The government's plan to impart compulsory sex education in primary school classes has sparked a row in Britain, with family campaigners claiming that the views of parents and teachers are being ignored.
Government advisors argue the basic sex education that children receive in science classes does not go far enough. It has been revealed that children as young as four are set to be given compulsory sex education in primary school classes.
The FPA (formerly the Family Planning Association), Brook and the Sex Education Forum are recommending the introduction of compulsory lessons, the Mail online of Britain said.
It would bring sex and relationship education on to the curriculum alongside other compulsory subjects such as maths and English, the report said.
"All the evidence shows that if you start sex and relationships education early - before children start puberty, before they feel sexual attraction - they start having sex later," Simon Blake, Brook chief executive said.
"The steering group, jointly chaired by Schools Minister Jim Knight and a member of UK Youth Parliament, will make recommendations to Government later this month," a spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said.
However, the recommendations have caused a storm of protest, with family campaigners claiming that the views of parents and teachers are being ignored. "What this is really all about is the sex education establishment trying to force schools to do something many parents - and many teachers – are uncomfortable with," said Norman Wells, director of the pressure group, Family and Youth Concern.
"Schools already have to have a sex education policy, but that policy must be developed in close consultation with parents, and schools must be sensitive to the wishes of parents. But the FPA want to take parents out of the equation and remove discretion from schools," he stressed.
Opioids are administered for treatment of moderate to severe pain and are among the most widely prescribed drugs. But its use has also raised concerns about potential abuse.
Despite these concerns, characteristics of opioid use within the non-institutionalized US population are not well known, particularly for recent years.
The researchers conducted a phone survey of randomly selected US households; there were 19,150 subjects aged 18 years or older interviewed from February 1998 through September 2006.
Information was gathered on all prescription and non-prescription medications taken during the preceding seven days. For each recorded medication, information was obtained on reason for use, type of administration, number of days taken in the week before the interview, and total duration of the current use.
The researchers found opioids were used 'regularly' by two percent of those surveyed. An additional 2.9 percent used opioids less frequently. Regular opioid use increased with age, decreased with education level, and was more common in females and in non-Hispanic whites.
The prevalence of regular opioid use increased over time. Among regular users, almost half had been taking opioids for two or more years and nearly one-fifth had been taking opioids for five years or longer.
There was also a much higher prevalence of other medication use among regular opioid users compared to nonusers.
According to the researchers, given the large number of individuals affected, the recent increase in public health concern for safe and effective pain management is appropriate.
These findings will appear in the Aug 31 issue of the journal Pain.
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