Here is testimony from the medical examiners of prominent life
insurance companies as to the value of abstinence from alcohol:
(1) I note that you ask whether or not we believe, other things
being equal, that the use of alcoholic drinks is a personal
handicap and increases the actuarial risk. In reply to this
question we must certainly answer in the affirmative. There have
been numerous articles written and numerous statistics compiled
on the effect of total abstinence, and they show without
question that the mortality experienced among total abstainers
has been decidedly less than that experienced among moderate
drinkers.
(2) This company prefers total abstainers for insurance risks.
This is from a selfish standpoint, as we are forced to believe
they are better risks for the company. We are imprest by the
large number of applicants living in the States of Alabama and
Georgia who say they drank periodically or regularly before
prohibition went into effect, but do not drink anything now. If
prohibition in Alabama and Georgia and the “dry” counties of
Indiana has done nothing else, it has made a difference in the
answers given by applicants to this company.
(3) We thoroughly agree with all authorities that the moderate
use of alcohol tends to shorten life and increases the hazard
incident to life insurance.--_Prohibition Year Book._
(3261)
See ABSTAINERS LIVE LONG.
=Touch=--See SYMPATHY.