PARIS (Reuters) - France will ban the sale of alcohol to minors and drinking in public near schools as part of a broad crackdown on binge drinking among youths, the health minister said in an interview published on Sunday.
Roselyne Bachelot said that a recent study showed an overall decline in alcohol consumption among youths but thefrequency of drunkenness was increasing.
"Almost half of youths said they had had five glasses ofalcohol on a single night on at least one occasion in theprevious 30 days, which is the definition of binge drinking,"she said in an interview with Journal du Dimanche newspaper.
She said she was working on a new bill that would also banpromotions known as "open bar" which allow customers to drinkas much as they want to for a fixed price.
"We are also going to ban open bars ... which are a classicat student parties and which encourage binge drinking,"Bachelot said.
She said the number of under-25s hospitalised because ofexcessive drunkenness had doubled between 2004 and 2007.
"Drinking alcohol in public places close to schools willalso be forbidden," she said.
She told the newspaper that at present there was a greyarea surrounding sales of alcoholic drinks to teenagers aged 16to 18, with different rules depending on the kind of alcoholand whether the sales point was a bar, a club or a supermarket.
She said her bill would unambiguously ban any sale ofalcohol to under-18s anywhere in France.
Another measure will be to ban sales of alcohol in fillingstations. Bachelot said that at present, such a ban exists onlyfrom 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and the new rule should help curb drunkdriving.
Bachelot said the measures, which she expected will comeinto force in 2009, would be accompanied by an advertisingcampaign featuring youths in a heavenly environment that turnshellish after they have been drinking.
In May, a government body in charge of fighting drug andalcohol addiction said it was considering banning "happy hours"during which bars offer cheaper drinks early in the evening toattract customers. Bachelot's interview made no mention ofthis.
(Reporting by Estelle Shirbon; Editing by Mariam Karounyand Jon Boyle)
