Your Very Good Health

A cynic might say that the best advice Scottish & Newcastle or Coors could put on labels of products such as Fosters, Newcastle Brown and Carling would be "If you like good beer - drink something else" But as neither company has taken Gerald Ratner on as a marketing adviser, we will have to make do with such pearls of wisdom as "Take it easy" and "Responsible drinkers don't exceed three to four units a day".

I fear the two companies are building a giant elephant trap for the entire brewing industry. Once you give the fanatics of the anti-drinking lobby a sniff of the barmaid's apron, they will be back for more. The likes of Alcohol Concern won't be satisfied until beer, wine and spirits have to carry similar health warnings to a packet of cigarettes.

I'm surprised that Coors has gone tramping down this dangerous path. The company is behind the Beer Naturally campaign that has done sterling work in promoting beer and food, and extolling the healthy side of beer drinking. It is in serious danger of sabotaging this important initiative if it bends the knee to politicians seeking easy publicity and the anti-alcohol lobby that would like to close every pub and off-licence in the land. As a result of the activities of young binge drinkers, who represent a tiny minority of pubgoers, alcohol is out of fashion.

I said in this space some months ago that I was prepared to put a crisp tenner on the table and say that no party leader will be seen pulling a ceremonial pint for the cameras during the election campaign next year. Michael Howard, who has been seen sipping a glass of Shepherd Neame's finest in the past, now proclaims his love and devotion for Liverpool football club.

It's a racing certainty that Tony Blair will done the stripes of Newcastle United instead of supping a pint of Cameron's, while Charles Kennedy - under attack in the media for allegedly getting stink-faced from time to time - will unveil a little-known passion for Raith Rovers in the months ahead. Faced by this political and media offensive, brewers need to proclaim the joys of their products instead of putting dangerous and grovelling messages on their bottles. Beer drinking in moderation is good for you. It's an excellent source of B vitamins, including folate, which can help prevent cardiovascular disease and cancer.

Beer also contains antioxidants, which play a vital role in the fight against cancer. It's rich in calcium and magnesium, which help prevent gallstones and kidney stones from developing. It can help prevent stomach ulcers and stomach cancer, while the hop plant contains Xanthohumol, which researchers in Germany believe can help prevent cancer.

Of course, if you go out several times a week and get bladdered on gallons of Euro-fizz, you will undo the work of all the good things beer contains. But most people do drink sensibly. The media doesn't report that because it doesn't make eye-popping headlines. But the fact is that the British have a good record for handling drink sensibly and suffer a lower level of cirrhosis and other alcohol-related illnesses than drinkers in many other countries.

The danger of putting even gentle warnings on beer labels is that it will undermine the work carried out by brewers in recent years to raise the public's perception of beer as a healthy drink and a good companion at the dining table. I see that the BBC is preparing yet another programme on the subject of binge drinking that is likely to do further damage to brewers and publicans.

The point needs to be made that binge drinking is confined to a few town centres and the problem should be tackled on the ground by local authorities restricting new licences. The infamous Panorama programme on binge drinking earlier this year did at least show the way in which smart-aleck lawyers employed by pub groups run rings round town councils and open new bars and pubs on busy high streets almost at will.

But let us above all shout the pleasures of good beer and not surrender to the killjoys who would like to torch every pub in Britain.