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CASE STUDY Jeff (alcohol use disorder, mild/moderate)

Case study details.

Jeff is a 66-year-old Caucasian man whose wife has encouraged him to seek treatment. He has never been in therapy before, and has no history of depression or anxiety. However, his alcohol use has recently been getting in the way of his marriage, and interfering with his newly-retired life. He describes drinking increasing amounts over the last year, currently consuming approximately a six-pack of beer per day. He notes that this amount “doesn’t give me the same buzz as it used to.” He denies ever experiencing “the shakes” or any other withdrawal symptoms if he skips a day of drinking.

Jeff comments that his wife is his biggest motivation to decrease his alcohol use. She tells him that he gets argumentative and irritable when he drinks, though he does not always remember these incidents. He has also fallen while intoxicated twice, causing bruises both times and hitting his head on one of the occasions.

Alcohol Use
Irritability
Substance Abuse

Diagnoses and Related Treatments

2. substance and alcohol use disorders.

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Introduction
Conclusions
Article Information

BMI indicates body mass index; SES, socioeconomic status.

a Variables smoking status, SES, drinking pattern, former drinker bias only, occasional drinker bias, median age, and gender were removed.

b Variables race, diet, exercise, BMI, country, follow-up year, publication year, and unhealthy people exclusion were removed.

eAppendix. Methodology of Meta-analysis on All-Cause Mortality and Alcohol Consumption

eReferences

eFigure 1. Flowchart of Systematic Search Process for Studies of Alcohol Consumption and Risk of All-Cause Mortality

eTable 1. Newly Included 20 Studies (194 Risk Estimates) of All-Cause Mortality and Consumption in 2015 to 2022

eFigure 2. Funnel Plot of Log-Relative Risk (In(RR)) of All-Cause Mortality Due to Alcohol Consumption Against Inverse of Standard Error of In(RR)

eFigure 3. Relative Risk (95% CI) of All-Cause Mortality Due to Any Alcohol Consumption Without Any Adjustment for Characteristics of New Studies Published between 2015 and 2022

eFigure 4. Unadjusted, Partially Adjusted, and Fully Adjusted Relative Risk (RR) of All-Cause Mortality for Drinkers (vs Nondrinkers), 1980 to 2022

eTable 2. Statistical Analysis of Unadjusted Mean Relative Risk (RR) of All-Cause Mortality for Different Categories of Drinkers for Testing Publication Bias and Heterogeneity of RR Estimates From Included Studies

eTable 3. Mean Relative Risk (RR) Estimates of All-Cause Mortality Due to Alcohol Consumption up to 2022 for Subgroups (Cohorts Recruited 50 Years of Age or Younger and Followed up to 60 Years of Age)

Data Sharing Statement

Errors in Figure and Supplement JAMA Network Open Correction May 9, 2023

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Zhao J , Stockwell T , Naimi T , Churchill S , Clay J , Sherk A. Association Between Daily Alcohol Intake and Risk of All-Cause Mortality : A Systematic Review and Meta-analyses . JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(3):e236185. doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.6185

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Alcohol Delivery and Underage Drinking: A COVID-19 Case Study

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1. Alcohol delivery boomed during COVID, and has largely re-shaped the conversation around alcohol.

2. Opposition interests are now suggesting that alcohol delivery will lead to more underage drinking.

3. This study–the first of its kind–empirically studies the question and finds that there is no real evidence of such a correlation.

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For general and media inquiries and to book our experts, please contact: [email protected] .

Introduction

In January 2020, the world of alcohol rules seemed to be mired in a kind of stasis. It had been 85 years since Prohibition, but the broad legal structure governing alcohol remained remarkably unchanged. Just three months later, in March 2020, everything changed.

The COVID-19 global pandemic that gripped America and the broader world led to unprecedented realignments in our way of life. Governments began issuing mask mandates, social distancing orders, and even rules around how—and if—businesses could continue operating.

In response, innovations like to-go and delivery alcohol took hold across the country, leading to a substantial shift in how alcohol was regulated. Now, three years later, opposition to these changes has started to become more prevalent. Most of the pushback has been focused on concerns that less stringent alcohol regulation could create negative externalities. One of the prime areas of concern has been underage drinking and whether enhanced alcohol delivery will lead to a spike in youth drinking across the country.

This study breaks down the latest underage drinking data to help provide a more informed debate around America’s pandemic-era alcohol reforms.

Read the full policy study here.

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Case Study: Tim

A couple of times a year, I mail out a free paper case study (yes, really, in the mail, with nice stamps and everything). This one was originally sent out September 2016.

Doesn’t matter if you drank 3 glasses a night or 3 bottles. Doesn’t matter if you go to AA, or you’ve been to rehab, or if you use only “The Belle Program.” We have a lot in common, and can learn from each other. This is Tim’s story.

Tim (Day 946): I’m on Day 946 today but I’m ashamed to say that only you know that. My work involves a huge amount of numerical information, so it’s quite embarrassing, I should know my day count. In the early days it really made a difference. Now it’s all blending together a little, in a good way I would say.

me: You’re in a unique position in that you’re one of my penpals who emails me AND goes to AA, and you’ve found both to be helpful in combination. How long had you tried to be sober on your own, before you actually got some momentum?

T: I’m now 36 years old, I first kicked booze for a reasonable period of time at the age of 22. I was doing my degree and realized that if I didn’t sober up for a bit, then I wasn’t going to graduate. I stopped drinking for six solid months without a support network. Eventually I started drinking again, and then 13 short years later I appeared at AA. At various times I quit for a week or two; it was never hard to stop, it was incredibly hard to STAY stopped.

My denial was that I wasn’t an alcoholic (in my mind) if I held down a good job, and I did; if every weekend I could get up with my children in the mornings, and I did; if we had enough money, and we did; and so long as I didn’t ever get behind the wheel of a car after having drunk, and I didn’t. So I wasn’t an alcoholic. I originally had a longer list of things I wouldn’t do, but I started removing items as part of the denial.

me: I think we lower our standards, right? What did you originally say you would never do, that you then ended up doing?

T: One of them was never getting too drunk at work events, and at the end of my drinking story, that was one of the things that eventually led me to stop, properly: a drunken work party. I was working in the British media at the time. It’s a bit of a joke, but it’s almost impossible to be too drunk to work at the British media, but I did have a really good go at it. At my work-leaving party, I spent thousands and thousands of pounds of the company’s money at the party. I remember very little of it, but I did have to go back and retrieve the company credit card days later from a club. Before, I had always been quite controlled about who I would let see me drunk. But things got chipped away and the standards got far lower.

me: In what other ways were you in denial?

T: One of the things I did at the end, once I knew in my heart of hearts that I was going to have to stop, but didn’t want to stop YET, was I made sure that I had a HUGE stockpile of booze that I had to drink through completely before I quit.

me: It’s interesting the tricks that we play on ourselves, like “I’ll quit as soon as this large stock is gone.”

T: Yes, and since I’m an addict in a number of areas in my life (I’m a bit of hoarder, too), the stock of alcohol was NEVER finished. I kept it topped up. It was pretty alcoholic-ish behaviour: “When that gets to nil, which is never, I’ll stop.”

me: What are your other compulsive tendencies?

T: My other aspects do less damage to my life compared to the alcohol — shopping, eating — things that, in moderation, are good, but when they get out of moderation, they can be quite damaging. Like many of us, I’m shrewd and clever. I do these other things in way that is never quite enough to really damage me. It’s the notion of ‘getting away with it’ which was always big for me with drinking as well. It’s just that over time, you STOP getting away with it.

me: There is this idea of sneaking, that is quite attractive.

