Separated twins of 4 years: biological age tests in children open the debate on immigration | Technology



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The phenomenon of migration has alerted European countries in recent years, especially since a large proportion of migrants are minors. This is why the actual detection tests of biological ages have become crucial.

As has been determined, European immigration legislation stresses that undocumented children have the right to be fully protected by part of the states, while adults receive return file back to their home country

This point has led to the need to refine age detection tests at a range producing a minimum error percentage. It depends on the future of many young people who enter the European territory without a lot of resources.

The Spanish newspaper El País mentioned a case that sparked an ethical debate in 2017. It is about a young Cameroonian woman named Memba, who arrived in Madrid in search of asylum . At that time, she underwent three tests to recognize her age.

  Orlando ESTRADA | AFP
Orlando ESTRADA | AFP

The first was a radiograph on the left wrist that determined that he was 17 years old. Here is a review of the naked body to know badual development, in which it is concluded that it is major.

The third test is a recognition of his jaw, .

To the detriment of the young woman, this year's Forensic Report determined a bone age of 18 years. She had thus ceased to be a girl who needed protection in the European Union.

"The insecurity provided by medical tests is very large. The margin of error is too great: two years above and two years below" estimated Rafael Bañón , director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine of Murcia.

Extreme cases also occurred in England, where twins were tested to determine their age, with results so unusual that they showed differences of up to ten years.

Mexican Juan Edgar Castillo, geneticist of King's College London. , has expressed serious doubts as to the veracity of this evidence, having concrete cases during the last five years of work.

  Orlando ESTRADA | AFP
Orlando ESTRADA | AFP

"There is a difference average between three and four years between pairs of twins, although the differences can be greater than 10 years in extreme cases," he added.

We have many doubts about obtaining a precise technique to determine the age of a person with such low margins. We even talk about hours. The age of majority is the day of your 18th birthday. What technique can be so accurate in determining age with such small margins? "

According to the media mentioned, the future could be in a model created by Chinese researchers in 2018, which combined the epigenetic clock and X-ray exploration of bones and teeth to know the age of 124 children

The Asians would have estimated that their margin of error was 0.33 years for girls and 0.47 years for boys, which would be considered a for the moment, not applicable to establish the legal age of an individual, according to the experts.

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