William Atkins
Saturday, 15 November 2008 21:37
Science -
Health
Page 2 of 3
The Florida research team studied 28 years of Alaskan death certificate records, from 1976, to 2004, along with the records from other U.S. states.
The data included information from deaths caused by alcohol (such as alcoholic liver disease) and linked to alcohol (such as chronic pancreatitis), but did not include alcohol-related motor vehicle accidents or violence.
The Wagenaar team found, according to the abstract to their paper, that
“significant reductions” were observed in the
“numbers and rates of deaths caused by alcohol-related disease beginning immediately after the 1983 and 2002 alcohol tax increaes in Alaska.”
They found that there was a 29% reduction in alcohol-related disease mortality following the 1983 tax increase and a 11% reduction after the 2002 tax increase.
The data showed a decrease of 23 alcoholic-related deaths in the year immediately following a 1983 tax increase in Alaska. In 2003, 21 fewer alcoholic-related deaths occurred in Alaska after a 2002 alcohol-based tax increase was enacted.
They concluded in their abstract that,
“Increases in alcohol excise tax rates were associated with immediate and sustained reductions in alcohol-related disease mortality in Alaska. Reductions in mortality occurred after 2 tax increases almost 20 years apart. Taxing alcoholic beverages is an effective public health strategy for reducing the burden of alcohol-related disease.”
Page three talks about an opposing viewpoint of this Florida study by a pro-alcohol based organization.