T: Absolutely. I’ve been sneaking things all my life, and I still am. I went to a formal English school. I was good at misbehaving and not getting caught. I’m married to someone who was far naughtier at school, but she didn’t care about getting caught. She finds the sneakiness utterly baffling. For her, the getting caught was getting attention. For me, it was always about a private, secret victory. It’s sort of sad for me to talk about it now. It doesn’t make me feel good admitting those things.

me: Some people that I talk to when I do one-on-one coaching calls will say that the sneaky part is: “I’m a good girl, so I sneak this.” Or “I just want to have something that nobody else knows about.”

T: Agreed. Now, I think I have two pillars to my sobriety. One is AA, and the other one is the penpal relationship that I have with you. What I gain from both is the experience of others. I went to a meeting and heard a man say that if he had another drink, he’d have to hand over his wife and children in exchange for the drink. When I first quit, my marriage was in a very bad place, so his words really resonated with me and his message carries to this day. It’s about how much I would lose.

me: Your wife did want to separate at some point.

T: Not at some point, at many points. The phrase that got me to attend my first meeting, was when I had a raging hangover and the night before I’d been babysitting the children whilst L. went out. (She’ll kill me for saying that, because I think when you’re the father, it’s called ‘parenting’ rather than babysitting.) But she’d gone out and I’d looked after the children. My normal trick — because I’m a secretive person — was to get very drunk on my own. I’d been trying to drink less, and I’d been behaving quite well up until that point, and then I basically drank a huge amount.

She came back and she was livid. The next morning I woke up with a horrible hangover, and her phrase: “Tomorrow you’re going to San Francisco, and when you get back, we’re getting a divorce” — those words ushered me into realizing just how far and fast things had gone wrong. I went off on that business trip; flying sober is not fun, let alone in your early days. Especially when you’re travelling on business, the whole thing is geared to push alcohol on you at every turn.

me: You were on Day 2 sober and flying first-class. I remember.

T: My stories of my Day 2 or Day 6 are incredibly privileged, really. The horrors of “oh my gosh I had to sit in this very nice aircraft whilst stewardesses pushed booze at me.” But I don’t delude myself. Where I live in London, there’s a lot of street drinking and that’s where I would have ended up if I’d have kept going.

I found an amazing AA meeting in San Francisco at 6 a.m. and went to that every day for two weeks. Then I got back to London, and things were pretty tough, and I think it was a month after I got back, that L. decided she wanted to get divorced despite all the changes I’d made.

That was incredibly tough. It was two weeks before Christmas and we decided that the best thing, with two small children, was to have our Christmas together as a family, and then figure out what to do with our separation in the new year. That was a very bleak time. me: For a person who goes to AA meetings, what is the benefit of having me as a sober penpal? Why would you have added that in addition? T: I don’t think it’s possible to have too many stands or elements for my recovery. What attracted me to being a penpal of yours, was that at that time my life was a mess, and I wasn’t sure that AA was for me. I’d just stopped drinking for only a few days at that point when I first contacted you, and I wasn’t quite sure about what I was going through. Then when I got back to London, I still hadn’t found a meeting that I liked, so I was feeling a bit disaffected with it all. And frightened. I do think, ultimately, for me, in my heart of hearts, I’m a secretive and cheaty person at times; the more daylight I shine on me, whether that’s through meetings or through exchanging emails with you — the more I starve wolfie by making friends and not being alone — it betters my chances. me: Right, but I’m a Canadian girl living in France, I’m not on the list of sober supports that you might have naturally gravitated to. T: When it comes down to it, does it really matter whether you’re Canadian or based in France? I have a number of sober friends now and I don’t know any whose circumstances are exactly like mine. It doesn’t matter in terms of geography or where you’re from. Having accountability forces me out of a very insular, strange and closed world. The biggest challenge I have on a day to day basis, is living with me. To be paired with someone exactly like me wouldn’t be terribly helpful. I try to be better, and yet I wake up every morning and there I am. One interesting experience in parenthood is having little people, who have a relatively limited experience of the world, looking up to me. And my son in particular still idolizes me (he’s 6). I used to find that so hard when my self-esteem was nil. The older he gets, the more I see ME wandering around in a mini form: all of his anger, even his compulsive desires to have possessions. Today, I feel a huge empathy for him. I know that I’m in the best place to help him cope with some of the downsides of some of the obsessions. me: Imagine if you were drinking — like, what kind of a parent would you be to him? T: I think if 947 days ago wasn’t my first day of sobriety, then there’s a fair chance I wouldn’t be here now — not from a physical health fallout, but I think my self-destruction would have taken a very dark turn. To answer your question, I don’t think I’d be ANY kind of parent, I don’t think I’d be any kind of person by now. That is enough reason to celebrate. No matter how crappy the day may be sometimes. me: I want to ask you a question that people ask me about being longer-term sober, which is “boy, is it hard to have to think about it all the time?” I’d like to hear what your answer to this is, because my answer has been “if I stopped all of my sober supports, and I didn’t email anybody and I didn’t go to meetings and I didn’t talk to anybody, and I didn’t do anything, I figure I’d be drinking within four months.” T: I don’t think I agree with you about the timeline, which may be right for you. But I don’t think I’ve got four months in me. me: You think yours is less. T: When work takes over and crunches out my meetings, sometimes I’ll go a week without any sober support, and I can feel myself getting crazier and less tolerant. I know if I ran that out, I don’t think it’s four months for me, or if it is, they’d be filled with very unpleasant behaviour. me: Can you outline what sorts of things you do to ensure that you stay sober? What’s in your sober toolkit? T: One thing I do is call someone else who’s doing the same sober thing at least once a day, whether that’s my sponsor or someone else who’s new to this sober world, just to make sure that I push myself out of my comfort zone (I don’t like talking on the phone). And I email you. Also in my sober toolkit is self-care: The better I take care of myself, the better I want to take care of myself. I’m not a paragon of virtue.

Some days i use my tools better than others. but i know that when i do more of this self-care thing, then there are fewer assholes in the world..

T: The biggest commonality for all of us, having a penpal or going to AA, is that it’s about getting to bed sober at night, getting through a day without drinking. That’s true whether it’s Day 1 or Day 947. The nice thing is that it gets easier.

[Update: He’s on day 1,673 today!]

I want to put this online, to hold myself accountable. I want to document the noise in my head. I'm tired of thinking about drinking. date of last drink: june 30, 2012

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Safe Home Drinking Water: A Series of Six Case Study Briefs

This series highlights state and local strategies in the US for equitable home drinking water access and quality for families with children 0-5 years old with low income.

Water security means having stable access to available, acceptable, and safe drinking water, and it is key to supporting good nutrition and health. Families with low income, communities of color, and non-native English speakers are disproportionately affected by exposure to unsafe drinking water.

These briefs highlight state and local programs and policies for home water quality testing, home well water treatment device installation, filter pitcher distribution, and lead service line replacement. Partnering with organizations with established relationships with families vulnerable to unsafe drinking water like the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) was a key program activity.

The lessons learned from these policies and programs can inform equity-based efforts to improve water security with a focus on young children in households experiencing low income.

See the briefs, Executive Summary, and learn more about the project here .

