Would you microchip your kid for safety?

by Sandy Maple (Subscribe to Sandy Maple's posts) May 21st 2007 2:28PM

Categories: Health & Safety, Media, Gadgets & Tech

The disappearance of Madeleine McCann from her holiday apartment in Portugal a few weeks ago has made a lot of parents nervous. We all know how easily that could have been one of ours. Every time I hear something about that poor little girl and her family, I feel the need to hug Ellie and keep her just a little closer to me.

I can't imagine there are many things worse than having your child disappear. To not know where she is and what is happening to her. What can a parent do to keep their child safe? There is one controversial solution to keeping tabs on your children that has been gaining attention since Madeleine's disappearance.

In 2002, a British girl was implanted with a microchip that sends a signal allowing a computer to pinpoint her location at all times. This technology was developed by Professor Kevin Warwick of Reading University after the murders of two children. At the time, there was concern about the ethics of tagging children and many felt this was an overreaction that ultimately had no benefit.

"It caused such a backlash that we had to step back," Warwick says. "There were ethical concerns, and as a scientist you have to listen."

Fast forward to today and Professor Warwick says Madeleine's disappearance has resulted in new interest in this chip technology. Experts are predicting a surge in sales of all kinds of tracking devices for children in the near future, but most of these are either sewn into a child's clothes or embedded in a cell phone. Only an implanted chip would stay with a child no matter what. I certainly can understand a parent's desire to do something, anything, to ensure the safety of their child. But chipping a child like you would a pet seems somehow wrong to me. What do you think? Would you implant a chip in your child?

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Comments (20)

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ginny 5-21-2007 @ 4:20PM

YES! Ethical or not!

CLM 5-21-2007 @ 4:44PM

Eww! How "Brave New World", or am I thinking of "1984"? I find the mere idea disturbing on so many levels. Personally, were that done to me, I would likely have dug the thing out by the time I was 8 or 9.

Anji 5-21-2007 @ 4:39PM

No. Aside from it being totally unethical, think about it. The parents of Madeleine McCann have already proven that parents can be careless. Microchipping kids would lull us into a false sense of security which would breed complacence and ultimately, we might not do our jobs as parents as well if we had that 'safety net'.

Maya 5-21-2007 @ 5:52PM

I'm torn on this one... when my child was small and unable to speak - this seems like it could be useful if for some reason we were seperated or lost, or whatever horrible thing I could imagine happening... but by the time he could talk and tell people where he lived and phone numbers, I wouldn't want to have it there... That balance of parental fear and childhood independence that I constantly cope with as a parent!

Michelle 5-21-2007 @ 5:44PM

We do it to our pets. Every time I see the commercials for the chip in the dog, I say "as soon as they make that legal in humans, sign us up!" Hell, yes! It's not about being careless, it's about living in a dangerous society. I have a toddler and preschooler and I will do whatever is in my power to keep them safe and protected. I will most likely GPS the car and cell phone when the time comes, too.

Uly 5-21-2007 @ 10:50PM

I think that if you're not leaving your child alone in a hotel room for hours while you party, and are instead keeping an eye on them occasionally, you probably don't have to worry about what happened to her happening to them.

jaded.echo 5-21-2007 @ 6:20PM

As the daughter of a missing person (presumed drowned) I have to say, sign me up!!! They've never found so much as a cigarette butt, and (in the many years since) we've gotten a death certificate. None of that replaces a funeral. The odds are astronomical, but IT REALLY DOES HAPPEN TO PEOPLE JUST LIKE YOU.

I would chip every member of my family, from my mother to my 2 year old.

Margaret 5-21-2007 @ 7:48PM

I'd also say HELL YEAH! I would chip my three year old and my one year old in a New York Minute if the technology were cheap, relatively painless and easily available. Once you have more than one kid, not matter how vigilant you are, your eyes can NOT be on both of them every second unless you tie up your three year old while you change the other one's diaper at the park.

I'd chip myself and the rest of my family. You never know who can get abducted and the first 24 hours are crucial. Kids get snatched from normal parents, ie the type that don't leave their sleeping children alone, EVER. So, if this could potentially save your kids life (or yours) why wouldn't you do it?

Jan Bay 5-21-2007 @ 9:14PM

My initial reaction is YES! I wonder how many children who have been abducted could have been saved if they had had such technology in place, but when it came right down to it..could I follow through?

Just suppose it were possible, would you remove it when the kids got a certain age? It's something to think about.

Jan from www.unique-baby-gear-ideas.com

Jenny 5-21-2007 @ 11:10PM

No. My dog has a chip, and the only information it gives out is a coded number when you scan it with a handheld device. That's because she can't tell you her name. She is not giving out a radio signal, and I wouldn't want her or my children to do so. It is only a matter of time until someone figures out how to hack the radio signal and track a child for their own purposes. I think the risks of that are much more significant than the gains. There is no guarantee that the chip will be used as you intend.

