THE sister of a woman who died an alcoholic is calling on parents to stop buying drink for their children to celebrate milestones such as exam results.
Julia Kawecki said young people must be educated about the dangers of drinking, after figures showed 63 children have been rushed to Hull Royal Infirmary suffering from alcohol poisoning.
She is campaigning for the Government to introduce minimum pricing for alcohol to deter young people from drinking to excess after her sister, Leonora, a successful lawyer at Gosschalks Solictors in Hull, died at the age of just 39.
However, Ms Kawecki believes parents have a part to play, following reports that about a quarter would buy their children alcohol to celebrate exam success, while more than half admit giving their child an alcoholic drink.
Ms Kawecki said: "The figures on young people being taken to hospital with alcohol poisoning don't surprise me, sadly.
"Most people aren't aware of the dangers of alcohol, so how can young children be?"
The Department of Health figures show 63 young people in Hull and the East Riding under 18, including 25 aged between 11 and 16, were taken to hospital suffering from the toxic effects of alcohol in 2012-13.
Hull Royal Infirmary's own figures show 28 children under 17 have been admitted with alcohol poisoning since 2012.
While many parents believe a more tolerant approach to alcohol is better when bringing up their families, guidance from the UK's chief medical officer states an alcohol-free childhood is the best option as alcohol can damage a young person's development.
Ms Kawecki said: "While the children getting exam results are young adults, they are still children and we have to remember that.
"If you're giving your child a bottle of wine to celebrate exam results, you need to realise that is nine units of alcohol you are giving your child.
"As far as I am aware, there is nothing compulsory at the moment in education about the dangers of alcohol and that needs to change."
But she believes families can also play a part in tackling the problem of drinking among young people.
"Parents should be the ones helping their own children understand how to drink responsibly and my concern is not enough parents understand the dangers themselves," she said.
"This is not just a problem affecting children from disadvantaged backgrounds, this problem is just as great in middle-class families."
Long-term damage and interference with developmentAlcohol can have a profound effect on young people.
As young people's bodies are still growing, alcohol can interfere with their development and leave them vulnerable to long-term damage, including cancer of the mouth and throat, sexual and mental health problems, liver cirrhosis and heart disease.
Research also suggests drinking alcohol in adolescence can harm the development of the brain.
It can also result in risky behaviour, with one in five girls aged 14 and 15 going further than they wanted to in a sexual experience after drinking alcohol.
Almost one in ten boys and about one in eight girls aged 15 to 16 have had unsafe sex after drinking alcohol, putting them at risk of sexual infections and unwanted pregnancy.
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