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Binge Drinking: A Confused Concept and its Contemporary History

Binge drinking is a matter of current social, political and media concern. It has a long-term, but also a recent, history. This paper discusses the contemporary history of the concept of binge drinking. In recent years there have been significant changes in how binge drinking is defined and conceptualised. Going on a ‘binge’ used to mean an extended period (days) of heavy drinking, while now it generally refers to a single drinking session leading to intoxication. We argue that the definitional change is related to the shifts in the focus of alcohol policy and alcohol science, in particular in the last two decades, and also in the role of the dominant interest groups. The paper is a case study in the relationship between science and policy. We explore key themes, raise questions and point to a possible agenda for future research.

Binge drinking is a matter of current social, political and media concern. There is a particular focus on the behaviour of young people in public spaces. Media coverage is extensive 1 and dramatic headlines abound: ‘Drunken yob blitz to reclaim city streets’; 2 ‘Binge drink deaths soar’; 3 ‘Drunk and disorderly: Women in the UK are the worst binge drinkers in the world’ 4 are just a few examples. A recent report by the authors has looked at the concept of the normalisation of binge drinking and its historical context. 5 We drew a number of conclusions: among them, that heavy drinking and the consumption of large amounts of alcohol, by men in particular, was seen as normal and even beneficial well into the nineteenth century; and that current definitions of binge drinking used by surveys and by different government departments were confused and did not tally.

We also touched on another issue that we want to explore further in this discussion paper. Binge drinking as a concept has a distant history: but it also has a recent one. The term has come in recent years to describe two quite distinct phenomena. First, it is used to describe a pattern of drinking that occurs over an extended period (usually several days) set aside for the purpose. This is the ‘classic’ definition, linked to clinical definitions of the disease of alcoholism, as in Jellinek's 1960 classification. 6 Secondly, binge drinking has come to be used to describe a single drinking session leading to intoxication, often measured as the consumption of more than a specific number of drinks on one occasion, often by young people. There is no consensus on how many drinks constitutes this version of binge drinking—how much alcohol—and a variety of ‘cut-offs’ are used.

The second meaning has become prominent in recent years, is used extensively in research and informs UK policy. The ‘new’ definition has largely, but by no means entirely replaced the ‘classic’ definition, and both terms co-exist, if somewhat uneasily at times, in the alcohol field. Thus, it was evident from our research that there has been a shift in recent history in the meaning of the term. What was less clear was how the current confused definition of binge drinking has come to hold sway in public and policy discussions when it seems to be different from definitions which operated in the past. This is an issue which has implications for policy. But it is also a change which throws light on the relationship between science and policy. Our overall hypothesis, which is set out in this discussion paper, is that the definitional change must be related to the shifts in the focus of alcohol policy and alcohol science, in particular in the last two decades, and also to the role of the dominant interest groups in the alcohol field. It is not a change simply in the types of people drinking and the ways in which they drink, but rather an issue of perception which tells us something about the ways in which science and policy interact. Our paper will explore these key themes, will raise questions and will point to a possible agenda for future research.

Post-War Alcohol Policy

Back in the 1940s and 1950s, going on a ‘binge’ meant an extended period of heavy drinking, possibly over several days, and was strongly associated with clinical definitions of alcoholism. Ray Milland's portrayal of the alcoholic Don Birman in the 1945 film The Lost Weekend typifies this type of binge drinking. In the book upon which the film is based, Don Birman is described as a ‘periodic drinker with periods of sobriety in between’. 7 But in current discussion, binge drinking does not mean this style of drinking at all. It means heavy drinking (with different numbers of drinks specified) on one occasion and is often connected with fears about public disorder and young people's alcohol consumption. When did this change occur? Our suggestion is that the concept began to change in the 1990s, but that this change had its origins in scientific and policy interests which dated from the 1970s. We are not arguing that one concept has completely replaced the other. In fact, earlier usage of the contemporary definition can be found in the literature of the 1950s, but we are arguing that they coexist uneasily and that the balance between forms of definition has changed over time. 8

The general context of the analysis is the changes in UK and international approaches to alcohol and alcohol treatment over the last 50 years. The post-war history of alcohol policy in the UK has been explored through a number of recent studies. 9 These have identified overall changes in policy and in the dominant conceptualisations of alcohol use and misuse, revealing that the way in which alcohol use and abuse are conceptualised has undergone a number of changes since 1950. Thom identifies two major shifts between 1948 and 1990. 10 The first shift was away from a ‘moral’ model of alcoholism which viewed the problem as one of individual deficiency of willpower or moral worth towards a ‘disease’ model which regarded the problem as a medical condition requiring treatment. The second shift, away from the ‘disease’ model, towards a public health perspective, saw a redefinition of the problem in epidemiological and public health terms as arising from levels of alcohol consumption in the population as a whole and, at an individual level, as a result of life-style and ‘risk behaviour’. From the 1990s, alcohol issues have been increasingly conceptualised within a criminal justice framework with the introduction of surveillance, harm reduction and community safety approaches. The change in UK and international approaches to alcohol and alcohol treatment over the last 50 years provides the context in which to explore the shift in the meaning of the term binge drinking. The rest of the paper sets out some key themes and questions.

Have Risk Groups Changed?

One explanation of the change in the conceptualisation of binge drinking could be a simple ‘realist’ one—that the major groups who are drinking in society have changed. So an initial area of interest is the relationship of perceptions of ‘risk groups’ and the role they have played against a general background of rising alcohol consumption. Since the 1970s, per capita consumption of alcohol in Britain has risen by 50 per cent and the vast majority of adults report drinking in the past week. 11 However, within this context, a significant proportion of the adult population do not drink alcohol: 13 per cent of respondents in an Office for National Statistics survey had not drunk in the past year and in another survey of students a quarter did not drink. 12 Alcohol consumption is by no means concentrated in the groups most in the public eye. The classic concept of bingeing in the 1950s and 1960s was of the male alcoholic, and also of the homeless street drinker. Although older men (aged 55–74) remain the group with the highest alcohol-related mortality, they are now rarely discussed and the current binge concept draws on different conceptualizations of ‘binge drinkers’. 13 The current focus is on women and young people. Let us explore how current discussion relates to the reality of their patterns of drinking.

Women's drinking became visible in the 1970s and 1980s in part through the determined efforts of feminists, but also through more traditional concerns about the effect of women's alcohol consumption on unborn children and on the family. The focus tended to be women's drinking at home, ‘misery drinking’ as women drank to escape from their domestic role. 14 In the 1990s, new ideas about women's drinking began to emerge, not directly connected with reproduction nor with the whole population approach. These emphasised the ‘laddette’ culture among young girls. By ‘keeping up with the boys’, young women were seen in public and media discussion to jeopardise their health and put themselves at risk of chronic liver disease. However, within the context of a rise in deaths due to chronic liver disease across both sexes and at all ages, the picture is not one where women's drinking is the dominant problem. Men account for two-thirds of alcohol-related mortality and have a death-rate which is more than twice the rate for women. 15 Moreover, this gap between the sexes has widened over recent time. 16 Our hypothesis here is that the focus on women is less a reflection of reality and more a representation of long-standing trends. It carries with it connotations of women's classic role within public health as both ‘innocent victim’ and vector of infection.

