French Babies Micro-chipped for Protection from Kidnappers
Pastor Dale Morgan
French Babies Micro-chipped for Protection from Kidnappers*
Baby trafficking has become a high-profile problem in France, and a
hospital hit by two cases of infant kidnapping wants to put electronic
micro-chip wristbands on newborns.
France wants to tackle the booming trade in babies by microchiping them.
Electronic wrist or ankle bands may sound like a high-tech way to
monitor criminals on probation, but now a French hospital wants to put
the digital shackles on a different demographic -- babies at risk of
kidnapping.
Starting in March 2007, babies born in the Le Raincy-Montfermeil
hospital in Paris will wear electronic wristbands, the hospital
announced on Tuesday. Each wristband will communicate with its own alarm
box, which is not attached to the child. As soon as the wristband moves
outside a designated area -- or someone tampers with the box -- the
alarm goes off.
The boxes will carry the baby's name, date of birth and a unique serial
number. They'll be light and compact, weighing no more than 20 grams
(0.795 ounces) together with the band. The hospital will start with 40
alarm sets, which parents will have the right to refuse.
A plague of kidnappings
The hospital's maternity ward hosts 2,000-2,300 births per year, but
it's suffered two cases of infant kidnapping over the past five years.
Officials also plan to install surveillance cameras and limit access to
the ward. But infant kidnapping has become such a black-market business
in France that another hospital in Le Havre plans to install a similar
tagging system for up to €200,000 ($260,500).
On Monday a court outside Paris opened a baby-trafficking trial
involving a ring of 56 mostly Bulgarian defendants. They're accused of
bringing impoverished pregnant women to France from Bulgaria, then
selling on their newborns to childless French couples, and keeping most
of the money.
The case centers on 22 babies who were sold for €3,500 - 7,000 apiece
($4,500 - 9,100) between 2003 and 2005. After police busted the gang,
the children went to foster care; now most of them have been returned to
the families that bought them. Some couples have started proceedings to
adopt the children legally.
mkp/ap/afp