Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has ordered a review of the nation's alcohol guidelines and reports at the weekend suggest the definition of binging is about to change.

The result could be that many Australians will become "at risk" drinkers without consuming an extra drop.

The proposed new guidelines dictate that more than two standard glasses of alcohol per day would constitute "at risk" behaviour, while four glasses would be a binge.

Without wanting to condone daily drinking habits, we do say that these guidelines have, on the surface, gone too far.

Australia's binge drinking problem must be put into perspective.

Our per capita consumption of alcohol, 9.1 litres of pure ethanol per adult, is on par with other developed nations.

Our consumption of alcohol has remained steady over the past 20 years.

Alcohol has always had with it associated health and welfare risks. The social cost of alcohol on the Australian economy is reportedly in the order of $15 billion a year. That includes the impact of 3500

alcohol-related deaths each year.

What has given rise to recent concerns, though, is the increasing number of incidents of alcohol-related violence and the growing number of very drunk young people presenting to hospital emergency

departments for treatment.

Addressing the issue is complicated. Local, state and federal governments are all involved in initiatives to redress the problems, including Prime Minister Rudd's rewriting of the guidelines.

There was probably a very good argument for reviewing these guidelines, given the current problems and associated community concern.

Any such review, however, needs to take into account that for the majority of Australians, a couple of glasses of alcohol with a meal or with friends is a legitimate social past time.

Turning those people into borderline bingers won't help one bit with the real issue.