After intense criticism from child welfare organizations, German Family Minister Ursula von der Leyen on Sunday, Oct. 14, backed off on swiftly implementing the plan, which cfalls for teenagers to act as undercover agents in test buys at stores selling alcohol and tobacco.

"I think that a bit of breathing time will help us to come up with effective measures for child protection," the Christian Democratic minister told German tabloid Bild.

Instead of bringing the plan up for discussion at a government cabinet meeting on Wednesday, von der Leyen said that she would invite relevant groups to a round table.

"I expect concrete proposals to improve the protection of minors, which is much too weak," she added.

Alcohol poisoning prevalent in Germany

The sale of liquor to minors -- those under 18 -- is prohibited in Germany, while beer and wine can be sold to teenagers after they turn 16. The sale of tobacco to minors has been made illegal.

Several cases of minors with severe alcohol poisoning -- some deadly -- recently made headlines in Germany.

Experts have also voiced concerns over the increasing prevalence of so-called alcopops, sweet soda drinks that contain liquor.

Some 3,500 teens are currently admitted to hospitals for alcohol poisoning each year, according to German news service DPA.

Kids as guinea pigs?

The minister's plan, however, had provoked criticism even from her own party colleagues over the weekend.

"I think it's wrong to use children as spies or guinea pigs," said Jörg Schönbohm, the interior minister of the eastern German state of Brandenburg.

But Armin Laschet, the family minister for Germany's most populous state of North Rhine-Westphalia, told public broadcaster WDR that he backed von der Leyen's proposals.

He said that store owners would be under much more pressure to check ID cards if they knew that they could be facing an undercover test buyer.

Effective protection?

According to AFP news service, Laschet, also a Christian Democrat, said that a similar project in Switzerland had been very successful, with a drop of 30 percent in sales to minors.

Christian Pfeiffer, the director of the Criminological Research Institute of Lower Saxony, also said that von der Leyen was on the right track towards "effective protection of minors."

"I don't understand what all the fuss is about," he told German daily Süddeutsche Zeitung. "Individual teenagers won't suffer if they help to convict a salesperson."