The role ascribed to young people is also problematic. There has been a shift away from the older street drinker to the young ‘otherwise sensible’ drinker as the object of concern—and this reflects a more general fear of ‘youth’. 17 Addressing alcohol-related criminality and public nuisance has become a key plank of the current government's broader ‘Respect’ agenda, with the police and local authorities having an increasing array of powers at their disposal, including anti-social behaviour orders (ASBOs), fixed penalty notices and ‘alcohol free’ zones. These reflect a wider concern with the management of public space and public disorder. The focus of interest in public space is not the homeless drunken offender of the 1950s and 1960s who seems to have largely disappeared from any policy agenda, but rather the young men and especially women who crowd city centres. There seems to be a history of a gradually emergent focus on young people and young girls here. There were earlier formulations of this fear of young people in public spaces—the ‘lager louts’, the football hooligans and the under-age drinkers on street corners of the 1980s are likely to be linked to the rise of interest in the youth ‘binge drinkers’ of today.

Therefore, an explanation just in terms of changing risk groups cannot provide the rationale for the change in concepts. In the rest of this paper, we look elsewhere, and in particular at four areas: the changing nature of alcohol science; the balancing act within alcohol policy; the role of science/policy transfer; and industrial interests.

Changes in Alcohol Science and Varying Definitions

Binge drinking in the 1940s and 1950s was related to the change towards a ‘disease’ view of alcoholism. What are the changes in alcohol science that have underpinned the new definition? Here we must consider a number of factors: changes in the whole population arguments of alcohol epidemiology; the role of the alcohol unit; and also the changing nature of the scientific interests which operate in the alcohol field. The whole population approach in alcohol epidemiology which was elaborated during the 1970s led to an emphasis on possible policy measures to reduce drinking in the population as a whole. This approach was associated with the alcohol ‘purple book’, a cross-nationally authored report which had a major influence in altering responses to look at the whole population rather than just the diseased minority. 18 This approach was in tune with changes within public health, which began to focus on the role of the individual within the whole population. 19 But an emphasis has emerged more recently which stresses ‘high risk’ consumption rather than overall consumption and harm. 20 The population approach has been modified to give way to a greater focus on high risk individual drinking. It may be hypothesised that this scientific shift, the idea of high risk harm, has had a relationship to the redefinition of the binge.

The changing role of alcohol units as a population consumption measure also seems to be relevant. This is because of the way in which this discussion has recently come to focus attention on daily consumption. During the 1980s, the UK adopted a ‘units’ system for the measurement of alcohol: one unit comprised eight grammes of alcohol. Since the 1980s, the unit concept has been extensively utilised in large-scale surveys measuring alcohol consumption and harmful drinking, to convey health promotion messages about ‘sensible drinking’ and to identify ‘risk groups’. Reports in the 1980s from the three Royal Colleges—General Practitioners, Physicians, Psychiatrists—all contained the same advice about levels of alcohol consumption and risk to health expressed in units of alcohol consumed in a week. 21 Women were identified as more at ‘risk’ of the harmful effects of alcohol at lower doses than men and this was reflected in the guidelines; women were advised that drinking 14 units in a week was ‘safe’ whilst for men it was 21 units. But in 1995, the UK ‘sensible drinking’ message was revised and there was a change in emphasis away from weekly consumption to daily consumption and the introduction of daily benchmarks alongside the weekly ones. 22 The unit concept has been criticised since its inception for being ‘unscientific’ and the change in the 1990s was also controversial because of possible industry involvement. 23 Again, it is reasonable to suppose that the new emphasis on daily drinking has contributed to the reconceptualisation of the binge.

The scientific interest groups in the field have also changed in recent decades and their world outlook is also relevant to this discussion. In the 1960s and 1970s, the alcohol ‘policy community’ (a term meaning the dominant interest group with links both inside and outside government) comprised psychiatrists, members of the alcohol voluntary sector, criminal justice interests (the magistrates) and Department of Health civil servants. This community has undergone change. The role of psychiatry, where key figures were identified strongly with the 1970s whole population approach, has become less significant. 24 Other interests, for example, gastroenterology and hepatology, and brain science, with the rise of alcohol genetics and psychopharmacology, have taken the lead in recent public discussion. 25 Such interests have focused attention on accident and emergency admissions and the individual clinical case rather than a whole population approach. What role have these newer scientific interests in the field played in redefining the concept of the binge?

Tensions between Medical and Criminal Justice Approaches

Other issues also come into play, including the dominant tendencies within policy responses and the way in which tensions have played out over time. The question as to whether habitual drunkenness should be a matter for medical or criminal justice systems goes back to the nineteenth century and has been a recurring theme in the development of policy responses. Until the nineteenth century, habitual drunkenness or inebriety was regarded as a criminal offence and as such punishable. The nineteenth century witnessed the emergence of the idea that inebriety was a disease and moved towards treatment rather than punishment and the establishment of state-funded reformatories. 26 The reformatories were a resounding failure and ceased to function before the First World War. During the 1950s and 1960s, increasing attention was paid to public drunkenness and in particular the ‘habitual drunken offender’, many of whom were homeless and thus a visible ‘problem’. Once again the question as to whether habitual drunken offenders were in need of punishment or treatment surfaced. Although the possibility of compulsory incarceration was re-visited, Thom argued that an increasingly effective medical lobby meant that at policy level this ‘problem’ never gained a strong foothold. 27

Although the potential harms of binge drinking to health are recognised, the ‘new’ binge drinking is located firmly within a criminal justice framework. Home Office research has focused on binge drinking and criminality with a particular focus on young people. 28 Medical evidence, where it counts, comes largely from accident and emergency departments rather than the specialist units of the past. This rebalancing between medical and criminal justice responses to alcohol will have repercussions for the ‘current binge definition’ which is strongly predicated on a community safety and criminal justice response.

The Role of Overseas Models and Policy Transfer

Policy is an international matter and it seems likely that the new concept has been influenced by the transfer of models and of science from other cultures. 29 Science is an international matter. There are three areas in particular that we think need to be examined: the role of US models, the role of eastern Europe and the role of the World Health Organisation (WHO) and international networks.

The popularity of the current meaning of the terms appears in part to be rooted in the work of US researchers on college drinking. 30 With a legal drinking age of 21 years in most US states, these studies are primarily about under-age drinking. Binge drinking was defined in the USA as drinking five drinks in a row for men and four in a row for women, and it was argued that this was the threshold for alcohol-related social consequences such as fights, injuries, hangovers and unplanned sexual activity. This definition, although widely used, has been challenged by other researchers and the meaning of the term remains contested. 31 How did a definition which related initially to US college students become accepted in British public and policy discourse? What impact has discussion of the concept in the USA, where disease views of alcoholism are much stronger, had on the different situation in the UK?

The changes in eastern Europe and the expansion of western public health research there has also played a role. Such research revealed the harms associated with high levels of alcohol consumption, in particular in Russia. In the 1990s, researchers established that there was a link between alcohol consumption and fluctuating mortality rates in post-communist Russia and highlighted the importance of the pattern of consumption on mortality. 32 In particular, they identified the negative consequences on health of acute intoxication, and used the term binge drinking to describe drinking at least 25cl of vodka (80 g of alcohol) in one go at least once a month. Russian drinking patterns approximated more to the classic concept of the 1950s and 1960s, in particular the heavy weekend-long patterns of drinking. How far did the publicity given this research spill over into discussions of drinking in the UK, given that the key researchers were British public health personnel? And how were the concepts then reformulated to fit the British situation?

