Burdensome backpacks are turning Aussie school kids into hunchbacks.
And a federal Liberal MP is so worried he wants the nation's education ministers to tackle the problem at their next meeting.
Luke Simpkins has warned children are at risk of irreversible back deformities because they're carrying such heavy loads, pointing to increasing reports of spinal abnormalities and scoliosis in the UK and Ireland.
Mr Simpkins was alerted to the problem after the uncle of a Perth teenager complained to him.
The uncle found his nephew's bag weighed more than seven kilograms - 20 per cent of the boy's body weight.
That was the same as army trainees during rigorous exercises in the 1980s - something which Mr Simpkins, a former Duntroon graduate, would know about.
Mr Simpkins said it was scary that children carrying more than 15 per cent of their body weight risked permanent damage.
"This represents a health threat to our children," he told parliament on Monday.
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