HONG KONG: The privacy watchdog has warned the government that some of the practices proposed under the new school drug testing program may breach privacy laws. Privacy Commissioner for Personal Data Roderick Woo Bun said the Personal Data (Privacy) Ordinance does not give parents or guardians the authority to give consent on behalf of a minor. However that's precisely what the government intends.

In a letter to Secretary for Education Michael Suen Ming-yeung yesterday, Woo said, "Appropriate consent in relation to a person under 18 years means the consent of both that person and his parent or guardian."

"It is not immediately clear to me the reason the Scheme adopts a lower threshold and considers that only the consent of the parent or guardian will suffice," Woo wrote.

"While it is doubtful whether all the students have the requisite capacity to give genuine consent, it is to be noted that no substitute consent is recognized under the Ordinance. That being the case, a parent or guardian is not capable of giving a consent on behalf of a minor under the Ordinance. It is my view that the quandary may need to be resolved by legislation," he said.

Woo said the drug test results are sensitive personal data and should be handled carefully.

He also advised authorities to ensure that the test results are accurate before penalizing students who test positive for drugs.

The test results should not be kept longer than necessary and should not be used for purposes other than the original aim, he added.

He also said the records showing students' consent to take the test are also a kind of personal data, so school principals, teachers, school police liaison officers, nurses and social workers who collect or process the records will all have legal responsibilities.

Woo expressed concern to the education chief about whether the government carried out any privacy impact assessment on the collection and use of test-related personal data.

The commissioner's comments came as a group of researchers has claimed that long-term use of ketamine, one of the most frequently abused drugs among Hong Kong youth, can cause mental disorders.

In what claims to be the world's first study on rats and monkeys, researchers found that ketamine may lead to dementia, said David Yew Tai-wai, an anatomy professor at the Chinese University's School of Biomedical Sciences.

He said in the ongoing study which started in 2007, dozens of rats and more than 30 monkeys have been injected with ketamine daily.

Yew said the rats and monkeys both became fearful, suffered delusions and showed signs of other cerebral problems after prolonged injection of ketamine.

He said evidence showed that drug abusers may also suffer from similar problems.

(HK Edition 08/11/2009 page1)