Leonard - so puberty and all the hormonal and biological changes that go with it is just some bollocks made up in a newspaper article?
You said you were a scientist.
It stands to reason that adding alcohol to that mix is one that should be done with considerable caution.
Taking your second point first, why does it "stand to reason"? Where is your evidence to support this statement? I am trying to present a reasoned argument, based on such reliable research as is available. I try not to make statements that I cannot back up.
Now to address your first point. No, I did not say that puberty is made up, so perhaps you should read my post again. Nor did I say I am a scientist. What I actually said was that I am scientifically trained. In my case this is because I have a first degree in a science subject (but not biology - I made that clear, I think).
I also - and this is relevant - have an MA in education. It's relevant because it was a research degree, which means I am very well aware of the difficulties which researchers face when trying to obtain reliable results.
I am including a link to an interesting article which you may like to read. However, I would also like to draw your attention to the American Surgeon General's call to action to Prevent and Reduce Underage Drinking. You can find it on the Internet and download it.
The main concern expressed therein is that alcohol has an adverse effect on an individual's ability to make decisions. This can lead to, for example, participation in unsafe sex, suicidal thoughts, and driving while intoxicated. It does not address issues of the developing brain to the same extent.
This may be because most of the research has used rodents or non-human primates as the research subjects, and the effects on brain development have only become apparent when the subjects have been binge-drinking. Only recently has it been possible to study real teenagers using specialised MRI scanning techniques - this is what the linked article describes. Results so far do not seem to provide any conclusive evidence to suggest that moderate drinking has any effect on brain development but they do cast some doubt on the validity of the accepted wisdom.
So, the jury is still out. My opinion - and it is an opinion - is that teenagers should be discouraged from binge drinking. I am not of the opinion that banning alcohol altogether will achieve this. Studies show (link below) that teenagers are very capable of making sensible and rational decisions when these are put in a hypothetical scenario, rather than an instant response. I suggest, therefore, that education is the key here. Given accurate information and the time to process it, teenagers should be able to decide for themselves what their limits are, with respect to alcohol consumption. Parents can facilitate this educational process without trying to control their teens drinking habits directly.
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2475802/