ONE of the North-East's top liver specialists has warned of an explosion in drink-related illnesses because of young people's excessive alcohol intake.

Dr Christopher Record, a consultant physician at the Royal Victoria Infirmary in Newcastle, says the NHS will have to cope with an upsurge in liver disease due to an increase in alcohol consumption among 15 to 24-year- olds.

"We are just seeing the tip of the iceberg at the moment," he said last night.

"It takes a long time for the damage to show, but what's happening now is going to show itself to us in ten to 15 years' time."

Dr Record is co-ordinating a campaign on behalf of the British Society of Gastroenterology and the British Association for the Study of the Liver to have government health warnings placed on cans and bottles of alcohol.

On Friday he will present a petition, signed by 600 liver specialists and 500 other doctors, to Newcastle MPs Nick Brown, Jim Cousins and Doug Henderson.

"We are concerned with the burden of alcohol-related liver disease in society, and we are calling on the Government to include the warnings as part of its national alcohol harm reduction strategy," said Dr Record. "We need it because the public don't know what they are drinking and they don't know what is safe to drink."

He said alcohol consumption in the North-East was the highest in the country.

"But it is a nationwide problem," he said. "The amount of alcohol taken by young people is proportionally much greater than it has ever been. You have only got to go to the Quayside in Newcastle on a Saturday night to see the scale of the problem."

Liver specialists want a label which would give the number of alcohol units in the bottle, the weekly recommended intake, and a health warning.

But the Portman Group, which represents drinks manufacturers, is against the idea.

Spokesman Jim Minton said: "You could say eating too much food could damage your health. The label would not tell the full story, which is that alcohol is not unhealthy if drunk sensibly.