Janelle Kanovich, 22, of Harrisburg, Pa., drinks tequila out of the bottle.

An estimated 1,400 college students are killed every year in alcohol-related accidents, according to a study released Tuesday that researchers call the most comprehensive look ever at the consequences of student drinking.

"Half the World Trade Center casualties are happening every year in our colleges," said one researcher, Mark Goldman, a psychology professor at the University of South Florida.

The researchers say the figures show that college drinking needs to be seen as a major health concern.

The study supported by the federally estimated that drinking by college students contributes to 500,000 injuries and 70,000 cases of sexual assault or date rape. Also, 400,000 students between 18 and 24 years old reported having had unprotected sex as a result of drinking.

The study does not say whether the problems are increasing or decreasing. A Harvard School of Public Health survey released last month reported that more students are abstaining from alcohol, but levels of binge drinking having at least four or five drinks at a sitting are the same as in the early 1990s.

Motor vehicle fatalities were the most common form of alcohol-related deaths. The statistics included college students killed in car accidents if the students had alcohol in their blood, even if the level was below the legal limit.

Students who died in other alcohol-related accidents, such as falls and drownings, were included. Those who died as a result of homicides or suicides were not.

Goldman said general messages warning of the dangers of alcohol do not appear to be effective with college students, at least by themselves. What's more effective is teaching students how to resist peer pressure.

"Many of the students don't want to do it, but they don't know how to say no," he said.

Communities and colleges need to work together as well to prevent underage drinking and limit the number of stores that sell alcohol, he said.

"The university can't do them by themselves because even if they did effective things, it might just squeeze it off into the community," Goldman said.

(Agencies)