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- The Moon has long been credited with powers to pull the
tides, awaken werewolves and inspire romantic novelists.
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- Now a study by German scientists suggests that it is
responsible for binge drinking.Researchers in Baden-Württemberg studied
police reports for 50 new and full Moon cycles.
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- They say that a definite pattern of increased consumption
occurred, resulting in more arrests for drunkenness and of motorists driving
while under the influence.
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- Hans-Joachim Mittmeyer of the University of Tübingen
and Norbert Filipp from the Health Institute of Reutlingen suggested that
the lesson to be learnt from the findings was to "leave your car keys
at home when the Moon is out".
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- In an essay entitled Alcohol Consumption and the Moon's
Influence, the team say that they studied the police arrest reports and
blood-alcohol tests of 16,495 people.
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- More of those with an excess of 2ml of alcohol per 100ml
of blood inside them - drunk, according to German law - were caught by
police during the five-day full Moon cycle.
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- On average 175 drink-drivers per day were caught in two
German states two days before a full Moon, 161 were caught during the full
Moon cycle and the figure dropped to about 120 per day at other times.
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- "The results show there is a definite correlation
between new and full Moons and the amount of alcohol consumed," Herr
Mittmeyer said. "There are too many parallels for it to be just a
coincidence."
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- Wolfgang Meyer, an astronomer from Berlin, agreed in
part with the findings of the report, saying: "The idea of the Moon
influencing alcohol consumption is not a false one. But I don't know whether
this is an absolute law."
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- Herr Meyer added: "Perhaps there is another element
to it - that the Moon has some effect on the police forces and makes them
more alert to catch drunks."
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