The role of WHO as an international disseminator of scientific concepts is well known, in this as in other fields. 33 WHO has played a role in the redefinition of' binge', but seems to have operated as a broker, not quite dropping the old version nor fully adopting the new. It seems that the ‘classic’ use of the term has been displaced rather than replaced. Anderson and Baumberg state that the terms used in their report are taken from the WHO's lexicon of drug and alcohol terms. 34 This sets out a ‘classic’ definition of binge drinking, but the authors go on to use the term in its current form, reporting and synthesising a great deal of material on binge drinking (as currently defined). In its own work, the WHO has used the term heavy episodic drinking, although this does not appear in the WHO lexicon of terms. 35 The role of WHO both in Geneva and in the WHO Euro Office in Copenhagen in relation to this shift needs further investigation, as will the international networks operating in this field and which draw on Australian and Canadian researchers. The international networks established in the 1970s via the WHO linked North American and Scandinavian researchers. It may be that current WHO confusion over the use of terms also relates to the different models of drinking which operate in the US and Scandinavian contexts.

If we were writing as public health researchers on alcohol rather than as contemporary historians, one of our first themes might well have been the culpability of the drinks industry in seeking to extend its market to younger people. Certainly this argument does have some points in its favour in relationship to dominant conceptualisations. Concerns about under-age drinking were amplified in the late 1990s through the decision of the alcohol industry to market fruit-flavoured alcohol drinks termed ‘alco pops’. 36 Commentary on alcohol policy has also argued that the drinks industry has exerted greater influence on recent government policy. But the industry position is also more complex than at first sight. The industry itself is fragmented with horizontal organisation through large companies rather than the vertical organisation of the past dependent on the brewers. 37 ‘The industry’ is not a monolithic force with a unified influence on policy. These recent structural changes in the industry, its marketing and its policy influence seem to have contributed to a focus on high-risk, harmful drinking—rather than the whole population approach which had been maintained by the alcohol policy community with its roots in the 1970s. 38

Having set out some key themes, we need to consider where we go from here. Clearly there are areas which need further investigation. The role of the media and its use of the term over time need investigation. So, too, does the perception—and significance—ascribed to the term and its use in policy discussions and documents. Our report for the Alcohol Education and Research Council was a short-term undertaking but there is much unexploited archival material now available, as well as the reports of different professional bodies over the last 20 or more years. The National Archives have a number of potentially useful sources. These include the Home Office Departmental Committee on Liquor Licensing (commonly known as the Erroll Committee) 39 which published its findings in 1972. 40 There are also extensive records (for example, consultative documents, draft papers) associated with the White Paper on Prevention and Health. 41 There is also the preparation of Drinking Sensibly published in 1981. 42 More recent policy documents could be available. Interviews with key participants in the interest groups we have identified will also help to explain changing conceptions.

Why is this research important? We are not denying that patterns of drinking have changed or that there are problems in current British society. We are not taking a totally constructivist approach, although we aim to highlight the ways in which this ‘problem’ is being defined and possible rationales for change. Policy makers should be aware of the context in which they operate. Concepts do not appear out of thin air, but have their own history. This study can in fact be seen as feeding in ‘evidence’ to policy on the rational model. On a more theoretical level, this change of definitions over time is also a case study of evidence and policy itself. It tells us how science interacts with policy making and the policy environment. Some of the factors and issues which mediate that relationship are set out in this discussion paper. We hope to build on previous work to further elucidate this complex relationship. 43

Acknowledgements

The ideas in this paper have their origins in a research study funded by the Alcohol and Education Research Council ( The Normalisation of Binge Drinking? An Historical and Cross-Cultural Investigation with Implications for Action , grant number: R 02/2005). The paper was first given at the annual conference of the Kettil Bruun Society in Budapest in June 2007.

1 For example, entering the phrase ‘women binge drinking’ into the Daily Mail on-line search facility produced ‘about 9,166’ articles ( http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/index.html , search conducted 19 September 2006).

2 Daily Mail 2004.

3 Wheldon 2006 .

4 Dobson et al. 2006 .

5 Berridge et al. 2007 .

6 Jellinek 1960 .

7 Jackson 1967 , p. 36.

8 For example, Alan Sillitoe in his 1958 novel Saturday Night and Sunday Morning set in 1950s Nottingham uses ‘binge’ to refer to a night of heavy drinking.

9 Baggott 1990 ; Berridge 1990 ; Thom 1999 ; Greenaway 2003 ; Thom in Berridge (ed.) 2005.

10 Thom 1999 .

11 The Academy of Medical Sciences 2004 , p. 7. The Information Centre 2009 , p. 7.

12 Lader and Goddard 2006 , p. 13; Coughlan 2006 . Many universities have reduced the number of bars because of declining sales and have opened coffee/juice bars and even galleries in their place. See Coughlan 2006 ; The Times 2006; Attwood 2007 , p. 5.

13 Breakwell et al. 2007 , p. 9.

14 Thom 1999 .

15 In 2004, the male death-rate was 17.6 deaths per 1,000,000 population compared with 8.3 deaths per 100,000 for females. See Breakwell et al. 2007 , p. 9.

17 Gofton 1990 ; Pearson 1983 .

18 Bruun et al. 1975 .

19 Rose 1992 .

20 Stockwell et al. 1996 .

21 Royal College of General Practitioners 1986 ; Royal College of Physicians 1987 ; Royal College of Psychiatrists 1986 .

22 Department of Health 1995 .

23 Thom in Berridge (ed.) 2005; Edwards 1996 .

24 Edwards et al. 1994 .

25 For example, in the Panorama programme ‘Booze: What Every Teenager Should Know’ 2006.

26 Berridge 2004 .

27 Thom 1999 .

28 Engineer et al. 2003 ; Richardson and Budd 2003 .

29 Walt et al. 2004 .

30 Wechsler et al. 1994 ; Wechsler 2000 .

31 De Jong 2003 ; Naimi et al. 2003 .

32 Leon et al. 1997 .

33 Room 1984 .

34 Anderson and Baumberg 2006 ; WHO 1994 .

35 For example, in the WHO Global Status Report on Alcohol 2004.

36 Greenaway 2003 .

37 Berridge 2005 .

38 Babor et al. 2003 ; Edwards et al. 1994 .

39 The National Archives (hereafter TNA) HO 281 Home Office: Departmental Committee on Liquor Licensing: Minutes and Papers, 1970–3.

40 Home Office 1972 .

41 For example, TNA MH 154/1138: White Paper on Prevention and Health: contributions on alcohol and drug misuse; revised drafts and preparation for publication, 1977; TNA MH 154/1139: Consultative Document on Alcohol following publication of White Paper on Prevention and Health: drafts, comments and amendments, 1978.

42 Department of Health and Social Security 1981 .

43 In previous work, Berridge and Thom 1996 have discussed the nature of the relationship between research, evidence and policy, using examples from alcohol, drugs and smoking. Berridge (ed.) 2005 .

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Biographies of Drink: A Case Study Approach to our Historical Relationship with Alcohol

Description

The burgeoning field of drinking studies, often ranging across and between disciplinary boundaries, explores the place of alcohol in human societies from a very diverse range of perspectives. Whilst some scholars have examined the cultural meanings and social practices associated with alcohol consumption, and its relationship to various forms of identity and community formation, others have focused on attempts to regulate or tax it, its role as a trade commodity, or its medical and psychological effects on consumers. The sheer diversity of issues upon which the study of alcohol and drinking can shed light is undoubtedly part of the strength of the field of drinking studies. At the same time, however, it can make it difficult for these different strands to consistently and fully engage with one another.

This book offers an innovative methodology that will help to facilitate fruitful interactions between scholars approaching the study of alcohol from different perspectives: the “biographies of drink” approach. Drawing inspiration from, but also going beyond, work on the “social lives of things,” this collection of essays showcases an approach in which each author constructs a “biography” of a particular drink, drinking place, or idea associated with drink, in a tightly-focused historical context. The “biographies” included range from the drinking vessels of Roman Britain to a whisky advertising campaign in 1950s America, and deal with diverse themes, from the associations between alcohol and national identity to the relationship between drinking and Existentialism.

