London, Nov 10 : Scientists are advocating an outright ban on the alcohol industry's sponsorship of sports, which they believe should be replaced with a dedicated alcohol tax.

British and Australian scientists have called on governments to outlaw the practice, citing their highly publicised 2008 study that showed alcohol-industry sponsorship of elite and community sport was associated with hazardous drinking among athletes.

Kypros Kypri from Newcastle University in Australia and Kerry O'Brien from the University of Manchester in Britain claim that alcohol industry representatives and sports administrators were dismissive of the 2008 research findings.

Both the Portman Group - a public relations body set up by the alcohol industry - and the European Sponsorship Association, whose members include leading alcohol producers, argued that there was no causal relationship between sponsorship and alcohol misuse, which the researchers suggest is reminiscent of arguments used by the tobacco industry's behaviour in the 1990s.

Kypri said: "These organisations have enormous vested interests in continuing to receive alcohol money and governments should be careful to act in the public interest rather than to cave in to sports and big booze."

Co-author O'Brien added: "Sport administrators are sending mixed messages to participants and fans when, on the one hand, they embrace and peddle alcohol via their sport, while on the other they punish individual sport stars and fans when they display loutish behaviour while intoxicated."

O'Brien added: "Sport is not only being used by the alcohol industry to encourage drinking among sports people and fans, it is also the primary vehicle for alcohol-industry marketing to the general public," a Manchester varsity release said.

These findings were published in the latest issue of Addiction. (IANS)