A RINGWOOD-based national charity is supporting calls to revise government guidance on safe limits for drinking alcohol.

Andrew Langford, chief executive of the British Liver Trust, also called for tougher warnings on bottle and cans over and above listing units.

“We would like bolder steps taken and believe it would support public understanding if the health warnings were similar to those on tobacco products, clearly stating the potential harm,” he said.

Andrew Miller, chairman of the Commons science and technology committee, called the guidelines a “crucial tool” in combating problem drinking.

“It is vital that they are up-to date and that people know how to use them. The evidence we received suggests that the guidelines should not be increased and that people should be advised to take at least two drink-free days a week,” he said.

In 1987, the “sensible limits” for drinking were defined as 21 units of alcohol a week for men and 14 for women.

By the early 1990s, scientific evidence had emerged suggesting that alcohol might reduce the risk of coronary heart disease, prompting new advice that men should not regularly drink more than three to four units a day and women two to three units.

But the committee found that any protective effects of alcohol against CHD would only apply to men over 40 and women after menopause.

It also said that while public awareness of the existence of guidelines was high, people lacked a deeper understanding of what they were and what a unit of alcohol looked like.

The government is working with the drinks industry to make sure that by 2013 at least eight in 10 alcohol products on shelves will be labelled with the number of units and drinking guidelines.