bn Illegal drugs F13,350bn Total F218,026bn

Risks of drinking: mental trouble, cirrhosis, hepatitis, mouth, breast and
rectum cancer, heart and brain diseases, pneumonia and flu

Risks of smoking: tuberculosis, mouth, throat, lung, pancreas, bladder,
kidney etc cancer, heart attack, blood pressure, pneumonia, bronchitis,
flu, ulcers