CHILDREN have been warned to be careful following a health alert over a children's science magazine.

Dorset County Council has contacted schools after it was suggested an experiment in an edition of the popular Horrible Science magazine could make youngsters ill.

The experiment - in issue six titled Horrors in the Home - contains a Petri dish and a packet of agar medium, which is used for growing bacteria.

The magazine, aimed at children aged between seven and 12, suggests that swabs are taken with cotton buds from places such as a toilet handle, inside a dog's ear or the reader's mouth.

The samples are then transferred to the agar in the dish to see what develops. However, experts say this could result in harmful bacteria which could cause infection.

John Tranter from the local education authorities science advisory group CLEAPSS said: "The written safety precautions and instructions for disposal are decidedly inadequate.

"If schools find that their pupils are intending to carry out the activity, we would strongly recommend that they are told not to start."

A Dorset County Council spokeswoman said the alert had been forwarded to schools.

"Their advice was that any deliberate growing of bacteria should only be done under controlled conditions, and not at home, and we have circulated that advice to our schools," she said.

A spokeswoman for Eaglemoss Publications said it took safety issues very seriously and had taken immediate steps in response to the concerns.

"We have consulted with CLEAPSS and will be publishing revised step-by-step instructions for the experiment as soon as they have been fully checked and approved, both in the next available edition and on our website.

"At the moment we are advising readers not to start the experiment until they have the new instructions."

First published: May 9