DOING ENOUGH? The HPA budgets NT$1.3 billion to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but has no separate budget to fight teen drinking, a doctor said
Taipei Times
Date: Jul 05, 2020
By: Yang Yuan-ting and Dennis Xie / Staff reporter, with staff writer
Three women drink beer outside a Kenting bar during the Spring Scream music festival on April 6 last year. Warning: Excessive consumption of alcohol can damage your health
Photo: Tsai Tsung-hsien, Taipei Times
One out of four 12-to-17-year-olds has consumed alcohol, said Yen Tsung-hai (顏宗海), director of Linkou Chang Gung Memorial Hospital’s Department of Clinical Toxicology.
The Health Promotion Administration (HPA) budgets NT$1.3 billion (US$43.9 million) annually to prevent the health hazards of tobacco, but it has not allocated a separate budget for preventing teenage drinking or excessive alcohol use, Yen said.
“There is no so-called ‘safe drinking level’ for minors,” because any amount consumed hinders their brain development, he said, citing the sensitivity of the hippocampus and the prefrontal lobe to ethanol [FULL STORY]
