Sir David Spiegelhalter, Winton Professor for the Public Understanding of Risk at the University of Cambridge, disputed the conclusions of the Lancet article’s authors, noting that the data showed only a very low level of harm in moderate drinkers. “Given the pleasure presumably associated with moderate drinking, claiming there is no ‘safe’ level does not seem an argument for abstention,” he said. “There is no safe level of driving, but governments do not recommend that people avoid driving. Come to think of it, there is no safe level of living, but nobody would recommend abstention.”129
