The chief medical officer has warned that parents who did not mind their children drinking alcohol before the age of 15 were putting them at risk.

People who allowed teenagers get an access to drink alcohol could be storing up problems, Sir Liam Donaldson said adding that middle class families that that dilute wines were also doing no good.

“Alcohol ruins the foundations of adult life,” Donaldson said.

“One of the risk factors for children drinking was parents having a lenient approach to a child drinking or getting drunk,” Sir Liam, who has announced his intention to step down as chief medical officer for England, said

Sir Liam stated this while he published a report which suggests that parents should hold up the idea that under-15s deserved an alcohol free childhood.

Liam while referring to self-confessed alcoholic footballers Paul Gascoigne and George Best said there was a need to challenge the label ‘drunk as a hero.’

The Department for Children, Schools and Families, will launch a campaign in January regarding the dangers of drinking among the young.

According to findings alcohol in childhood can lead to physical and mental health problems. The problems include long-term memory difficulties, damage to the developing brain and liver, lower levels of growth hormones and reduced bone density.

In the past month 500,000 children between 11 to 15 years had been drunk, and each year 7,600 11 to 17-year-olds went to hospitals because of alcohol, a report stated.

Jeremy Beadles, chief executive of the Wine and Spirit Trade Association, welcomed the guidance.