Alcohol limits were 'plucked out of the air'

It is being claimed that guidelines on so-called safe alcohol limits may have no scientific basis.

For the past 20 years this country has followed Britain's lead that men should drink no more than 21 units of alcohol per week and women should drink no more than 14 units.

The guidelines were first introduced in Britain in 1987.

However, a member of the working party which produced the recommendations now has said that they were plucked out of the air.

The Times news paper is quoting Richard Smith as saying that they were no more than an intelligent guess.