Stop Hong Kong retailers from selling alcohol to minors, health officials urge
Supermarkets and convenience stores targeted as government surveys reveal binge drinking among city’s pupils
Hong Kong health officials urged the government to plug a legal loophole that allows retailers to sell alcoholic beverages to minors after a survey found students as young as nine years old have gone on binge-drinking sessions.
Some 3.4 per cent of Primary Four pupils and 12.1 per cent of Secondary Six pupils had at least one experience of binge-drinking – defined as having five or more alcoholic drinks in a row within several hours – according to a Department of Health survey.
In addition, around 1.2 per cent of Primary Four pupils and 2 per cent of Secondary Six pupils said binge drinking was a monthly habit, the report found.
The survey conducted between September last year and March polled at least 70,000 primary and secondary students.
Health official Dr Regina Ching Cheuk-tuen said it was “most worrying” that students had become so tolerant of drinking alcohol at a young age. “It is easy for them to develop the habit of drinking,” she said.
She added that although primary school pupils were more likely to consume fruity alcoholic drinks typically containing around 1 per cent of alcohol per can, the situation was concerning.
“Alcohol is an addictive substance. The earlier young people start drinking, the easier it is for them to drink more later in life and get addicted,” she added.
Bars, clubs and venues with liquor licences in the city are prohibited from selling alcohol to people under 18. But the restriction does not apply to retailers, such as supermarkets and convenient stores.
Ching said the Centre for Health Protection had been actively discussing the issue with the Food and Health Bureau, including extending the ban to retailers.
The Food and Health Bureau said it would take into account the effectiveness and feasibility of restricting the sales of alcoholic beverages and what the social impact would be.
“We will listen to relevant stakeholders’ views on the legislative proposals,” it said, adding that it would consult the Legislative Council’s health panel on the issue in the first half of next year.
The earlier young people start drinking, the easier it is for them to drink more later in life and get addicted
In a separate government-commissioned survey, around 43 per cent of 1,630 adults who had consumed alcohol at least once in their life said they were underaged when they had their first sip.
Ching noted that underaged drinking was associated with a higher frequency of drinking as well as a higher chance of developing the habit of binge drinking.
Some 64 per cent of those who drank more than three times a week and 66 per cent of those who binge-drank monthly reported having consumed alcohol before they were 18, the data from the second survey showed.
The World Health Organisation lists alcohol as a cancer-causing substance akin to tobacco.
Dr Daniel Ho Sai-yin, an associate professor at the University of Hong Kong’s School of Public Health, said parents were the main source of young people’s drinking habits.
In an HKU study that included more than 3,900 primary and secondary pupils, teachers and parents, 51 per cent of primary pupils cited their parents as their main source of drinking, while the figures were 39 per cent for secondary pupils.
Parents’ estimation of drinking habits among primary school children was also half of what was self-reported, showing that parents often underestimated the severity of underaged drinking, Ho said.
