Almost all liver disease is preventable yet we are met with a sheer resistance to tackle it.

UK has the highest rate of oesophageal cancer in Europe while liver cancer deaths have jumped more than 70%, according to two new sets of figures.

Alcohol and obesity are helping fuel both types of disease, with many of these cancer cases preventable if people were healthier.

A league table of European cancer rates of the oesophagus show about 6.4 out of every 100,000 people develop oesophageal cancer in the UK every year.
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This is almost double the European average of 3.3 and higher than Ireland, which came in second place (5.9), and the Netherlands in third (5.8).

France had a figure of just 3.9 while the rate in Spain was 2.8.

Cyprus's rate of 0.5 is the lowest in Europe while Mongolia has the highest rate in the world (18.7).

The oesophagus is part of the body's digestive system and is the tube which links the back of the mouth to the stomach.

The UK's high rate is partly due to high levels of alcohol consumption and obesity - known risk factors for the disease.

The league table was compiled by the World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) using World Health Organisation (WHO) estimates.

Around 8,000 oesophageal cancer cases are diagnosed in the UK each year and the disease kills more than 7,000.

Just 8% of men and women are still alive five years after diagnosis.

Dr Rachel Thompson, deputy head of science for the WCRF, said: "The fact that the UK has the highest rate of oesophageal cancer in Europe is a real concern because it is a type of cancer that has a particularly low survival rate.

"It is also a particularly preventable type of cancer and most oesophageal cases in the UK could be prevented through a healthy diet, limiting alcohol consumption, maintaining a healthy weight and not smoking.

"The problem is that we have the highest obesity rate in Europe and we drink more alcohol than the European average.

"This means that thousands of people every year are being diagnosed with an oesophageal cancer that could have been prevented.

"The good news is that not smoking, maintaining a healthy weight, cutting down on alcohol and eating more of a variety of fruits and vegetables will not just reduce your risk of oesophageal cancer.

"It will also reduce your risk of other types of cancer, as well as being good for health generally."

The second set of statistics published today, from the British Liver Trust, shows that since 1997 liver cancer deaths have risen by 74% in England and Wales.

Both Scotland and Northern Ireland are also experiencing increasing numbers of deaths from liver cancer.

Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, said: "Liver disease seems to be the poor relation to the other big killers yet is the only health problem out of the big five showing an increasing trend.

"The situation is now at breaking point and we need to see direct action to prevent the daily death rate from liver cancer increasing."

Liver disease is influenced by obesity and alcohol but can also result from hepatitis.

"At the moment all we are seeing are weak policies or no action at all, however there are so many solutions to the problem," Mr Langford said.

"Almost all liver disease is preventable yet we are met with a sheer resistance to tackle it.

"We are still awaiting the National Liver Disease Strategy, our Government-led alcohol policies are a joke and despite nearly every other developed nation having universal vaccination for hepatitis B we are still debating whether we should. While this debate continues many are being infected and for some this will lead to them dying of liver cancer. "

The figures show that 1,968 men and 1,371 women died from liver cancer in England and Wales in 2010, as did 230 men and 132 women in Scotland.

In 1997 in England and Wales, the figure was 1,133 men and 848 women.

Across the whole of the UK in 2010, an average of 10 people a day died from the disease

experts agree that a war on drugs is ineffective in reducing drug production and often has extreme negative long-term impacts on development and human rights.

In 2003 the illicit drugs market was worth an estimated $320 billion with over 5 per cent of the world's populations aged between 15 and 64 years of age, or nearly 250 million people, consuming illicit drugs.

East and Southeast Asia is home to about a third of the global population and is one of the fastest growing regions in the world. Economic development in the region is leading to new infrastructure and trade initiatives. However, the accelerated movement of people, trade and goods has given rise to many opportunities for drug traffickers to exploit to make their business prosper. As raised in recent United Nations reports, there is a real challenge facing the region from amphetamine-type stimulants (ATS) and other synthetic drugs. ATS drugs, particularly methamphetamine, are widely used and it is now estimated that up to 20 million people in the region have used amphetamines in the past year.

Although opium production has plateaued, its production increased by 80 per cent between 1998 and 2009. Afghanistan accounts for almost 90 per cent of the world's opium supply, although recent intelligence suggests that production in Burma is increasing after years of decline. The policy of eradication of poppy crops in many countries has seen an unintended negative and rapid increase in drug injecting as people change from smoking the drug to seek a bigger effect from the drugs they are able to obtain. It has also contributed to a rapid increase in the number of people switching to ATSs which are far cheaper and easier to produce.

In the aid arena, the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) were adopted by world leaders in the year 2000 for realisation in 2015. They provide a benchmark for tackling extreme poverty and provide a framework for the international community to work together. However, reductions in poverty do not necessarily address gender equality and environmental sustainability, and the expansion of health services does not automatically mean improvement in quality.

The MDG is where the worlds of development aid and illicit drugs collide. The negative impact of illicit drugs on achieving the MDG cannot be overstated. Drug users are not necessarily poor but the poor are disproportionately affected by drugs.

Widespread production, trafficking and use of illicit drugs not only affect health, livelihoods and governance but also impinge on national and regional economies, legislation, basic human rights and life itself.

