The national health department is set to publish draft regulations next year, to limit the advertising of alcoholic products in the media.

To be published in the first half of 2003, these restrictions aimed at protecting children from being attracted to alcohol use, will include the placement of warning labels on alcoholic products.

The department said a tender was out for bidders to come up with appropriate linguistic and non-linguistic messages to be introduced as part of these regulations.

Experts have warned that unless authorities in the country take some drastic steps, the country is facing a huge problem as children as young as nine are reportedly abusing alcohol.

In some of the horrifying incidents, brothers aged between nine and 10 came to school drunk this year, and pupils aged between 14 and 17 were caught in a school toilet, drinking a bottle of liquor.

This occurred despite the Liquor Act prohibiting the sale of alcohol to children under the age of 18.

University of Pretoria clinical psychologist Dave Beyers told BuaNews that alcohol was far more easily available almost everywhere, which made it a socially acceptable thing.

'I cannot say whether or not limited advertising would help in this regard but I think there should be more restrictions on alcohol accessibility on the streets and this should be strictly monitored,' said Prof Beyers.

Health spokesperson Sibani Mngadi said the social and health implications of alcohol abuse were numerous, with a number of children born with foetal alcoholic syndrome due to alcohol consumption during pregnancy.

He said government was also spending massive resources on emergency services and treating intentional and non-intentional injuries sustained as a result of alcohol abuse.

'We have also highlighted the impact of alcohol on road accidents and the role it plays in aggravating domestic problems including woman and child abuse,' he said.

To highlight the dangers of alcohol among children, the health and education departments had also developed life skills programmes on substance abuse and these would soon be introduced as part of the school curriculum.

In June this year, the safety and security department also launched, in conjunction with the UN Office for Drug Consumption and Crime Prevention (UNDCCP) a drug awareness pilot project called 'Ke Moja (No thanks I'm fine)'.

This to empower the youth with the knowledge about substance abuse other than alcohol when challenged with peer pressure to take the drugs.

Health minister Manto Tshabalala-Msimang has therefore urged the public to pool resources together to protect children and the rest of the public from the negative effects of alcohol.

'Alcohol is a serious problem with severe social and health implications,' said the minister - BuaNews.