The book brings together scholarly approaches from classics, design theory, literary studies and history within the “biographies” framework. This allows for the emergence of important areas of comparison and contrast, as well as several overarching themes, such as the close associations between different drinking patterns and notions of tradition and modernity that occur in a wide range of cultural and historical contexts. Not only, then, does this book provide fascinating case studies of interest to scholars working in particular fields or particular contexts, but it also showcases a productive new methodology which offers insights of relevance to anyone interested in the role of alcohol in any society.

Dr Mark Hailwood is currently a Lecturer in British History, 1350–1800, at St Hilda’s College, University of Oxford. He is the author of Alehouses and Good Fellowship in Early Modern England and co-convenor of the Drinking Studies Network.

Dr Deborah Toner is a Lecturer in Modern History at the University of Leicester. She is the author of Alcohol and Nationhood in Nineteenth-Century Mexico and co-convenor of the Drinking Studies Network.

“What this admirable essay collection attempts is effectively a multidisciplinary approach to drinking studies, conceived along the lines of the historiographical fashion for social biography. Drinking is explored under four divergent headings: in its relationships to society, to material culture, to national identity, and to the individual. The chief benefit of such a strategy is that social and thematic continuities emerge between different periods and cultures, continuities that lie dormant when a topic is considered only in localized contexts or in a specific era.” Stuart Walton The World of Fine Wine (2015)

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Intermediate

Drinking Problems

Alcoholic in Suit Sitting on Street Drinking Beer

1.0 Overview
2.0 Case Study
3.0 Conversation Questions

Engaging in conversation practice related to case studies about problems such as alcohol addiction can help learners to develop their communication skills, expand their vocabulary, and improve their grammar and pronunciation in the context of a specific topic.

Students can learn how to express themselves more clearly, listen actively, and respond appropriately to various scenarios involving alcohol addiction. They can also learn how to use relevant terminology, idiomatic expressions, and phrasal verbs in discussing alcohol addiction.

Steven’s Story

Steven is a 43-year-old man who has been struggling with alcohol addiction for several years. He started drinking in his early 20s as a way to socialize with his friends and alleviate stress from work. Initially, he would only drink on weekends or during special occasions, but over time, his drinking gradually increased in frequency and quantity.

After the birth of his child, Steven started drinking more heavily as a way to cope with the stress and demands of parenthood. He found it challenging to balance the responsibilities of being a new father with his job and other commitments, and he often turned to alcohol as a way to escape from his problems.

Steven’s alcohol consumption has caused significant problems in his personal and professional life. He has lost his job twice due to showing up to work drunk and has strained his relationships with his family and friends. Despite these issues, Steven has found it challenging to quit drinking. He has tried going to AA meetings, detox programs, and therapy sessions, but none of these attempts have been successful.

As Steven’s drinking continued to escalate, his relationship with his wife began to suffer. She became increasingly concerned about his behavior and the impact it was having on their family. They argued frequently, and his wife threatened to leave him if he didn’t quit drinking.

If Steven fails to quit drinking, it is likely that his relationship with his wife will deteriorate further. She may lose patience with his behavior and decide to leave him, which would have significant emotional and financial consequences for their family. Steven knows that he needs to quit drinking for the sake of his marriage and his family, but he is struggling to find the strength and support he needs to overcome his addiction.

Conversation Questions

How do you think Steve's alcohol addiction started?
What different methods has Steve tried to quit drinking, and why do you think they were unsuccessful?
How do you think Steve's relationship with his wife has been affected by his alcohol addiction?
What advice would you give to Steve to help him overcome his addiction?
What steps can society take to better support individuals struggling with alcohol addiction?
How can we raise awareness about the dangers of alcohol addiction and the importance of seeking help?
In your opinion, is it possible for someone with an alcohol addiction to fully recover and live a sober life? Why or why not?
What role do you think family and friends can play in supporting someone struggling with alcohol addiction?
In your opinion, what are some common misconceptions people have about alcohol addiction?
What are some ways to prevent alcohol addiction from becoming a problem in the first place?

Keep The Conversation Going!

Gregory is a qualified TEFL teacher who has been teaching English as a Foreign Language (ESL) for over a decade. He has taught in-person classes in Spain and to English learners around the world online.

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The age-21 minimum legal drinking age: a case study linking past and current debates

Affiliation.

1 The University of Minnesota, School of Public Health, Division of Epidemiology and Community Health, Minneapolis, MN 55454, USA. [email protected]
PMID: 19922564
DOI: 10.1111/j.1360-0443.2009.02742.x

Background: The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in the United States (U.S.) has raised debate over the past several decades. During the 1970s many states lowered their MLDAs from age 21 to 18, 19, or 20. However, as a result of studies showing that these lower MLDAs were associated with increases in traffic crashes, state-level movements began in the later1970s to return MLDAs to age 21. A new movement has arisen to again lower the MLDA in the U.S. Aim The aim is to discuss this current MLDA debate within the context of the long history of the U.S. MLDA.

Methods: A search of research articles, websites, and newspaper articles was conducted to identify key messages and influences related to the MLDA movements.

Results: The complexity of state movements to change their MLDAs is illustrated by the Michigan experience, where strong political forces on both sides of the issue were involved, resulting in the MLDA returning to 21. Because the 21st Constitutional amendment prevents the federal government from mandating a MLDA for all states, a federal policy was proposed to provide incentives for all states to implement age-21 MLDAs. Due largely to strong research evidence, the National Minimum Legal Drinking Age Act was enacted in 1984, stipulating that states set their MLDA to 21 or face loss of federal highway funds. By 1988, all states had an age-21 MLDA.

Conclusion: Any current debate about the MLDA should be informed by the historical context of this policy and the available research.

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Lunch: Burger King Hamburger, juice in a box, French Fries

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Bird Flu (H5N1) Explained: U.S. Human Infections Rise To 9

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Here’s the latest news about a global outbreak of H5N1 bird flu that started in 2020, and recently spread among cattle in U.S. states and marine mammals across the world, which has health officials closely monitoring it and experts concerned the virus could mutate and eventually spread to humans, where it has proven rare but deadly.

A sign warns of a outbreak of bird flu.

July 15 Officials confirmed a fourth bird flu case in a poultry farm worker on the same Colorado farm from last week, and a fifth suspected case is pending confirmation from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. This brings the national number to nine since the first human cases was detected in the state in 2022, with eight of the cases reported this year.

July 12 Colorado authorities announced three workers in a commercial egg operation have presumptive positive cases of bird flu, bringing the state’s count of known human infections up to as high as five—and the national number to seven—though authorities said none of the workers have been hospitalized, and showed “common respiratory infection symptoms” and pink eye. It’s the first time multiple cases have been recorded at the same location.

July 3 Colorado health officials confirmed the state’s second human case of bird flu in a dairy farm worker who has since recovered and only had mild symptoms, reporting pink eye.

June 25 Finland said it plans to begin vaccinating vulnerable populations like farm workers against bird flu as early as next week using 10,000 vaccine series—each with two doses—acquired as part of a European Union deal with vaccine maker CSL Seqirus to provide up to 40 million vaccines to 15 countries.

June 11 The World Health Organization announced a four-year-old child in India was infected with H9N2 bird flu—a different flu strain from H5N1—but recovered after suffering from seizures, respiratory distress, fever and abdominal cramps; H9N2 has infected around 100 people globally since 1998, and this is the second human case in India.

