Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., wrote Health and Human Services Secretary Michael Leavitt to say that experts who reviewed 4parents.gov at Waxman's request found it lacking key information and "may actually promote risk-taking behaviors."

"I have officially written Secretary Leavitt to urge him to take down the website and start from scratch," Waxman said. "He should use the best information available from health experts and give advice that's proven to work."

The website focuses on helping parents talk to teenagers about sex and sexuality. It advocates abstinence until marriage, and although it notes that condoms can significantly reduce the risk of sexually transmitted diseases, the advice focuses more on condom failure rates than evidence of their effectiveness, he says.

The best scientific evidence shows that arming teens with information about condoms does not promote sex, but it does offer a measure of protection for the sexually active

HHS spokesman Daniel Morales said the agency has not had a chance to review Waxman's letter. The site aims to "equip parents with the resources they need to talk to their youth about sex and relationships; encourage their teens to remain abstinent from unhealthy risk behaviors; and to take an active role in the sexual health of their teens," he said in a statement.

Waxman's experts say that although the site offers helpful tips on parenting and communication, the emphasis on sex means the site lacks other important information.

"A lot of information that parents of teenagers want and need is not on that website," says psychologist Laurence Steinberg of Temple University, who reviewed the site and is author of The Ten Basic Principles of Good Parenting. "They spend a lot of time discussing tattoos and body piercing, and they barely mention alcohol and tobacco, which are the two leading health risks for teenagers."

The other reviewers -- AIDS expert King Holmes of the University of Washington, child psychiatrist Richard Pleak of North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System and John Santelli, family health chairman at Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health -- also said the site falls short on sexual education.

Among concerns: Information is lacking on adolescent development, contraception and sexual orientation. Holmes offered more than two dozen specific corrections of information on sexually transmitted diseases.

In March, more than 150 public health and advocacy groups complained to Leavitt that the site "contains many errors and biases that undermine its intent of encouraging parent-child communication around sex and sexuality."