April 20, 2006 Source: :
http://communications.uvic.ca/releases/release.php?display=release&id=718 Estimating Alcohol's Benefits and Harms An international team of researchers, including those at University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC, is garnering global media attention for debunking the myth that moderate drinking helps prevent heart disease. The team reviewed more than 30 years of studies that seem to show health benefits from moderate alcohol consumption, and concluded that nearly all contained a fundamental error that skewed the results. That error may have led to an erroneous conclusion that moderate drinkers were healthier than lifelong abstainers. Now the general public can learn more about this topic by attending a free research symposium, "Alcohol: Estimating Benefits and Harms," which features the study’s authors. The symposium will take place on Thursday, May 4, from 1:30 to 4:30 p.m. at the Pacific Ballroom of the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 West Georgia Street, Vancouver. The symposium features: Dr. Tim Stockwell of the University of Victoria’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC, "Alcohol and Health: A Scenario Analysis of Estimated Costs and Benefits in Canada and Australia" Dr. Kaye Fillmore of the University of California, San Francisco, "Systematic Error in Studies of Alcohol and Cardiac Health: Re-Evaluating the Evidence" Dr. William Kerr of the Alcohol Research Group, Berkley, California, "Measuring Drinking Behaviour in Epidemiological Studies: A Critique and an Empirical Basis for Future Research" Dr. Tanya Chikritzhs of Australia’s National Drug Research Institute, "Australia’s National Alcohol Indicators Project, 1999-2006: A Model for Canada?"The research symposium is sponsored by UVic’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC. For more information about the original study visit www.carbc.uvic.ca, and for details about the symposium go to www.carbc.uvic.ca/events.htm#symposium. --30-- Media Contacts:
Dr. Tim Stockwell (UVic’s Centre for Addictions Research of BC) at (250) 472-5445 or cell (250) 415-7376 or carbc@uvic.ca
Maria Lironi (UVic Communications) at (250) 721-6139 or lironim@uvic.ca
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