Schools’ alcohol advice ‘downplays health risks’

SCHOOLS and universities should be banned from using materials funded by the alcohol industry which ‘normalise drinking and downplay health risks’.

Public health experts want an end to the ‘selective’ advice being given in educational settings by charities such as Drinkaware.

They found pupils as young as nine are being shown material which, while designed to discourage underage drinking, also normalises alcohol.

University students are being handed industry-backed ‘freshers’ week survival guides’ funded by Diageo, one of the world’s biggest alcoholic beverage companies.

In Wales, universities were given a toolkit created by the Welsh government, NUS Wales and Drinkaware to assess whether they are keeping students safe from alcohol. Mark Petticrew, of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, said the information all focused on the short-term effects of getting drunk. He said the toolkit omitted any information about the longterm risks of injury, disease and death associated with alcohol.

He added: ‘The framing of the entire document is to preserve the industry reputation and not about protecting young people at universities from harm.’

Drinkaware chief executive Karen Tyrell described the charity’s work in universities as ‘a pragmatic and worthwhile contribution to reducing alcohol- related harm across the UK’.