Letter: Sex and after

Friday 19 June 1998 23:02 BST

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Letter:

Sex and after

Sir: Donald Reid (letter 16 June) refers to a paper by S Guttmacher and associates showing that, in New York high schools, a programme of sex education and condom promotion had no effect on the amount of sexual activity.

He omits to mention that the Guttmacher Institute is a wing of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, hardly an impartial body. It is also doubtful whether a study in an American city is appropriate to Britain, where no significant research on this subject has been published.

There may never be conclusive evidence on this controversial matter, not least because most researchers have an axe to grind. What people like Donald Reid need to explain, however, is why the explosion in unwanted pregnancies to teenage girls over many years just happens to coincide with the ever-increasing provision of non-parental sex education and of NHS-subsidised contraception.

ALAN PAVELIN

Chislehurst, Kent

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