parents to arm themselves with as much AIDS information as possible and stop "a major holocaust''.

Mrs. Debra Fraser-Howze, executive director of The Black Leadership Commission on AIDS in New York, was speaking to some 40 people who braved high winds and rain to attend a parents forum on AIDS, at Wesley Methodist Church Hall.

Revealing startling statistics, Mrs. Fraser-Howze said in New York 14,000 girls between the ages of 10 and 17 had become pregnant over the past year.

And she added: "If teenagers are getting pregnant, then they are not using condoms. This is Russian roulette.

"Educating your children about AIDS has to happen long before they're in a crisis.'' But Mrs. Fraser-Howze said she realises there are some who do not feel comfortable talking to their children about sex.

The director of Teen Services New York, who has encouraged hundreds of teenage mothers to return to school, admitted she had been in the same predicament.

"Sometimes we're not the best people to talk to our children about sex,'' she said. "Sometimes we're not the best people to talk to our children about AIDS.'' She suggested that those who feel uncomfortable about discussing such issues with their children seek the support of friends who have all the information required and the "same moral standards, same conviction, and same pride'' in who they are.

"I don't want my children to get pregnant because I'm having trouble talking to them,'' she said. "I don't want them to die because I'm having trouble saying the word AIDS.'' Noting that parents are raising children in times that call for immediate gratification, she suggested it was time for parents to change the way they communicate with their youngsters.

"Men, you must realise it is no longer macho to have your boy out there swinging his thing to put a notch on his belt, because we're dealing with a deadly thing,'' she said.

"It is important also that we teach our young women just how important they really are. It is not enough to tell them how much we love them. It is not enough to tell them to keep their skirts down.'' Mrs. Fraser-Howze said men and women need to acknowledge their children's transition into puberty and adulthood and talk to them about what the changes mean.

This, she stressed, is crucial in a society where children "get bombarded with at least 5,000 pieces of sexual information every 30 days''.

"For some reason we've allowed our advertisers to sell everything to our children with sex,'' she said.