In this ITN news video interview, Sir Liam Donaldson discusses his opinion on the current state of the youth drinking problem in the UK:

There is no evidence that you should wean children on to alcohol at an early age so they get used to it. So says Sir Liam Donaldson, England’s Chief Medical Officer. The idea that giving youngsters a glass of wine at meal times can be beneficial is dismissed by Sir Liam as a “middle-class obsession”. Instead the evidence shows the earlier children are introduced to alcohol the more likely they are to get taste for it and become binge drinkers as teenagers and heavy drinkers as adults. Ergo, children should avoid alcohol as long as possible, at least till the age of 15, and then drink on no more than one occasion a week, preferably in the company of their parents, at least until they are 18.

Quote from The Independant