Professor Nick Heather gets irritated when people talk about dangerous drugs but do not include a substance which causes more harm than heroin or ecstasy.

"When people mention drugs these days, they mean illicit ones," says Prof Heather. "They're not recognising that alcohol is also a drug, and the most harmful we know.

"Nicotine kills more people through smoking, but if you add up the total amount of damage in society, alcohol leaves the rest behind."

The report from Professor Liam Donaldson, the government's Chief Medical Officer, that an alcohol epidemic is threatening a whole generation of young people with early death deserves to be taken extremely seriously according to the professor, who occupies the chair of alcohol and other drug studies at Northumbria University.

The worrying increase in binge drinking among young women, a product of the growth of so-called 'ladette' culture, is particularly alarming.

"I am not arguing for total abstinence and I recognise that alcohol is very enjoyable, but what we have lost sight of is that it's a powerful, potentially harmful substance," says Prof Heather.

It has been known for some time that alcohol-related problems are increasing among women. The recent report showed that the number of women dying from cirrhosis and chronic liver disease in the 35 to 44-year-old age group had increased seven times.

"If women regularly exceed safe limits they are more at risk, there is no question of that," he says. "They are at greater risk of cirrhosis or liver disease and they also appear to become more dependent more quickly. It's not understood why, but it's a fact."

He says it is not difficult to understand why women's attitude towards drinking has changed. "It's fairly obvious. Women's role in society has changed, and there is much more personal liberty. It's a statement about one's view on life and relationships with other people."

In Prof Heather's view, the way younger women view themselves is down to the alcohol industry. "The alcohol industry has realised where its profits are. It has put enormous resources into making alcohol glamorous, exciting and fun," he says. "While this may make for lively television ads, the end product is more wrecked lives."

In common with charities such as Alcohol Concern, the professor would like to see stricter controls on the way alcohol is advertised in the UK. "Maybe the report is a good sign because it might lead to some action on the part of the government," he says. "We need stricter controls and I think it's about time they realised that."

Many people are aware of the Department of Health's recommended weekly limits for drinking, 21 units for men and 14 for women, reflecting the different physical effects that alcohol has on the sexes.

But Prof Heather says it is important to be aware of the potential risk of the steady effect of daily drinking. "A few years ago the government issued daily limits of no more than three units for womenand no more than four for men, but the word that often gets left out is 'occasionally'," he says.

"No one is suggesting that on the few times people exceed those limits they're going to drop down dead, but it is a question of increasing the risk."

Put simply, if a woman is drinking more than three small glasses of wine or a pint and a half of beer every day she is increasing her risk of medical damage, he says. The same applies if a man drinks more than four glasses of wine or two pints daily.

Stories about the healthy effects of a daily glass of red wine, part of the so-called Mediterranean diet which has been hailed as contributing to a healthy lifestyle, may be misleading.

"What has got to be made clear to people is that the protective effect applies only at low levels of consumption, just one or two drinks a day," says Prof Heather. "Once you start exceeding that then the risk begins to rise."