June 6 Dozens of cows infected with bird flu have either died or been slaughtered in Colorado, Ohio, Michigan, South Carolina and Texas, which is unusual since—unlike poultry—cows cost more to slaughter and around 90% usually make a full recovery, Reuters reported .

June 5 A new study examining the 2023 bird flu outbreak in South America that killed around 17,400 elephant seal pups and 24,000 sea lions found the disease spread between the animals in several countries, the first known case of transnational virus mammal-to-mammal bird flu transmission.

May 30 Another human case of bird flu has been detected in a dairy farm worker in Michigan—though the cases aren’t connected—and this is the first person in the U.S. to report respiratory symptoms connected to bird flu, though their symptoms are “resolving,” according to the CDC.

May 23 A new study with mice suggests that drinking infected milk can spread the disease—and that a certain type of pasteurization may not always be effective in killing the virus.

May 22 Michigan reported bird flu in a farmworker—the second U.S. human case tied to transmission from dairy cows—though the worker had a mild infection and has since recovered.

May 21 Australia reported its first human case of bird flu after a child became infected in March after traveling to India, though the child has since recovered after suffering from a “severe infection,” according to the Victorian Department of Health.

May 16 The USDA conducted a study, and discovered that after high levels of the virus was injected into beef, no trace was left after the meat was cooked medium to well done, though the virus was found in meat cooked to lower temperatures.

May 14 The CDC released influenza A waste water data for the weeks ending in April 27 and May 4, and found several states like Alaska, California, Florida, Illinois and Kansas had unusually high levels, though the agency isn’t sure if the virus came from humans or animals, and isn’t able to differentiate between influenza A subtypes, meaning the H5N1 virus or other subtypes may have been detected.

May 10 The Food and Drug Administration announced it will commit an additional $8 million to ensure the commercial milk supply is safe, while the Department of Agriculture said it will pay up to $28,000 per farm to help mitigate the spread of the disease, totaling around $98 million in funds.

May 9 Some 70 people in Colorado are being monitored for bird flu due to potential exposure, and will be tested for the virus if they show any symptoms, the Colorado Department of Public Health told Forbes—it was not immediately clear how or when the people were potentially exposed.

May 1 The Department of Agriculture said it tested 30 grocery store ground beef products for bird flu and they all came back negative, reaffirming the meat supply is safe.

May 1 The Food and Drug Administration confirmed dairy products are still safe to consume, announcing it tested grocery store samples of products like infant formula, toddler milk, sour cream and cottage cheese, and no live traces of the bird flu virus were found, although some dead remnants were found in some of the food—though none in the baby products.

April 30 Wenqing Zhang, head of WHO's Global Influenza Programme, said during a news briefing "there is a risk for cows in other countries to be getting infected," with the bird flu virus, since it’s commonly spread through the movement of migratory birds.

April 29 The Department of Agriculture told Forbes it will begin testing ground beef samples from grocery stores in states with cow outbreaks, and test ground beef cooked at different temperatures and infected with the virus to determine if it's safe to eat.

April 24 The USDA said cow-to-cow transmission may be occurring due to the cows coming into contact with raw milk—and warned against humans and other animals, including pets, consuming unpasteurized milk to prevent potential infection.

April 18 Jeremy Farrar, chief scientist for the World Health Organization, said during a press conference the threat of bird flu spreading between humans was a “great concern,” since it’s evolved and has increasingly been infecting mammals (on land and sea), which means it could possibly spread to humans.

April 1 The CDC reported the second U.S. human case of bird flu in a Texas dairy farmer who became infected after contracting the virus from infected dairy cows, but said the person was already recovering.

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Can Bird Flu Spread Between Humans?

Bird flu doesn’t “transmit easily from person-to-person,” according to the World Health Organization. Bird flu rarely affects humans, and most previous cases came from close contact with infected poultry, according to the CDC. Because human-to-human spread of bird flu poses “pandemic potential,” each human case is investigated to rule out this type of infection. Though none have been confirmed, there are a few global cases—none in the U.S.—where human-to-human transmission of bird flu was thought to be “probable,” including in China , Thailand , Indonesia and Pakistan .

Is Bird Flu Fatal To Humans?

It is very deadly. Between January 2003 and March 28, 2024 there have been 888 human cases of bird flu infection in humans, according to a report by the World Health Organization. Of those 888 cases, 463 (52%) died. To date, only two people in the U.S. have contracted H5N1 bird flu, and they both were infected after coming into contact with sick animals. The most recent case was a dairy worker in Texas who became ill in March after interacting with sick dairy cows, though he only experienced pink eye. The first incident happened in 2022 when a person in Colorado contracted the disease from infected poultry, and fully recovered.

Is It Safe To Drink Milk Infected With Bird Flu?

Raw, unpasteurized milk is unsafe to drink, but pasteurized milk is fine, according to the FDA. Bird flu has been detected in both unpasteurized and pasteurized milk, but the FDA recommends manufacturers against making and selling unpasteurized milk since there’s a possibility consuming it may cause bird flu infection. However, the virus remnants in pasteurized milk have been deactivated by the heat during the pasteurization process , so this type of milk is still believed safe to consume.

Is It Safe To Consume Meat Infected With Bird Flu?

The CDC warns against eating raw meat or eggs from animals “confirmed or suspected” of having bird flu because of the possibility of transmission. However, no human has ever been infected with bird flu from eating properly prepared and cooked meat, according to the agency. The possibility of infected meat entering the food supply is “extremely low” due to rigorous inspection, so properly handled and cooked meat is safe to eat, according to the USDA. To know when meat is properly cooked, whole beef cuts must be cooked to an internal temperature of 145 degrees Fahrenheit, ground meat must be 160 degrees and poultry must be cooked to 165 degrees. Rare and medium rare steaks fall below this temperature. Properly cooked eggs with an internal temperature of 165 degrees Fahrenheit kills bacteria and viruses including bird flu, according to the CDC. “It doesn’t matter if they may or may not have [avian] influenza… runny eggs and rare pieces of meat” are never recommended, Francisco Diez-Gonzalez, director and professor for the Center for Food Safety at the University of Georgia, told Forbes. To “play it safe,” consumers should only eat fully cooked eggs and make sure “the yolks are firm with no runny parts,” Daisy May, veterinary surgeon with U.K.-based company Medivet, said .

What Are Bird Flu Symptoms In Humans?

Symptoms of bird flu include a fever, cough, headache, chills, shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, runny nose, congestion, sore throat, nausea or vomiting, diarrhea, pink eye, muscle aches and headache. However, the CDC advises it can’t be diagnosed based on symptoms alone, and laboratory testing is needed. This typically includes swabbing the nose or throat (the upper respiratory tract), or the lower respiratory tract for critically ill patients.

How Is Bird Flu Affecting Egg Prices?

This year’s egg prices have increased as production decreased due to bird flu outbreaks among poultry, according to the USDA. A dozen large, grade A eggs in the U.S. costed around $2.99 in March, up almost a dollar from the fall. However, this price is down from a record $4.82 in January 2023, which was also spiked by bird flu outbreaks . Earlier this month, Cal-Maine Foods—the country’s largest egg producer—temporarily halted egg production after over one million egg-laying hens and chickens were killed after being infected with bird flu.

Why Do Poultry Farmers Kill Chickens With Bird Flu?

