Blair: "clamp down on antisocial children before birth"
Setting out plans for state intervention to prevent babies born into high-risk families becoming problem teenagers of the future, Tony Blair said teenage mothers could be forced to accept state help before giving birth, as part of a clampdown on antisocial behaviour.
That anti-social
behaviour is in the genes, is the only conclusion
that can be drawn from Prime Minister Blair’s latest reactionary
remarks concerning ‘trouble makers,’
whom he says can be identified while they are still in the womb.
September 1, 2006
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Britain
and the march towards genetic
determinism. Not so much an ideological
issue of whether the state should get involved in everyday life,
but rather a mind-blowingly dangerous display of something that
frankly smacks of pseudoscience and borders on determinism.
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We can clamp down on antisocial children before birth, says Blair
- Intervention 'could prevent later problems'
- Package of proposals courts controversy
Lee
Glendinning
Friday September 1, 2006
The Guardian
Tony Blair has said it is possible to identify problem children who could grow up to be a potential "menace to society" even before they are born.
Setting out plans for state intervention to prevent babies born into high-risk families becoming problem teenagers of the future, the prime minister said teenage mothers could be forced to accept state help before giving birth, as part of a clampdown on antisocial behaviour.
Mr Blair defended the need for state intervention and said action could even be taken "pre-birth" if necessary as families with drug and alcohol problems were being identified too late.
"If we are not prepared to predict and intervene far more early then there are children that are going to grow up in families that we know perfectly well are completely dysfunctional, and the kids a few years down the line are going to be a menace to society and actually a threat to themselves," he told BBC News. There could be sanctions for parents who refused to take advice, he added.
Mr Blair's uncompromising remarks in a BBC interview come after the Guardian revealed earlier this week full details of his wide-ranging plans for tackling social exclusion.
Full article at: http://politics.guardian.co.uk/homeaffairs/story/0,,1862706,00.html
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