For too long there has been limited recognition of the relationship between illicit drugs and social and economic development. Lack of development and the lack of education and employment opportunities exacerbate drug use and drug trafficking while rapid development and the accompanying social and economic changes creates problems for some groups that can result in greater involvement with drugs. Countries within Asia, and increasingly the Pacific, provide many examples of the relationship between rapid change, displacement, poverty, migration, violence and involvement in illicit drugs. Many of the reasons for increased drug use in countries like Burma, Pakistan and Afghanistan are very much related to economic development - whether it is truck drivers taking drugs to drive all night or those needing drugs to cope with being forced into commercial sex work - the impact of drugs can be seen. The impact on migrant groups is often particularly severe as they rarely have access to a health system or community support.

Aid programs must address the fact that development is about change and that better and more attractive alternatives to drugs need to be a part of that change. In Asia and the Pacific, programs dealing with illicit drugs are often too narrowly focused on law enforcement, with some occasional focus on prevention, harm reduction or treatment. An approach that is integrated with reducing drug supply, providing attractive livelihood alternatives, reducing drug use and demand, reducing the harms caused by drug use and the provision of treatment for existing drug users is needed as part of the development process.

Adding to these problems is conflict and the resultant instability, which not only helps to facilitate illicit drug economies, but can sustain the conflict. We see this in countries such as Afghanistan, Colombia, and Myanmar, where rebel and pro-government forces have used illicit drug economies to finance their activities.

Most experts agree that a war on drugs is ineffective in reducing drug production and often has extreme negative long-term impacts on development and human rights. Unfortunately, while drug users are seen as the problem and not as people that need assistance they will continue to be imprisoned, victimised and disenfranchised. This only exacerbates HIV and other health problems.

As a world leader in drug policy and treatment, and the funding increase for AusAID, Australia has a unique opportunity to assist our region.

Academics found that women who had high IQ scores in childhood were more likely to take illegal drugs when they are in their 30s.

INTELLIGENCE early on in life among women may be linked to drug-taking as they get older, Welsh researchers have discovered.

Academics found that women who had high IQ scores in childhood were more likely to take illegal drugs when they are in their 30s. One of the theories they give for being behind this is that those people with a high IQ are more willing to try new experiences.

Dr James White, who led the research, said: “Although most studies suggest that higher child or adolescent IQ prompts the adoption of a healthy lifestyle as an adult, other studies have linked higher childhood IQ scores to excess alcohol intake and alcohol dependency in adulthood.

“Although it is not yet clear exactly why there should be a link between high IQ and illicit drug use, previous research has shown that people with a high IQ are more open to new experiences and keen on novelty and stimulation.

“There is a clear need for future epidemiological and experimental studies to explore these and other pathways.”

The study, by the university’s Centre for the Development and Evaluation of Complex Interventions for Public Health Improvement (DECIPHer), examined data from just under 8,000 people in the 1970 British Cohort Study, which is a large ongoing population-based study, looking at drug use and other factors in society.

The IQ scores of the participants were measured at the ages of five and 10 years, using validated scales, and information was gathered on self reported levels of psychological distress and drug use at the age of 16, and again at the age of 30.

Drugs assessed at 16 included cannabis and cocaine; and at 30 years of age included cannabis; cocaine; amphetamines; and ecstasy.

By the age of 30, 35.4% of men and 15.9% of women had used cannabis, while 8.6% of men and 3.6% of women had used cocaine, in the previous 12 months.

A similar pattern of use was found for the other drugs, with overall drug use twice as common among men as among women.

Men with high IQ scores at the age of five were around 50% more likely to have used amphetamines, ecstasy, and several illicit drugs than those with low scores, 25 years later.

The link was even stronger among women, who were more than twice as likely to have used cannabis and cocaine as those with low IQ scores. The same associations emerged between a high IQ score at the age of 10 and subsequent use of cannabis, ecstasy, amphetamines, and cocaine, although this last was only evident at the age of 30.

Recognised risk factors for drug use, such as, levels of anxiety and depression during adolescence, parental social class, level of education, social class at 30 years and monthly income were all taken into account during analysis of the study’s findings.

rising number of lawyers, doctors, dentists and vets in Britain are turning functioning alcoholics

rising number of lawyers, doctors, dentists and vets in Britain are turning “functioning alcoholics”, experts have warned.

Addiction specialists have given them the “functioning alcoholics” label because they do not fit the typical image of down-and-out street drinkers, the Daily Mail reported.

There has been a surge in demand from professionals who are seeking rehab treatment abroad so as to avoid being recognised in nearby hospitals or clinics, it is claimed.

Alistair Mordey, who runs a substance abuse clinic in Chiang Mai, Thailand, said the demand for treatment from doctors was growing at twice the rate of any other occupation.

“We are seeing a lot of professionals coming in, particularly from London,” he said. “They are in workplaces where you really wouldn’t want them to be.”

According to the British Medical Association’s estimate, one in 15 doctors will develop an addiction problem at some point and they are three times more likely to develop cirrhosis of the liver than the general population.

Cirrhosis of the liver is a chronic disease interfering with the normal functioning of the liver; the major cause is chronic alcoholism.

Research has also suggested that up to 24 percent of lawyers will suffer from alcoholism during their careers.