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LONDON - The Scouts' famous motto of "be prepared" is being expanded to ensure young members in Britain know all about sex.
Under a set of new guidelines to be unveiled today, Scouts will be taught about contraception, pregnancy tests and what do do if they believe they are being forced to have sex.
Scouts will also be taken on visits to sexual health clinics and given free condoms on trips.
While the new measures have outraged some traditionalists, the Scout Association argues they will help members resist peer pressure to start having sex before they are ready.
There are about 400,000 scouts in Britain, 85 per cent of whom are boys.
But the new measures have alarmed some critics, who claim they will only encourage young Scouts to have sex.
"This is not what parents expect of the Scout Association," Conservative MP Ann Widdecombe told the Daily Telegraph. "They are sending their children off to a leisure activity, not for sex education. This is a matter for parents."
The chairwoman of the Parents Outloud pressure group, Margaret Morrissey, accused the association of "trying to be politically correct".
"The last people you would expect to be making children sexually aware is the Boy Scouts."
- AAP