It sounds good on paper, at least -- teenagers who pledge to remain virgins until they are married, but, despite the positive press this movement has garnered, a new study indicates that even though these teens aren't 'going all the way,' they are going far enough to contract the most common venereal diseases.

The study, which will be published in the April edition of the Journal of Adolescent Health, involved 12,000 teens. The conclusion -- even though they are not engaging in intercourse, many are having oral and even anal sex as a substitute.

Participants answered questionnaires in school and were then interviewed at home a year later. Additional follow-up interviews were conducted two and six years after the initial questionnaire was completed.

Those who pledged to remain virgins were six times more likely to have had oral sex than those who did not take any type of pledge but retained their virginity. They were also careless in using condoms for their first sexual experiences.

These results are somewhat surprising and certainly point out a weakness in the theory that teens who refrain from sex are safe from STDs. Even those who pledge to abstain need to be educated as to the danger of contracting disease from non-vaginal sexual activity.

Although there are no current numbers to indicate how many teens have taken such pledges, it is estimated that some 2.2 million had done so by 1995. That figure is approximately 12 percent of all teenagers in the U.S.