Once chickens have been infected with bird flu, farmers quickly kill them to help control the spread of the virus, since bird flu is highly contagious and fatal in poultry. The USDA pays farmers for all birds and eggs that have to be killed because of bird flu, as an incentive to responsibly try and curb the spread of the disease. The USDA has spent over $1 billion in bird flu compensation for farmers since 2022, according to the nonprofit Food & Environment Reporting Network.

Is There A Vaccine For The Bird Flu (h5n1)?

The FDA has approved a few bird flu vaccines for humans. The U.S. has a stockpile of vaccines for H5N1 bird flu, but it wouldn’t be enough to vaccinate all Americans if an outbreak were to happen among humans. If a human outbreak does occur, the government plans to mass produce vaccines, which can take at least six months to make enough for the entire population. CSL Seqirus, the maker of one of the approved vaccines, expects to have 150 million vaccines ready within six months of an announcement of a human bird flu pandemic. Although there are approved vaccines for other variants designed for birds, there are none for the H5N1 variant circulating. However, the USDA began trials on H5N1 animal-specific vaccines in 2023.

Key Background

As of May 30, more than 92 million poultry (primarily chickens) in 48 states have been euthanized because of bird flu since 2022, and 57 dairy cow herds across nine states have tested positive, according to data from the CDC (unlike chickens, cows appear to recover from the virus). The USDA believes wild migratory birds are the original source of the cow outbreaks that recently has experts concerned it may mutate and spread more easily in humans, though the CDC said its risk to the public remains low . Farrar called the cattle infections in the U.S. a “huge concern,” urging public health officials to continue closely monitoring the situation “because it may evolve into transmitting in different ways.” The increased number of mammal bird flu infections since 2022 “could indicate that the virus is looking for new hosts, and of course, moving closer to people,” Andrea Garcia, vice president of science, medicine and public health for the American Medical Association, said . The first report of a walrus dying from bird flu was detected in April on one of Norway’s Arctic Islands, and the first U.S. dolphin infected with bird flu died back in 2022, according to a report published April 18. More than 10 human bird flu cases were reported to the World Health Organization in 2023, and all but one survived. Bird flu has devastated bird populations, and 67 countries reported the deaths of 131 million poultry in 2022 alone. Although bird flu typically infects wild birds and poultry, it’s spread to other animals during the outbreak, and at least 10 countries have reported outbreaks in mammals since 2022. Around 17,400 elephant seal pups died from bird flu in Argentina in 2023, and at least 24,000 sea lions died in South America the same year. Besides cattle, bird flu has been detected in over 200 other mammals—like seals, raccoons and bears—in the U.S. since 2022. Although rare, even domestic pets like dogs and cats are susceptible to the virus, and the FDA warns against giving unpasteurized milk to cats to avoid possible transmission.

On June 5, WHO confirmed the first human death of a strain of bird flu that’s never before been seen in humans and is separate from H5N1. A 59-year-old man in Mexico contracted H5N2, and died on April 24 after being hospitalized and developing a fever, diarrhea, nausea, shortness of breath and general discomfort. Cases of H5N2 have been reported in poultry in Mexico, but the man had no history with poultry or animals, WHO said. It’s unclear how he became infected. He was bedridden for weeks prior to the infection, and suffered from several other health conditions.

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This series highlights state and local strategies in the US for equitable home drinking water access and quality for families with children 0-5 years old with low income. Water security means havin…
PDF Thirsty Metropolis: A Case Study of New York City's Drinking Water
Case Study Subject and Goals This case study is divided into two parts to explore many aspects of the development of the drinking water supply for New York City. In Part I, a brief history on the evolution of the water supply system is presented within the social and political context of the system's history. The case study lesson divides students into groups to examine various perspectives ...
Not tonight: Study explores reasons young adults choose not to drink
A study published in the journal Alcohol: Clinical & Experimental Research looked at the reasons young adults give for not drinking, which researchers say could help in crafting public health ...
Binge Drinking: A Confused Concept and its Contemporary History
Binge drinking is a matter of current social, political and media concern. It has a long-term, but also a recent, history. This paper discusses the contemporary history of the concept of binge drinking. In recent years there have been significant changes in how binge drinking is defined and conceptualised. Going on a 'binge' used to mean an ...
Biographies of Drink: A Case Study Approach to our Historical
This book offers an innovative methodology that will help to facilitate fruitful interactions between scholars approaching the study of alcohol from different perspectives: the "biographies of drink" approach. Drawing inspiration from, but also going beyond, work on the "social lives of things," this collection of essays showcases an approach in which each author constructs a ...
Place‐Making Through Beer‐Drinking: A Case Study of Montana's Craft
Using Montana's craft breweries as a case study, this paper demonstrates that craft breweries play a significant role in contemporary place‐making. First, brewery and beer names are analyzed to extract several place‐based themes, and it is argued that these perpetuate a particular New West identity for the state.
PSY 200 H4497 7-2 Case Study Final Paper (docx)
Psychology document from University of Houston, 8 pages, 7-2 Case Study: Final Paper Southern New Hampshire University PSY-200-H4497 Client Information The client is Robert, a 66-year-old husband and father of two, and grandfather, recently retired with an alcohol addiction. His drinking habits have caused iss
ESL Case Study About Drinking Problems
Engaging in conversation practice related to case studies about problems such as alcohol addiction can help learners to develop their communication skills, expand their vocabulary, and improve their grammar and pronunciation in the context of a specific topic.
The age-21 minimum legal drinking age: a case study linking ...
Background: The minimum legal drinking age (MLDA) in the United States (U.S.) has raised debate over the past several decades. During the 1970s many states lowered their MLDAs from age 21 to 18, 19, or 20. However, as a result of studies showing that these lower MLDAs were associated with increases in traffic crashes, state-level movements ...
Assessment of Drinking Water Quality: A Case Study
Price: 750 INR (Indian reprint) Original Edition, entitled " Assessment of Drinking Water Quality: A Case Study" by Syed Mustafa Hasan Razvi, Umesh C A and Nagalambika Prasad published by ...
Drinking Case Study Examples That Really Inspire
Looking for Case Studies on Drinking and ideas? Get them here for free! We have collected dozens of previously unpublished examples in one place.
Drink Case Study Examples That Really Inspire
Looking for Case Studies on Drink and ideas? Get them here for free! We have collected dozens of previously unpublished examples in one place.
Detecting sources of water leakage in fractured limestone: Case study
In the case of the study area, this is coming from drinking and sanitary networks as the area does not contain any surface water bodies nor is the precipitation significant. Moreover, it is far away from the groundwater reference values. Hence, the flowing water is not groundwater discharge.
Research on the relation between hydro‐chemical and geological
CASE STUDY. Research on the relation between hydro-chemical and geological characteristics in karst area: Case study in Zhong Liang Mountain, Southwest China. ... Karst groundwater, which is one of most important drinking water sources, is vulnerable to be polluted as its closed hydraulic relation with surface water. Thus, it is very important ...
Bird Flu (H5N1) Updates: 7th U.S. Case Reported
May 23 A new study with mice suggests that drinking infected milk can spread the disease ... Because human-to-human spread of bird flu poses "pandemic potential," each human case is ...
Tarrant County confirms first West Nile human case of 2024
Tarrant County Public Health confirmed Saturday the first positive human case of West Nile Virus for 2024. ... Will drinking alcohol really attract more mosquito bites? This study finds answers ...
Why Britain Just Ended 14 Years of Conservative Rule
Why Britain Just Ended 14 Years of Conservative Rule Last week, the center-left Labour Party won the British general election in a landslide.