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Alcohol seems to be a must have in occasions like wedding, festive celebrations, and any happy occasions, at least from where I come from. From young, I would see my dad sip anything from beer, to stout, to brandy. He will always teasingly offer and encourage us boys to taste the alcohol. My elder brother, been the more adventurers sort, will take up the challenge to have a taste, and always end up coughing and searching for water to cover the taste. As for me, I couldn't even bring myself to smell the alcohol, let alone taste it.

But we were lucky, as we have never seen our dad come home drunk, or abuse any of our family members while under the influence of alcohol. Many others are not so lucky. According to reports in the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA), alcohol abuse case has been on the rise.@ Many families are torn apart because of alcoholism in the family. Studies shown that before the age of 18, approximately one in four children is exposed to family alcoholism or addiction, or alcohol abuse.*

Consider these facts:

People who begin drinking before age 15 are four times more likely to develop alcoholism than those who begin at age 21(NIAAA news release, 1/14/98).

About 43% of US adults-76 million people-have been exposed to alcoholism in the family: they grew up with or married an alcoholic or a problem drinker or had a blood relative who was ever an alcoholic or problem drinker (National Center For Health Statistics {NCHS}, Advance Data, USDHHS, No. 205, 9/30/91, p. 1).

Alcohol contributes to 100,000 deaths annually, making it the third leading cause of preventable mortality in the US, after tobacco and diet/activity patterns (J McGinnis & W Foege, "Actual Causes of Death in the United States," Journal of the American Medical Association {JAMA}, Vol. 270, No. 18, 11/10/93, p. 2208).

Do we really want to expose our children to alcoholic drinks at a young age? Some might argue that if we teach them properly about the dos and don'ts of alcoholic drinking, than they are less likely to fall into the trap of alcoholism. But why take the risk? Consider this again:

Of the people who began drinking before age 14, 47% became dependent at some point, compared with 9% of those who began drinking at age 21 or older.#

So are we exposing our children to unnecessary risk by giving them their first sip?

So, do we now than go for the big shut out, but totally ignoring the existence of alcohol, and close their eyes each time we walk past an alcohol advertisement,

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