Booze, drugs, sex posing a threat to teens' health

London, Aug 27 : Booze, drugs, cigarettes and sex are adversely affecting the health of British teenagers, says a new report.

According to the report released by Tories, British kids as young as 11 are visiting hospital for treatment for smoking.

Moreover, hospital admissions for drug and alcohol abuse, sexually transmitted diseases and abortions have also increased drastically.

According to figures, the number of teenagers admitted to hospital for alcohol abuse have increased by 51 per cent since 2000 to nearly 12,700 a year. Admissions for conditions linked to smoking went up by 41 per cent.

The number of youngsters treated for sexually transmitted infections is up 21 per cent to more than 53,000 annually.

And teenage abortions have gone up 15 per cent annually since 2000 to 43,800. Tory health spokesman Andrew Lansley warned the NHS faced a "teenage timebomb".

"It's a sad indictment of our broken society that so many are turning to drug and alcohol abuse at such a young age," the Mirror quoted him, as saying.

"And these figures only highlight the worst cases, those that end up in hospital," he added.

The figures showed 41-pct increase in teens needing treatment in hospital for a smoking related disease and 53,061 teens were treated for sexually transmitted infections in 2006-7.

ANI