21 Sep 2010

Cabinet rejects advice on lowering alcohol limit

3:31 pm on 21 September 2010

The Government made a mistake when it rejected hundreds of pages of official advice encouraging it to lower the adult blood alcohol level, health lobby groups say.

Official papers show Cabinet went against advice from the Transport Ministry when it put off a decision on whether to lower the limit.

Rather than reducing the limit to the internationally accepted 0.5, Cabinet decided to wait for New Zealand's own research.

But Alcohol Healthwatch director Rebecca Williams says there is an overwhelming amount of international data which shows dropping the limit is the right move.