Children as young as 12 are becoming sexually active in Bermuda - and the incidence of venereal disease among teens is rising, experts have claimed.

Teen Services director Michelle Johnson revealed the truth behind some of the Island's young people and said the community, including parents, needed to be made more aware.

May is Teen Pregnancy Prevention month and she said the aim was to encourage young people to abstain from sex altogether.

At worst, she said she hoped to drill home to young people the importance of not only using contraception to avoid pregnancy, but also to avoid sexually transmitted diseases.

She said: "We want to help young people to avoid risky sexual behaviour.

"We are seeing more and more younger people becoming pregnant and catching sexually transmitted diseases. It is worldwide, not just in Bermuda.

"The bottom line is simply because people are having sex much younger. We target middle schools with our talks because they have a number of sexually active students.

"We are talking about M1, which is 11 and 12-year-olds. They may not know exactly what they are doing, but we have evidence to show that some are sexually active at that age.

"Sex is becoming a more acceptable thing at that age."

Teen Services deals with many pregnant teenagers, but also offers counselling and help to young people.

She said a number of its clients, aged 13 to 19, have had, or still do have, venereal diseases due to their sexual habits.

She said: "We have clients who have had STDs, but we refer them to the clinic and health department.

"I think the most commonly transmitted disease is chlamydia, but the worst case I have seen is herpes in a 15-year-old girl. We have had a few cases where people have contracted herpes and are learning to cope with it. It is not curable.

"We are fighting to get the message out to teens, as well as to parents."

Last year, Teen Services alone saw 53 pregnant girls between the ages of 13 and 19. Out of those, 29 teenagers chose to terminate their pregnancies.

In 2000, the centre dealt with 47 pregnant girls, and in 1999, the number was 44.

This year is already on target to be well over 50, with 17 young girls turning up at the centre pregnant by the end of April.

However, she warned that Islandwide every year, the number of pregnant teenagers on the Island was more than 100 as some are never referred to Teen Services, and others may go abroad to terminate their pregnancies.

Mrs. Johnson said: "We need to educate and communicate with young people. Parents need to communicate with their children, both male and female.

"Most of the girls we see are from families where there is a history of teen pregnancy. We want to try to break that cycle.

"I would say that every client I have had, without exception, the father of the baby has moved on after 18 months of the baby being born. But the woman can't do that. She is left on her own.

"Quite often young girls leave it too late to seek contraception. A lot of people we get coming here only found out they were pregnant when they went to the doctors or clinic to get birth control.

"It was too late. They had already taken the chance."

Mrs. Johnson said she was not surprised to hear how a 13-year-old girl in a public school a few weeks ago had been found engaging in sexual activity in the washrooms with a number of boys at the school.

She added: "That does not surprise me at all. I think things like that happen quite often.

"For some young girls, prostitution is becoming the norm, also. Young girls are offering sexual favours for material things. They do not see it as anything wrong. They see it as a way of life.

"When they come here and tell us what they have been doing, we explain that it is a form of prostitution, but they simply don't agree. We see them as young as 13 doing that. It is very sad.

"For males and females, quite often they don't have any respect for themselves. Sex to many young people is not this romantic, moral and spiritual thing - it's just an action."

Health and Family Services Minister Nelson Bascome said the growing problem of underage sex and venereal diseases in young people was not just a trend, he said it was something that was inherent in our culture.

He said similar trends were being reported in the Caribbean and the US, as well as other countries world wide.

The Minister said: "What we are finding is that a number of our teenagers are having sex with more than just one partner. They are frequently having sex with different people.

"What's alarming is that it's contributing to not only the increase in STDs on the Island, but also has added to an increase ....in the transmission of HIV and AIDS."

Mr. Bascome said he believed many young people believed they were invincible, and simply followed their peers' behaviour.

He said there was no clear reason why teenagers were becoming more and more promiscuous.

He said a number of teenagers regularly spoke to him, so he knew first and second hand what was happening with young people in Bermuda.

None of it, he said, including, prostitution, surprised him.

"What we are trying to do is educate people," said Mr. Bascome.

"There has to be more involvement, and more parental involvement. Parents need to talk to their kids. I don't think that's happening."