Schools are using “misleading and biased” information materials funded by the alcohol industry to educate pupils as young as nine about drinking, according to a study.
Teachers in thousands of UK schools employ lesson plans, factsheets and films produced by bodies with close ties to the drinks trade even though they “portray alcohol as a normal consumer product to impressionable young minds”, the researchers found.
The materials are intended to deter young people from underage drinking, but they are potentially harmful because they downplay the harms drink can cause and seek to “blame-shift” responsibility for problems from manufacturers on to young people, the researchers say.
Academics from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine analysed teaching materials about alcohol and its health impact put together for use in schools by three bodies:
— source theguardian.com | Denis Campbell | 20 Jan 2022