"A child under 10 is treated in hospital for the effects of alcohol every three days"

[Safe-Keeper]

A child under 10 is treated in hospital for the effects of alcohol every three days, government statistics show.
In total, 648 under-10s in England were hospitalised with alcohol problems between 2002 and 2007. Among the under-16s that figure rose to 24,000.
The Liberal Democrats revealed the data from a Parliamentary answer on the eve of the launch of their campaign to tackle underage and binge drinking.
The government said fewer young people now drink but those who do drink more.
Lib Dem culture spokesman Don Foster said the government had "completely failed" to tackle Britain's "growing alcohol problem".


Source: BBC UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7718892.stm)

Teens, I get. But kids under eight?

[Marquis de Carabas]

Someone should watch that kid more closely.

[ponderingturtle]

Someone should watch that kid more closely.

And that someone should not be someone who thinks giving kids alcohol is a good way to settle them down.

[Nogbad]

That is only 100+ a year - hardly enough to keep one off licence in business.

[Dancing David]

Well, the use of alcohol is prevelant in the US as well, no one wants to talk about it.

http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?artid=2222916

In the 1998 U.S. 11-year-old (6th grade) sample, 8% of the boys and 7% of the girls drank every week or more often (Figure 9.5, Currie et al., 2000).

[rjh01]

I think the right questions to ask include
What is the environment of the children like that requires them to take such hard drugs?

[Dancing David]

That is an interesting point, however many alcoholics need no trauma to be alcoholics, certainly conditioning the use of alcohol in childhood is a dangerous thing.

[plumjam]

Keep him in for four days, and problem solved.

[Cuddles]

Source: BBC UK (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7718892.stm)

Teens, I get. But kids under eight?

It's because they're lightweights. By the time they reach their teens they've built up a bit of tolerance and don't need hospital as often.

[ImaginalDisc]

Whoa. Hold the moral panic. How many of these kids just opened a bottle lying around and drank it out of curiosity, rather than deliberately consumed alcohol to wash away their problems? Every year, some kids drink motor oil, drain cleaner, and ammonia. That's why kids needs supervision.

[Ausmerican]

Whoa. Hold the moral panic. How many of these kids just opened a bottle lying around and drank it out of curiosity, rather than deliberately consumed alcohol to wash away their problems? Every year, some kids drink motor oil, drain cleaner, and ammonia. That's why kids needs supervision.

Yes but the flip side of this is the lying around part. Many parents will lock up all their prescription drugs, their weed and the aforementioned drain cleaners. But over the years people stopped thinking of booze as "drugs" especially potentially fatal ones and have no qualms about having a full bar easily accessible in their house.

[Architect]

IIRC the Scottish Government has statistics which show quite frightening levels of alcohol consumption by children under the age of 16, hence the current - rather badly thought out - moves to further control the sale of alcohol. However our American cousins might be more than a little surprised to find out how much the spectre of excessive alcohol consumption is ingrained in our society.