The research, conducted by the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., involved a telephone survey of 943 adults from throughout the United States. The poll found that while most adults are aware that alcohol is often involved in falls, drownings and poisonings, they were less informed about the effect of alcohol-control policies.

For instance, only 21 percent of the respondents thought increasing alcohol taxes would prevent unintentional deaths, even though strong evidence shows that traffic fatalities decline as alcohol taxes rise.

In addition, those surveyed were equally split over whether raising the legal drinking age to 21 had led to fewer deaths. Studies have shown that higher drinking ages have prevented more than 20,000 deaths during the last quarter century.

Dr. Deborah C. Girasek, lead author of the study, said the findings show that the public is often not made aware of the science supporting alcohol-control policies.

The study is published in the June 2002 issue of the journal Annals of Emergency Medicine.

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