Six Americans die from alcohol poisoning daily on average, and mortality rates are highest among middle-aged men, federal health authorities reported on Tuesday.
The report is the first in a decade by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to tally alcohol poisonings for the entire American population. Most previous analyses looked at certain groups, in particular young people.
The agency found that an average of 2,221 people died of alcohol poisoning annually between 2010 and 2012. Three-quarters of the deaths occurred among 35- to 64-year-olds, the report found, and about three-quarters were men. The death rate was highest among men ages 45 to 54.
“Most previous studies have looked at college kids and young people, but the problem is bigger than that,” said Dr. Robert Brewer, who heads the alcohol program at the C.D.C. “It was surprising that the number of deaths was so concentrated among middle-age adults.”
Read it all (emphasis mine).
I am pleased to report that I am doing my part to stem the rising tide of alcohol poisonings in that part of the U.S. in which I now live. To help reduce the consumption of alcohol by my fellow citizens, I have undertaken to personally remove at least 1.5 to 2 ounces of alcohol per day from the collective inventory of distilled spirits. Not everyone can tolerate the taste of single malt Scotch whisky nor of Irish whiskey, but inasmuch as I can, I will continue my contribution to the crusade to reduce the amount of those distilled spirits from the collective inventory, so long as God sees fit to keep me on this spinning orb.
[i]Sláinte mhath[/i] to one and all.
[i]Pax et bonum[/i],
Keith Töpfer