New teen grog alarm over food essences

New teen grog alarm over food essences
TEENS are raiding supermarket shelves to get drunk on food essences, sparking calls for tougher clamps on high-alcohol food products.

Concerned parents are calling for a ban on sales to minors in Victoria.

A ban was introduced in NSW from January 1.

The father of a teenager who died after drinking food essences has joined the call for bans to be looked at again.

He successfully campaigned for large essence bottles to be banned from sale in 2001.

Alcohol experts say teens could swallow deadly amounts of alcohol from food additives without realising the risks they were taking.

Some of the cooking materials have as much as 40 per cent alcohol content - about the same as most vodkas and whiskies - and cost as little as $3.

In 2001, sales of essence bottles in shops were restricted to 50ml or 100ml bottles.

But parents have told the Herald Sun their children have been mixing those bottles of food essence with cans of soft drink to get drunk.

David Carpenter, from Gordon, near Ballarat, said he and his wife had found several bottles of vanilla and lime essence under their 15-year-old son's pillow and were worried about the potentially harmful consequences.

"There could be brain damage," Mr Carpenter said.

"My concern is that there's a new wave out there of kids getting their hands on alcohol.

"Even with all the new taxes, the kids are finding ways of getting alcohol."

Mr Carpenter said a security guard from a shopping centre in Ballarat had rung his family because their son was found drunk in the area.

Bruce Clark, whose son Leigh died after consuming a large amount of food essence in 1999, said the issue needed to be looked at again by experts.

Bans on sales to minors should be considered, he said.

NSW liquor and gaming director Albert Gardner called for restrictions last year, prompting the ban on sales of food essences to minors.

But Liquor Licensing Victoria spokeswoman Mirjana Jovetic said no new complaints about essences had come through its office, and it was the responsibility of consumers to decide what they bought.

"Parents and sales staff should always be alert to the dangers of alcohol consumption by minors, and exercise common sense and caution," Ms Jovetic said.

Australian Drug Foundation chief executive John Rogerson said essences could be dangerous in the hands of young people and could be lethal if taken in large doses.

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