Lt 5-22-2007 @ 12:28AM

I would absolutely do it in a heartbeat. When the kids turned 18, they could have it removed if they wanted to. I wouldn't parent any less carefully than I do now - but if God forbid something happened anyway, at least my child would be found. I *so* wish this was something that we could do.

Sandyone 5-22-2007 @ 9:02AM

If my husband and I were the only ones with access to the whereabouts, I'd chip all of us.

Since that's not possible, there's no way in hell I'd do it.

Ben Franklin was a really smart guy. Really.
"Those Who Sacrifice Liberty For Security Deserve Neither"

Marcia 5-22-2007 @ 10:44AM

One more step in the government knowing too dang much about us. I'd vote a big fat NO just like I disagree with those cameras at every intersection. They don't need to know where I am or what I'm doing all hours of the day.

Jessica 5-22-2007 @ 11:58AM

No way!

My child is a person, not a *thing* to be tagged.

This is so "1984"! Very scary shit!!!

Sean 5-22-2007 @ 1:27PM

If it worked like a lojack that had to be turned on with a specific code, then yes. If it was always on, broadcasting information, then no.

Stacey 5-23-2007 @ 3:44PM

no, no, no, no, no!!! Very scary, very "1984", very "big brother is watching", number of the beast and all that. No Way! Yes, life can be scary but no protection is foolproof and too much of it comes at too high a cost.

vacelts 5-29-2007 @ 5:38PM

I prefer to rely on good parenting and common sense. What if the predator hacked in the chip system and actually used the implant to target my child? How long before the government gets access to the chip and starts targeting our children.

I'd be more open less permanent options like a armband.

http://redlightnaps.wordpress.com/2007/05/29/child-implants/

j-ro 6-12-2007 @ 6:05PM

Yes. I would do it if only I had authorization to access info. Also, I would not want it done to "watch" my children and having it done would not make me feel any more secure. But,just in case of emergency, They could be quickly located. I would get one too. Terrible crimes happen to people of all ages, not just children. I live in a good ol' small town and there have been horrible crimes happen here in the recent past. Also, my children have been approached by strangers while playing outside and a stranger in a car tried to run my child over while he was long boarding in the neighborhood! He's 15! While taking a walk one evening my husband and I were followed home by a very suspicous car. We live in what is considered a really good neighborhood. My husband and I are good parents and I have great kids - all the more reason to think about this. If they can "perfect" these chips I'm up for the whole family getting them. Why not take that extra step in keeping your family safe in this dangerous and evil world.

cschwind 6-11-2007 @ 7:17AM

Secular Reasons NOT to get the Microchip Implant

1. The claim for protection against identity theft is false: “…A hacker can simply walk by a chipped person and clone his or her VeriChip signal, a threat demonstrated by security researcher Jonathan Westhues months ago," says McIntyre, who is a former federal bank examiner. (VeriChip SEC Filing Discloses Chip Implant Risks, by Katherine Albrecht)

2. The cost of the microchip and the implant procedure comes out of the patient’s pocket: “The cost of the microchip implant procedure is not covered by Medicare, Medicaid or private health insurance.” (VeriChip's IPO: Losses Ahead for New Implant System, by Bill Simpson)

3. The wrong scanner used on your microchip will kill you instantaneously: A documented case in the United States of incompatible microchip technologies resulting in the unnecessary death of a pet. (Pet’s Death Rekindles Electronic ID Debate – New Microchip Raises Doubts about Scanner Reliability, by R. Scott Nolen, American Veterinary Medical Association - http://www.avma.org/onlnews/javma/jul04/040701a.asp)

4. The manufacturer admits the microchip causes adverse health risks: "The potential risks to health associated with the device are: adverse tissue reaction; migration of the implanted transponder; compromised information security; failure of implanted transponder; failure of inserter; failure of electronic scanner; electromagnetic interference; electrical hazards; magnetic resonance imaging incompatibility, and needle stick," said the letter, which was obtained by Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering, or CASPIAN. (A “VeriChip” on Society’s Shoulder: Positive and Negative Implications of the VeriChip, by Steve Laczniak, Department of Engineering Physics, University of Wisconsin-Madison; also, Digital Angel Exiting Applied Digital? Did Company Fail To Publicize VeriChip Risks?, by Ken Fisher)

5. Microchips transmit radio frequency via satellite. Radiofrequency has been found to cause cancers: “…Some animal studies suggest that RF fields accelerate the development of sarcoma colonies in the lung, mammary tumors, skin tumors, hepatomas, and sarcomas. A substantial RF-induced increase in lymphoma incidence in transgenic mice exposed for up to 18 months has also been reported…” (Radiofrequency Field Exposure and Cancer: What Do the Laboratory Studies Suggest?, by Michael H. Repacholi, World Health Organization, Geneva, Switzerland) / Police officers have experienced an increase in testicular cancer as a result of using hand-held radar equipment. (Davis, R.L., Mostofi, F.K., 1993. Cluster of testicular cancer in police officers exposed to hand-held radar. Am. J. Ind. Med. 24, 231-233)

