Just acquired a copy of the 1997 edition of the Worldwatch Institute report State of the World by Lester R. Brown and others (Norton, 1997). It includes a succinct section, "Alcohol's Hidden Toll" (pp. 68-71, endnotes, pp. 188-89), which provides an international perspective on what most often is studied in a North American and European context. Here are a few tidbits. In the Dissin distrct of Burkina Faso men spent 44% of the per capita income for that African country on beer. In 1994 for the first time the Chinese drank more beer than the Germans. "Total world production of beer nearly doubled between 1970 and 1989, with most of the increase occurring in developing countries." "Global consumption [of alcoholic beverages] is underestimated--often by up to one third--because many people brew their own alcohol." David Fahey (Miami University) [log in to unmask]