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Back Page: Hound - Between the lines in the past week's media

1 min read
Some people lie about their age, says the Home Office. Can't dispute that as people have been doing it for years.

But immigration minister Liam Byrne is not very relaxed. He thinks"imaginative solutions" are needed to stop adults claiming to beunaccompanied minors. The Home Office has come up with one. It calls itscunning plan "dental checks".

Another name for it is blasting radioactive x-rays at children's teeth,wrists and collar bones and taking a guess at their age. It's a bit likechopping a tree down and counting the rings.

Some thoughtful people are not keen.

According to The Guardian, the British Dental Association says it isinaccurate and unethical. The Royal College of Paediatrics and ChildHealth calls it potentially harmful.

In any case, the practice has been banned since 1982. So reinstating itisn't even imaginative. It's called copying.

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