Alcohol causes as much death and disability as tobacco and high blood pressure, and governments should use taxes, restricted availability and policing to help limit abuse, according to research in the Lancet medical journal. Alcohol is related to about 60 medical conditions, including breast cancer and heart disease, and causes about 4 percent of the ``global burden of disease,’' according to the researchers, led by Robin Room at Stockholm University. Tobacco accounts for about 4.1 percent of global disease, and high blood pressure is linked to 4.4 percent, they said. The study, published in today’s edition of the London-based medical journal, comes several days before the U.K. loosens rules to allow pubs and alcohol shops to remain open 24 hours a day. The researchers say that a 10 percent rise in liquor prices would cut death from alcohol-related causes by 29 percent among men and 36 percent among women in the U.K.
