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Six-year-olds 'binge drinking'
The average age of problem drinkers is falling
Children as young as six have needed hospital treatment after going on drinking binges, report A&E doctors.
The school summer holidays have brought a rash of cases into casualty units up and down England.
A survey by the BBC found that doctors and nurses who work in A&E believe that the average age of binge-drinking children is falling.
Three quarters said that they felt that the number of children needing medical help after drinking was rising.
The BBC asked dozens of A&E consultants about the scale of the problem in their area.
During the summer holidays, on average they estimated that they saw 24 cases of alcohol poisoning a month in under 18-year-olds.
Huge rise
In one area, staff reported seeing almost 100 cases a week during holiday periods, and blamed a "holiday atmosphere" with children left unsupervised.
Without being too melodramatic about it, children will be coming to serious harm, and children will be dying as a result of alcohol binge drinking unless we take some action now
Mr John Heyworth, President, BAEM
In the winter this dropped to approximately 15 a month.
Again, three-quarters of those surveyed felt that the average age of their intoxicated patients was falling.
Repeat offenders
Mr John Heyworth, an A&E consultant from Southampton, and President of the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine, said that his young patients fell into two categories - those who were having one experiment with alcohol, and those who returned again and again with the same problems.
He told the BBC: "They are ending up in our resuscitation room and tending not to learn from that situation. And that's very worrying indeed."
Dr Heyworth said: "We're seeing an increasing number of young people presenting to accident and emergency departments who have been binge drinking - and increasingly those children are younger and younger.
"Often they are very sick indeed - they've drunk so much that they are unconscious and vomiting, which is a very dangerous mix.
"Without being too melodramatic about it, children will be coming to serious harm, and children will be dying as a result of alcohol binge drinking unless we take some action now and try to reverse this trend."
There is already rising concern about alcohol consumption among young adults, which is rising fast in some groups, in particular women.
Some studies have linked binge drinking to the development of breast cancer in women.
However, there is no evidence whether repeated binge drinking among very young children poses an even greater risk of health problems later in life.
The average age of problem drinkers is falling
Children as young as six have needed hospital treatment after going on drinking binges, report A&E doctors.
The school summer holidays have brought a rash of cases into casualty units up and down England.
A survey by the BBC found that doctors and nurses who work in A&E believe that the average age of binge-drinking children is falling.
Three quarters said that they felt that the number of children needing medical help after drinking was rising.
The BBC asked dozens of A&E consultants about the scale of the problem in their area.
During the summer holidays, on average they estimated that they saw 24 cases of alcohol poisoning a month in under 18-year-olds.
Huge rise
In one area, staff reported seeing almost 100 cases a week during holiday periods, and blamed a "holiday atmosphere" with children left unsupervised.
Without being too melodramatic about it, children will be coming to serious harm, and children will be dying as a result of alcohol binge drinking unless we take some action now
Mr John Heyworth, President, BAEM
In the winter this dropped to approximately 15 a month.
Again, three-quarters of those surveyed felt that the average age of their intoxicated patients was falling.
Repeat offenders
Mr John Heyworth, an A&E consultant from Southampton, and President of the British Association of Accident and Emergency Medicine, said that his young patients fell into two categories - those who were having one experiment with alcohol, and those who returned again and again with the same problems.
He told the BBC: "They are ending up in our resuscitation room and tending not to learn from that situation. And that's very worrying indeed."
Dr Heyworth said: "We're seeing an increasing number of young people presenting to accident and emergency departments who have been binge drinking - and increasingly those children are younger and younger.
"Often they are very sick indeed - they've drunk so much that they are unconscious and vomiting, which is a very dangerous mix.
"Without being too melodramatic about it, children will be coming to serious harm, and children will be dying as a result of alcohol binge drinking unless we take some action now and try to reverse this trend."
There is already rising concern about alcohol consumption among young adults, which is rising fast in some groups, in particular women.
Some studies have linked binge drinking to the development of breast cancer in women.
However, there is no evidence whether repeated binge drinking among very young children poses an even greater risk of health problems later in life.
