I want it implanted so I can REALLY tell when heREALLY  had his last
full mouth x-rays!

It was two weeks ago but the patient says,

Oh x-rays? It Was Six Years Ago."

LIAR, LIAR, pants on fire.

Joel

***

Posted on Thu, Oct. 14, 2004


 
I M A G E S  

AP photo  
A computer chip stores a code that gives patient-specific data when a
scanner passes over it, like a UPC code at a store.




Medical data chip approved by FDA

The implanted device offers doctors vital information. But its
possible use in tracking people raises privacy concerns.

By Barnaby J. Feder and Tom Zeller Jr.

New York Times News Service

The Food and Drug Administration has cleared the way for a Florida
company to market implantable microchips that would provide easy
access to individual medical records.

The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to
take the lid off a simmering debate over a technology that has evoked
Orwellian overtones for privacy advocates and fueled fears of
widespread tracking of people with implanted radio frequency tags,
even though that capability does not yet exist.

Applied Digital Solutions, based in Delray Beach, Fla., said that its
devices, which it calls VeriChips, could save lives and limit injuries
from errors in medical treatment. And it hopes such medical uses will
accelerate acceptance of under-the-skin ID chips as security and
access-control devices.

Scott R. Silverman, chairman and chief executive of Applied Digital,
said that the FDA approval should help the company overcome "the
creepy factor" of implanted tags that has stirred widespread suspicion
in recent years.

"We believe there are far fewer people resisting this today,"
Silverman said. But whether implanted identification tags can overcome
opposition from those who fear new levels of personal surveillance and
fundamentalist religious groups who believe the tags may be the "mark
of the beast" referred to in the Book of Revelation is far from clear.

In Applied Digital's vision, patients implanted with the chips could
receive more effective care because doctors, emergency-room personnel,
and even ambulance crews equipped with Applied's handheld radio
scanners would be able to read a unique 16-digit number on the chip.

The chip does not contain any records, but with the number, the care
provider would be able to retrieve medical information about blood
type, drug histories, and other critical data stored on computers. The
medical records could be easily updated on the computers.

Animals 'chipped'

Tiny radio frequency identification, or RFID tags similar to VeriChip
have been embedded in livestock and pets by the millions in recent
years as a more secure form of identification than external tags.

Animals, of course, have no say in whether they "get chipped," as the
promoters of the technology call the simple insertion process. But no
device-maker has yet been able to create a market for human
implantable tags like VeriChip, which are the size of a grain of rice
and are inserted just under the skin of the arm or hand with a
syringe.

Applied Digital's distributors overseas have achieved some highly
publicized, if limited, successes. This summer, Gen. Rafael Macedo de
la Concha, Mexico's attorney general, announced that he and scores of
his subordinates received implanted chips that control access to a
secure room and documents considered vital in Mexico's war with drug
cartels.

Privacy concerns

Conspiracy theorists often attach capabilities to the technology that
do not exist. Even so, real privacy concerns have emerged.

"At the point you place the chip beneath the skin, you're saying you
will not have the ability to remove the ID tracking device," said Marc
Rotenberg, the executive director of the Electronic Privacy
Information Center, a public-interest advocacy group in Washington.

Applied Digital has tried to counter concerns about the privacy
implications of the technology by arguing that the implantation of
chips is voluntary and that the only records linked to a VeriChip will
be those authorized by the person with the chip.

Critics say that if the technology gains a foothold, employers,
government authorities, and others with power over individuals could
dictate how the technology is used. For instance, if chips were to
replace dog tags as military identification, the decision would not be
up to the discretion of individual soldiers.


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