More backpackers having risky sex

A HIGHER level of sexually transmitted infections being diagnosed among young international travellers has prompted the NSW Health Department, four Sydney councils and the NSW Backpackers Operators Association to target the group with free condoms and safe sex messages over the summer holiday period.

New research by the Sydney Sexual Health Centre, based at Sydney Hospital in Macquarie Street, showed that a culture of binge drinking among young travellers may be contributing to unsafe sexual behaviour and higher rates of infection when compared with the general population.

The centre's acting director, Lynne Wray, said yesterday a study of 4382 travellers and 8810 non-travellers aged 18 to 30 who visited the clinic between 1998 and 2006 showed that the travellers were more than twice as likely to drink excessively.

"The number of heterosexual backpackers coming to the clinic with new sexually transmitted infections is of great concern. A small proportion of these also have HIV infections that they have acquired in other countries on the way to Australia,"

Nineteen per cent of the travellers drank alcohol at hazardous levels, compared with 8 per cent for non-travellers, she said.

Dr Wray said 25 per cent of female travellers drank more than 140g of alcohol (14 standard drinks) and 15 per cent of male travellers had more than 280g of alcohol a week.

They were more likely to drink that amount in "one or two sessions a week".

"Often when they take risks with their sexual health and have unprotected sex they will often say to us, 'I'd had too much to drink,' " she said.

The incidence of chlamydia among travellers was 8 per cent, compared with 5 per cent for non-travellers. This may be due to travellers arriving from South-East Asia, where infection rates are higher. Also, 43 per cent of travellers had two or more sexual partners in a three-month period, compared with 30 per cent of non-travellers.

The Safe in the Sack Project, run by the Health Department in conjunction with City of Sydney, Manly, Waverley and Randwick councils and the NSW Backpackers Operators Association, will begin on December 1 and continue until March.

Sexual Health Infoline: 1800 451 624.

Unsafe corporations, unsafe sex, drugs, binge drinking 'normal' for teens: study

Researchers say the tax on alcopops will do little to curb binge drinking which is seen as 'normal' (Get Images)

A university study has found binge drinking is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to teenage risk-taking behaviour.

Education researchers at the University of Tasmania surveyed 1,000 parents and 1,000 high school students over five years about their perception of risky behaviours.

Thirteen per cent of students surveyed said they got "blind drunk" regularly while 43 per cent said they did so occasionally.

Education researcher, Professor Joan Abbott-Chapman, says she was surprised to find that many young people do not regard binge drinking as high-risk.

"Teenagers seem to think that normal teenage behaviour includes drinking alcohol, smoking cigarettes and to a certain degree smoking marijuana and also to a lesser extent unsafe sex," she said.

Professor Abbott-Chapman says parental involvement in setting standards can reduce teenage risk-taking behaviour.

"And it's the teenagers who rely only on peer groups for support or feel isolated and have no one to turn to these are the ones that tend to drink more and we also found that school engagement was also involved," she said.

Alcopop tax little use [to corporations]


The Federal Government's tax on so called 'alcopops' is likely to have only a minimal impact on teenage binge drinking according the researchers [from the business association?]

Taxes on pre-mixed alcoholic drinks have increased by around 70 per cent, making them to $1.30 more expensive, in a bid to curb binge drinking.

Professor Abbott-Chapman says more needs to be done to address the problem.

"The effects are likely to be marginal unless they are linked to a widespread range of community and family programs which tackle some of the problems of social and educational engagement or disengagement rather," she said.

Updaedt 350:pm (AEST)

Greens want alco-pops tax revenue spent on alcohol education

Greens leader Bob Brown says his party will not be inclined to support the Government's increased tax on pre-mixed drinks unless the money is put aside to combat alcohol abuse.

The Coalition says it will block the legislation to approve the 70 per cent tax increase, which is expected to give the government $3 billion in revenue.

Senator Brown says the Greens do support the tax and believe it will reduce consumption of so-called alco-pops.

But he says the revenue raised must be spent on education and health programs.

"We're not inclined to support this legislation unless there's a program for re-mediating the impact of alcohol abuse goes with it, in other words unless a sizeable part of this money goes to tackling the big problem of alcohol abuse in our communities" he said.

Related:

Calls for binge warnings on alcohol packaging
The Public Health Association (PHA) says warnings about the dangers of binge drinking should be pasted on all forms of packaged alcoholic drinks.

Support for booze public education
A SURVEY of 1000 Australians found more than three-quarters of those questioned about attitudes to drinking said there was not enough public education about the dangers of alcohol, despite the Rudd Government's promise of a multimillion-dollar binge-drinking strategy

Conference told drinking needs to be 'denormalised'
A conference in Brisbane has been told that society needs to change the way it thinks about alcohol before there will be a reduction in binge drinking. The Alcohol and Drug Foundation organised the conference to discuss ways to tackle the problem, with organisations and researchers from across the country attending the event.

Alcohol boosts cancer risks: experts
A new study has found that drinking just two standard alcoholic drinks a day significantly increases the risks of developing breast, bowel, throat and mouth cancer.

Balmain hotels fill as young mourn pub mates
Many of those involved in the accident were from Balmain. Friends gathered, embraced and cried openly on Darling Street, and soon after were intoxicated with alcohol as well as grief. Balmain bar staff described the incident as a pub staff night gone wrong.