Would you microchip your child (with tracking device) to keep them safe?

[handlemecarefully]

Well would you?

There is a feature on this in the BBC News online web site.

[BluStocking]

No!
Think it is over-reacting, and would worry that if child abductors begin to assume that children are chipped, they would physically chop it out.

[Twinkie]

Message withdrawn

[santafio2]

i think there may be a place for them with learning disabled and maybe with elderly patients. Please dont all kill me.

[FairyMum]

I might microchip my DH,)

[SenoraPostrophe]

Definately over-reacting.

The risk of your child being abducted is still tiny and there is no way that it outweighs the risk of putting an electronic device under somebody's skin - and I don't care how safe they say it is. Bit like Diana refusing to use a seatbelt in case of kidnap attempt really...

Plus this kind of thing tends to breed neurosis - much like those baby breathing monitors that you can now buy for healthy babies.

Not right at all.

[Bozza]

Agree with senorapostrophe - especially about breeding neurosis.

[santafio2]

what about if you have got a kid that may wonder off, doesnt understand?

[GeorginaA]

It's a tough one, but the thought of microchipping my child as if it were a dog I owned really quite freaks me out, sorry. May not be the logical response, and I can see why people might think they want one, but all I can see is further chances for abuse.

Like the mobile phone thing - who has control over the data? Are they all carefully vetted? What if those potential child abductors get hold of that information? And more importantly, at what age to you stop microchipping - how would you remove it? At what point does the child have the right NOT to have interfering adults know exactly where they are every second of the day?

Hell, we don't seem to have the technology to insert and remove hormone implants safely, dread to think of the health consequences of inserting an electronic tag into a growing child let alone the safety implications...

[Bozza]

I take your point Fio and the one about elderly patients and it might be worth considering in these cases. But as a general rule by parents on demand I would say no.

[santafio2]

I agree with you bozza I am just thinking as my dd, learning disabled, gets older and get out the house and stuff - this may be useful to me. Aldso alot of elderly patients with dementia wander off. Plus I used to live by a hospital for the mentally ill and i had a young woman who used to come to my house on several occasions, I used to let her in and ring the hospital, but i always felt if i wasnt there anything could have happened to her.

I know this is different from the discussion, sorry

[tigermoth]

I would not want to have a microchip inserted under my child's skin, but might feel OK if there was a microchip type of device in my child's coat or vest for instance. I'm talking about a young child here, say from when they became mobile up to the age they leave primary school. I also think there is a case for microchipping particularly vulnerable adults and children.

I think georgina raises an interesting point - at what age does it not become OK to do this? when does it become an infringement of human rights?

I also think microchipping could breed a false sense of security: if you knew you could track your 3 year old's movements at a playground, would you bother as much to watch what he was doing? And a tracking device would not tell you if your child was about to walk into danger - cross a busy road, fall down steep steps.

Surely it's people on the child protection register who need to be microchipped more than the children they prey on? But, if we reach a stage where people are told if a known paedophile moves into their neighbourhood, then possibly there's more reason to microchip local children, if the parents wanted this.

[GeorginaA]

My dh pointed out another thought to me which I hadn't considered as we were discussing this last night. Chances are, the microchips wouldn't even save lives - they'd just help the bodies to be found quicker

Sorry, a bit morbid, but I think he has a point.