Alcopops 'not to blame' for young drinkers
By David Fletcher, Health Correspondent

ALCOPOPS are not to blame for the rise in drinking by children under the
age of 16, says a Government study.

It said the fizzy alcoholic drinks are being drunk alongside beer, cider
and lager but are not luring youngsters to alcohol when they would
otherwise have stuck to soft drinks.

A survey by the Office for National Statistics published yesterday showed
the amount of alcohol drunk by children aged 1115 more than doubled in the
past seven years and alcopops made up about one sixth of the intake.

But the proportion of youngsters who drink alcohol has not changed,
countering criticisms that alcopops are encouraging youngsters to drink.
The number of youngsters who have never tried alcohol has remained
virtually static at about 38 per cent.

The survey found that alcopops were likely to be more popular among
children looking for drinks that masked the taste of alcohol.

Only one per cent of children said they drank only alcopops and there was
no evidence to support claims that alcopops were particularly attractive to
young drinkers.

Overall, beer, lager and cider accounted for 57 per cent of the alcohol
drunk, alcopops for 17 per cent, spirits 14 per cent, wine eight per cent,
fortified wine two per cent and shandy two per cent. Alcopop makers have
been accused of deliberately targeting youngsters since launching the
drinks in 1995.

Eileen Goddard, author of the report, said youngsters were drinking
alcopops with other drinks, not to replace them. "If alcopops had not been
available, I very much doubt that the drinking patterns would have been
different. The trend has been going up throughout the Nineties, even before
alcopops," she said.

The survey found that between 1990 and 1996, the average intake among those
aged between 11 and 15 in England doubled from the equivalent of just under
halfapint of beer a week to nearly a pint. One in 20 boys and one in 30
girls was drinking more than a pint a day.

Alcohol Concern said the report showed that alcopops were part of a
worrying trend of underage drinking but were not the sole cause. The
Portman Group, representing drinks manufacturers, said the survey confirmed
its findings that most teenagers "drink only occasionally and moderately".