The scientists accused of using ‘flawed’ research to tell you to stop drinking
There is no safe level of alcohol. A single drink a day could shave almost three months off your life. And drinking can boost your cancer risk by 23 per cent.
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Dr Tim Stockwell’s work – which has been published in The Lancet, among other esteemed organs – has inspired a new crackdown on alcohol that has seen daily drinking guidelines slashed in Canada and Australia. The US may next year follow suit, and the UK anti-alcohol lobby is using Dr Stockwell’s work as it warms up for a similar fight.
But many of Dr Stockwell’s respected peers say it is far from settled science and have cast doubt on his research. They question his motives and accuse him of being a front for a worldwide temperance lobby that is secretly attempting to ban alcohol.
But his most recent intervention might be his most controversial yet: a study that found there was no safe level of alcohol intake. The research was widely reported without a hint of the row it had triggered in the scientific community. In common with other news outlets, The Daily Mail stated baldly that the longstanding belief that one or two drinks a day is good for you was based on “flawed” scientific research.
However, it was the final straw for many fellow academics and experts who told The Telegraph they read the report in disbelief, concluding it was yet another example of Dr Stockwell “cherry picking” the evidence to suit his agenda.
“Dr Stockwell has never conducted any primary research into this as far as I’m aware,” Christopher Snowdon, head of lifestyle economics at the Institute of Economic Affairs, told The Telegraph. “He just keeps creating systematic reviews with the aim of trying to obscure the J-curve and the benefits of drinking.
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“A lot of these academics take the view that everybody needs to drink less. They’re very keen on being able to say there’s no safe level because then they could treat alcohol very similar to tobacco. Both these things are addictive, both cause cancer.