Alcohol named Europe's youth killer

WHO: To look at the effects of alcohol advertising

STOCKHOLM, Sweden -- Alcohol is the biggest killer of young men across Europe, according to research published by the World Health Organisation.

More than 55,000 people aged 15-29 across Europe die each year as a result of road accidents, poisoning, suicide and murders linked to alcohol, WHO figures show.

In some parts of Eastern Europe up to a third of deaths of young men are due to drinking while the country with the biggest problem is expected to be revealed by another report as Ireland.

The WHO researchers said that alcohol had no beneficial effect on young people and urgent measures must be taken to reduce the death toll, including tightening up on the advertising of alcohol products.

Their report was published as health ministers from across Europe gathered for a three-day conference in Stockholm to discuss the problem of young drinkers.

Dr Gro Harlem Brundtland, WHO Director-General, said: "Over the past 10 to 15 years, we have seen that the young have become an important target for marketing of alcoholic products.

"When large marketing resources are directed towards influencing youth behaviour, creating a balanced and healthy attitude to alcohol becomes increasingly difficult.

"Based on these concerns, I am calling for a concerted review by international experts of this issue of the marketing and promotion of alcohol to young people."

Dr Marc Danzon, WHO Regional Director for Europe, said: "Alcohol is deeply embedded in the culture and social activities of many societies.

"Health policies must have popular support based on an understanding of their importance."

He added: "The public should know what alcohol is. And that it is not exactly what the advertisers, the alcohol industry and sometimes the media is saying: pleasure, conviviality -- but also death. A lot of death of young people."

Officials said although there had been some progress in increasing health awareness relating to alcohol in western Europe, the situation in Eastern Europe was worsening.

Irish problem

Leaked details from a separate report, due to be unveiled at the conference on Tuesday, are expected to show that Ireland has moved to the top of the European league for youth drinking.

Alcohol is widely regarded in Ireland as being among the country's biggest social problems.

The report by ESPAD -- the European School Project Survey on Alcohol and other Drugs -- looked at alcohol and drug abuse in more than 20 countries over a period of four years.

Ireland's Health Minister Michael Martin last week called on the nation to "face up to the reality of our national alcohol problem."

According to Martin, the ESPAD report's statistics were shocking and it was time for both parents and children to look closely at their drinking habits.

"The figures...are particularly shocking when it comes to hard drinking among young people," the minister said in a statement. "They are drinking more, being drunk more often and binge drinking is a particular phenomenon."

Delegates at the Stockholm conference said rapid social and economic transition, civil conflict, poverty, homelessness and isolation were causing more youths to drink heavily.

But they also blamed an aggressive advertising industry and were expected to call for stronger measures to curb alcohol promotion and sponsorship and to improve control of access, according to a draft of the conference declaration to be adopted on Wednesday.

Brundtland said: "Not only are children growing up in an environment where they are bombarded with positive images of alcohol, but our youth are a key target of the marketing practice of the alcohol industry."

She said governments must pay attention to worrying trends in alcohol usage and put alcohol policy back at the top of their health agendas.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

World Health Organisation
Alcohol: Problems and Solutions
Alcohol Concern

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