Under-16 rule has led to binging boom in Holland

The number of children in the Netherlands hospitalised with alcohol poisoning has increased by almost 50 percent in the space of a year. Some observers blame the country's lax laws which allow 16-year olds to drink.

Paediatricians treated around 500 children for "serious alcohol-related incidents" in 2009, double the number treated in 2008. It appears that numerous anti-alcohol campaigns have had little or no effect and the complex drinking-age laws haven't helped.

In the Netherlands 16-year olds can drink beer but have to wait until they're 18 to legally consume stronger drinks.  All purchasers of alcohol under the age of 20 must carry ID when buying.

Mireille de Visser is a child psychologist working at a specialised alcohol outpatients’ clinic at Reinier de Graaf Hospital in Delft. It was the first specialised alcohol outpatients’ clinic in the Netherlands and has been at the forefront in treating child binge drinking.

Ms de Visser believes that binge drinking has become fashionable: "It's available everywhere and there’s no control. Can you say it’s fashionable among teens? Yes, it is. They have the idea, 'you're 16, so you drink'. Setting the legal age limit at 16 has had the opposite effect to that intended. It was supposed to discourage children from drinking but what they actually think is I'm 16, so I'll drink anything and everything because it's legal."

Read the rest of this item from Radio Netherlands Worldwide here