University of Wisconsin researchers, faculty and students were presented with the sobering fact that each day more than 5,000 kids in the United States under age 16 will take their first full drink of alcohol, according to a Johns Hopkins professor.

David Jernigan is a visiting sociology professor from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, and his work has focused on public health practice with an emphasis on alcohol policy, Julia Sherman, coordinator of the Wisconsin Alcohol Policy Project, said.

Jernigan’s presentation on the UW campus examined the hazards of underage drinking and the evidence that liquor companies are targeting teens.

“Of these underage people experimenting with booze, it has been found that one in five of them will evolve into a habitual binge drinker,” Jernigan said.

Binge drinking can mean a multitude of things, but in the health world it is considered to be the act of consuming five or more alcoholic drinks on one occasion, Jernigan said.

This form of alcohol abuse is most dangerous and detrimental to the body during the adolescent years, when the body is developing at its fastest. In studies, it has been revealed that heavy use of alcohol during puberty can prevent the growth of the prefrontal cortex, deplete memory capacities and permanently affect motor skills, Jernigan said.

Each year an estimated 5,000 youths die from alcohol-related injuries involving underage drinking. About 1,900 of these deaths involve drunken driving, Jernigan said.

“While many factors may influence an underage person’s drinking decisions, including among other things parents, peers and the media, there is reason to believe that advertising also plays a role,” Jernigan said.

Jernigan is also the director of the Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth, a research team that monitors the marketing practices of the American alcohol industry, Sherman said.

A study published in 2007 of sixth graders in South Dakota found that the students who were more exposed to alcohol marketing – including beer commercials, spirit ads in magazines and in-store liquor displays – were 50 percent more likely to admit to drinking when surveyed a year later, Jernigan said.

“Whether intentional or not, alcohol ads are reaching 12- to 20-year-olds,” Sherman said.

Nearly 1.7 million alcohol product commercials aired on television form 2001 to 2006.

“More than 392,000 of these ads were more likely to be seen by underage youth than the adults during programs enjoyed by both age-groups such as “Scrubs” and “That 70s Show,” Jernigan said.

Besides onscreen, alcohol marketing has expanded to the Internet. For example, a teenage boy can download the Coors Light iPhone football application: “1st and cold.” But, before he can play the game he must confirm that he is at least over 17, Jernigan said.

“Correct me if I am wrong, but doesn’t one have to be 21 before they can enjoy a Coors beverage”? Jernigan said.

This advertising of alcohol to pre-teens and teens is now being monitored by officials following the legislation of the “Sober Truth on Preventing Underage Drinking Act” in 2006, Jernigan said.