6. The Actual 1974 Congressional Testimony of Dr. Jose Delgado for electronic brain control of our military: "We need a program of PSYCHOSURGERY for POLITICAL CONTROL of our society. The purpose is PHISICAL CONTROL OF THE MIND. Everyone who deviates from the given norm can be SURGICALLY MUTILATED. The individual may think that the most important reality is his own existence, but this is only his personal point of view. This lacks historical perspective. Man does NOT HAVE THE RIGHT to develop his own mind. This kind of liberal orientation has great appeal. We must ELECTRICALLY CONTROL THE BRAIN. Some day armies and generals will be controlled by electric stimulation of the brain.” / “A perfect cyber-soldier can thus be created. This secret technology has been used by military forces in certain NATO countries since the 1980's without civilian and academic populations having heard anything about it. Thus, little information about such invasive mind-control systems is available in professional and academic journals" (Microchip Mind Control, Implants And Cybernetics, featuring Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974; Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland; and Dr. Rauni Leena Kilde, MD – http://www.rense.com/general17/imp.htm)

7. The microchip can be used as a means of “torture”: “Electromagnetic stimulation can therefore change a person's brainwaves and affect muscular activity, causing painful muscular cramps experienced as torture.”/ “Only increased public awareness of the microchip implants, their frightful consequences to privacy by influencing of individuals' thoughts and actions, causing people to become biological robots with physical and emotional pain whenever the supercomputer technician so wishes, is enough reason to refuse to take the chip into your body for whatever reason.” (Microchip Mind Control, Implants And Cybernetics, featuring Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974; Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland; and Dr. Rauni Leena Kilde, MD – http://www.rense.com/general17/imp.htm); also a Utah State Prison testimony found at Remote Control Electronic Brain Punishment? – http://www.netti.fi/~makako/mind/d_fratus.htm)

8. A microchip can influence human emotions, induce hallucinations, cause the hearing of “voices” in their head, cause aggression, even to the point of causing murder with no remembrance of committing the crime: “All our emotions, moods, and thoughts have a specific brain frequency which has been catalogued. If these records fall into the wrong hands, our behaviour and attitudes can be manipulated by persons whose ethics and morals are not in our best interest.” / “Using a RMS (remote monitoring system), a land-based computer operator can send electromagnetic messages (encoded as signals) to the nervous system, affecting the target's performance. With RMS, healthy persons can be induced to see hallucinations and to hear voices in their heads.” / “Mind control techniques can be used for political purposes. The goal of mind controllers today is to induce the targeted persons or groups to act against his or her own convictions and best interests. Zombified individuals can even be programmed to murder and remember nothing of their crime afterward. Alarming examples of this phenomenon can be found in the U.S. (Microchip Mind Control, Implants And Cybernetics, featuring Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974; Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland; and Dr. Rauni Leena Kilde, MD – http://www.rense.com/general17/imp.htm)

9. Inhumane microchip experiments have been carried out against people’s wills: “Guinea-pigs in secret experiments have included prisoners, soldiers, mental patients, handicapped children, deaf and blind people, homosexuals, single women, the elderly, school children and any group of people considered "marginal" by the elite experimenters. The published experiences of prisoners in Utah State Prison, for example, are shocking to the conscience.” a Utah State Prison testimony found at Remote Control Electronic Brain Punishment? – http://www.netti.fi/~makako/mind/d_fratus.htm); also Microchip Mind Control, Implants And Cybernetics, featuring Dr. Jose M.R. Delgado Director of Neuropsychiatry Yale University Medical School Congressional Record, No. 26, Vol. 118 February 24, 1974; Rauni-Leena Luukanen-Kilde, MD Former Chief Medical Officer of Finland; and Dr. Rauni Leena Kilde, MD – http://www.rense.com/general17/imp.htm)

10. IBM is the company financing Verichip, the major retailer of the implantable microchips. IBM also provided Hitler and the Nazis with their cataloging system to store information on Jews: “…the original Auschwitz tattoo was an IBM number….It was never about the Nazism. It was never about the anti-Semitism. It was only about the money… IBM distinguished itself as the dominant provider of this special technology and sued any company which tried to horn in on their profit stream. During the war, IBM litigated against Bull in France, Powers in Europe, and even sued the German printer Euler in 1942, trying to stop them from printing cards.” (Probing IBM's Nazi connection, by Paul Festa, Staff Writer, CNET News.com - http://news.com.com/2009-1082-269157.html; also, MSN Money Website Asks: Would You Have An RFID Chip Implanted In Your Body? By Alex Jones' Prison Planet/Paul Joseph Watson; also, the book IBM and the Holocaust: The Strategic Alliance Between Nazi Germany and America's Most Powerful Corporation", by Edwin Black)

Bren 6-15-2007 @ 5:38PM

YES!!! My first job as a parent is keeping my children safe. I think it should be offered free at birth and anyone who doesn't do it should be brought up on neglect charges!

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