On average, 70% teens spend a few minutes to several hours a day in social networks. At the same time, they are 5 times more likely to smoke cigarettes, three times more likely to use alcohol and 2 times more likely to smoke marijuana than the teens who do not use social networks.

The study involved 1037 adolescents aged 12-17, 528 parents, and telephone interviews with 1006 adolescents of the same age.

It was discovered that 9 out of 10 parents do not associate the time spent in social networks with the emergence of bad habits. In their turn, Facebook representatives emphasize that the resource prohibits drug promotion.

Source of the image: Photl.

The corresponding law should be applied to early abortions (during the first nine weeks) which are conducted with the help of medicines, as BPAS claims. In 2009, there were 69,000 such abortions in Great Britain. 55,000 abortions per year fall to the share of BPAS, The Independent informs.

According to the legislation in force, a woman who is on the early stage of her pregnancy and willing to have a medicinal abortion should attend hospital twice to get her pills. The first portion of drugs blockades the production of hormones connected with pregnancy, and the second one provokes an abortion.

However, BPAS believes that women are to be provided with two medicines simultaneously as well as with clear instructions on how to take them. The representatives of the organization are sure that lack of necessity to visit the hospital one more time is better for a woman’s health and psychological state. But the government objects to such interpretation of the law. According to the experts from the Health Protection Agency, the law adopted in 1967 means that the woman should take both pills for a medicinal abortion on the territory of a medical institution. The decision on this issue will be made by the Supreme Court of the UK.

Source of the image: Photl.

The International Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology published a report that asserts that more than half of expectant mothers make free use of medications.

Some of them, medications controlling epilepsy for one, are certainly advisable, but some other drugs should be avoided as harmful for the fetus. The article says that 6.3 percent of the drugs that are taken are highly pernicious. “These pregnancies were associated with an elevated number of (pregnancy terminations) and babies born with major (birth defects) in comparison with the expected numbers in the population,” the authors conclude.

Among the harmful drugs cited as most often taken during pregnancy are antibiotics, drugs for severe acne, psychiatric drugs that are used to treat depression, and some heart disease cures that are known to interfere with the natural development of the baby in the womb.

Consequently the children of mothers who went for medications while they were carrying their babies show a noticeably higher rate of birth defects.

Scientists underscore the importance of expecting mothers being aware of all the side effects of the drugs they are taking with special consideration for cures for chronic conditions.

Source of the image: sxc.hu/profile/dimshik.