Britain's teenagers are among the heaviest drinkers in Europe, according to a recent pan-European survey of 15 and 16-year-olds.

The worrying figures revealed that 26 per cent of boys and 29 per cent of girls in the UK had indulged in binge drinking at least three times in the previous month.  Moreover, about 4,600 British children were admitted to hospital for drinking alcohol during 2003-2004 - up 11 per cent since the mid-1990's.

Commenting on the situation, Paul Burstow, a member of the Health Select Committee, said the findings were shocking and show that binge drinking among teenagers is completely "out of control".

However, a spokeswoman for the Department of Health has highlighted that measures are in place to improve alcohol education and clamp down on the selling of alcohol to under-18's.  Highlighting figures for 2003 and 2004 showing a two per cent drop in the number of 11 to 15-year-olds in England who had drunk alcohol in the previous week, she said that they are "already making strides in reducing the number of binge drinkers".

Source

Hawley, J (2005) ‘Alcohol Alert’ Training Matters (8) p.4

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