Late night drinking in Hanoi's Old Quarter.
Photo by VnExpress/Giang Huy
Health
officials fret as the country is one of the biggest consumers of beer and
liquor.
The
Ministry of Health is considering a ban on sales of liquor and beer after
either 10:00 p.m. or midnight as officials aim to reduce negative impacts of
drinking.
Nguyen
Huy Quang, director of the ministry’s Department of Legal Affairs, told a
seminar in Hanoi on Monday that the ban is part of a new bill on alcohol
consumption that is being drafted.
The
proposal is based on similar bans already in place in several countries, which
the official said have proved effective in curbing the impacts of drinking.
The bill
is expected to be put before legislators in 2018.
Vietnam
is currently the second biggest consumer of beer and liquor in Southeast Asia,
only after Thailand; the 10th largest in Asia; and the 29th largest in the
world, Vice Minister of Health Nguyen Thanh Long said.
“If
prevention measures are not applied effectively, Vietnam may become the biggest
consumer of beer and liquor in the world, not just the 29th,” Long said.
A new
study jointly conducted by the ministry and the World Health Organization (WHO)
shows that 77 percent of Vietnamese men drink liquor and beer, nearly half of
them drink at hazardous levels.
Nguyen
Phuong Nam, an official from WHO, said at Monday's seminar that nearly 67
percent of the total 1,840 traffic accident patients in the study had high
concentration of alcohol in blood and 45 percent of them drove after two hours
of drinking.
“Is
Vietnam a start-up nation or drunken one?” he asked.
According
to the Vietnam Beverage Association, local drinkers consumed a total of 3.4
billion liters of beer last year, up 10 percent year-on-year but surging around
40 percent from 2010.
On
average, each Vietnamese person drank 38 liters of beer in 2015, more than four
times higher than the global average.
The
Ministry of Health said that half of drinkers drive after two hours of
drinking. The Traffic Safety Committee also said that 40 percent of
road-related fatalities, or some 4,000 deaths, were linked to drunk driving in
2015.
Drinking
alcohol, including beer and liquor, increases the risk of developing cancers of
the mouth, upper throat, voice-box, bowels, liver and breasts, health experts
say.
Meanwhile,
Vietnam still aims to produce 4.1 billion liters of beer in 2020, up from 3.4
billion liters in 2015, according to a plan for beer, liquor and beverage
production until 2025.
Beer
output will be raised to 4.6 billion liters in 2025 and 5.5 billion in 2035,
according to the plan that has been made public recently by the Ministry of
Industry and Trade. Liquor output is expected to increase to 350 million liters
through 2020-2035.
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