Comment by mike_hearn

> The UK government's guidelines on how much it is safe to drink are based on numbers "plucked out of the air" by a committee that met in 1987. According to The Times newspaper, the limits are not based on any science whatsoever, rather "a feeling that you had to say something" about what would be a safe drinking level. This is all according to Richard Smith, a member of the Royal College of Physicians working party who produced the guidelines. [1]

One might think that having admitted this Smith would be circumspect, apologetic and more careful with his claims about health in future. Of course he did the exact opposite:

> However, Mr Smith says this doesn't mean alcohol is not dangerous. He later told The Guardian that this would be a "serious misinterpretation" of his comments. He also argued that the figures were "in the right ball park", and called for heavier taxes to cut consumption

The numbers were based on no evidence but also amazingly in the right ballpark. No contradiction there if you work in public health. Sure enough, ten years later the guidance had become even more extreme [2], with men and women now becoming biologically identical and the government telling citizens that even one drop of alcohol was dangerous:

> The report recommend an upper limit of 14 units per week for both adult men and women, and then included the much-derided “no safe limits” observation.

This highly ideological guidance might have been because:

> Members of the expert group include prohibitionists and anti-alcohol campaigners

[1] https://www.theregister.com/2007/10/22/drinking_made_it_all_...

[2] https://www.theregister.com/2016/01/22/stats_gurus_open_fire...