Is Big Brother getting under your skin?

Working in health care I had heard about this before. In many health care institutions today, including the one I work for, everything already has a bar code, the patient, every employee including myself, the medications, all of the equipment, etc. For a simple finger stick the nurse must first scan her own bar code, then the patients bar code, then the glucometer strips bar code, then preform the test, and if the result is out of normal range, you have to scan a bar code for whatever action you are taking (retesting, ordering a laboratory draw, etc.) This prevents errors but in many cases it also tacks you the healthcare provider, not just the patient. For example, the last hospital I worked at had the same system. One night a nurse we were working with started to feel faint, another nurse scanned her own bar code to get into the glucometer, then scanned the "emergency" bar code on the glucometer itself to allow her to preform a test without charging a patients account or reporting an erroneous result to pharmacy or lab on a patient (yes these glucometers download the result of every test to pharmacy and lab so they can "double check" to See if the proper insulin was given/ follow up lab test ordered, etc.) so even though she took every precaution possible we all thought possible in this emergency situation, she was later written up (they traced her code) for running an unauthorized blood sugar test on our coworker (whose blood sugar turned out to be 39 and who ended up going to our ED after that result!). We have temporal themometers that will tell a patients temperature with a swipe over a patients forehead, beds that weigh patients, id badges that allow us to walk by a door and have it automatically unlock for us and also that allow our location to be monitored anywhere in the hospital (yes, including the restroom! One charge nurse that I worked under use to think it was big fun to page or call her coworkers when the monitors showed they were in the bathroom on slow nights!) So does this technology reduce errors and save lives? Of course it does. Does it mean that we should open ourselves up to the possibility that having your medical records implanted in your body is the next logical step? I am not so sure. Would it be convenient for health care workers? probably. Would it save lives, probably, but at what cost? I know medical alert bracelets save many lives but they still leave so many unanswered questions. Imagine with a scan of your arm an ER physician would be able to down load your last ekg, x-ray, medication list, vaccination record, surgical history, advance directives, etc. For a patient that is found unresponsive or presents confusion, I can see how this would be very useful. I also can see how it would help when there are language issues. But even with all of the possible benefits, it seems a little like big brother is watching me a little too closely for comfort as it is and having him under my skin, still makes me very uncomfortable. It also seems like this is just opening Pandora's box to all sorts of interesting types of fraud, monitoring, and unnecessary risks.
What do you think?
I found several articles about it, they are below.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2006

VERICHIP RFID IMPLANT HACKED!
Will Security Problems Quash IPO Plans for Controversial Company?

The VeriChip can be hacked! This revelation along with other worrisome details could put a crimp in VeriChip Corporation's planned initial public offering (IPO) of its common stock, say Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre.

The anti-RFID activists and authors of "Spychips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID" make no bones about their objection to VeriChip's plans to inject glass encapsulated RFID tags into people. But now they've discovered information that could call VeriChip's entire business model into question.

"If you look at the VeriChip purely from the business angle, it's a ridiculously flawed product," says McIntyre. She notes that security researcher Jonathan Westhues has shown how easy it is to clone a VeriChip implanted in a person's arm and program a new chip with the same number.

Westhues, known for his prior work cloning RFID-based proximity cards, has posted his VeriChip cloning demo online at http://cq.cx/verichip.pl.

The VeriChip "is not good for anything," says Westhues, has absolutely no security and "solves a number of different non-problems badly."

The chip's security issues may spell trouble for those who have had one of the microchips embedded in their flesh. These include eighteen employees in the Mexican Attorney General's office who use an implanted chip to enter a sensitive records room, and a handful bar patrons in Europe who use the injected chips to pay for drinks. "What are these people going to do now that their chips can be cloned?" says McIntyre. "Wear tinfoil shirts or keep everyone at arm's length?"

Albrecht quips, "A man with a chip in his arm may soon find himself wondering whether that cute gal on the next bar stool likes his smile or wants to clone his VeriChip. It gives new meaning to the burning question, 'Does she want my number?'"

But the VeriChip's problems don't stop there, says McInytre, who is also a former bank examiner and financial writer. She has carefully analyzed the company's SEC registration statement and associated chipping information and discovered serious flaws. It turns out the company's own literature indicates that chipped patients cannot undergo an MRI if they're unconscious. What's more, the company admits that critical medical information linked to the chip could be unavailable in a real emergency. "These issues call VeriChip's promotional campaigns and business plan into question," McIntyre says.

The instructions provided to medical personnel warn that chipped patients should not undergo an MRI unless they are fully alert and able to communicate any "unusual sensations or problems," like movement or heating of the implant. This conflicts with the company's efforts to promote the device to people who cannot speak for themselves, such as Alzheimer's patients, those with dementia, the mentally disabled, and people who are concerned about entering an emergency room unconscious.

"The irony is that implantees will have to wear a Medic Alert bracelet or bear some obvious marking so they aren't mistakenly put in an MRI machine," Albrecht says.

Chipped patients might also have to wear a Medic Alert bracelet as a back-up in case the VeriChip database containing their critical medical information is unavailable. The fine print on the back of the VeriChip Patient Registration Form warns implantees that "the Company does not warrant...that the website will be available at any particular time," and physicians are told the product might not function in places where there are ambient radio transmissions--like ambulances. In addition, patients are required to waive any claims related to the product's "merchantability and fitness." The waiver paragraph as it appears on the form is reprinted below:

"Patient...is fully aware of any risks, complications, risks of loss, damage of any nature, and injury that may be associated with this registration. Patient waives all claims and releases any liability arising from this registration and acknowledges that no warranties of any kind have been made or will be made with respect to this registration. ALL WARRANTIES, WHETHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, HOWEVER ARISING, WHETHER BY OPERATION OF LAW OR OTHERWISE, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MECHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE EXCLUDED AND WAIVED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COMPANY BE LIABLE TO PATIENT FOR ANY INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING LOST INCOME OR SAVINGS) ARISING FROM ANY CAUSE WHATSOEVER, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THEIR POSSIBILITY, REGARDLESS OF WHETHER SUCH DAMAGES ARE SOUGHT BASED ON BREACH OF CONTRACT, NEGLIGENCE, OR ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY."
[Emphasis in the original.]

"For a life or death medical device, that's unbelievable," says McIntyre. "I wouldn't buy toilet paper that required that kind of a disclaimer, never mind a product that's supposed to serve as a lifeline in an emergency."

McIntyre contacted the VeriChip Corporation for comments on these issues and was initially promised a response. When the company failed to get to get back to her, McIntyre followed up and was told that the employee had been instructed not to answer her questions.
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Implanted ID chip finds way into ERs, bars
By Alorie Gilbert, News.com
Posted on ZDNet News: Jan 21, 2005 11:10:00 PM

Since U.S. regulators approved them for medical use last year, implantable identification devices from VeriChip have turned up in some interesting places.
Harvard Medical School's chief information officer, Dr. John Halamka, had himself injected with a VeriChip identification microchip in December, the company announced on Friday.

Dr. John Halamka
The rice grain-sized chips, designed to be injected into the arm's fatty tissue, can be scanned like a bar code to call up personal information such as name, blood type and medical records.

The devices can also be linked to financial information such as credit card numbers and buying habits, which is why a nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland, recently began offering to implant its patrons with the chips. The club, called Bar Soba, said the chips let customers leave their wallets at home and count on their favorite drink being ready as soon as they walk through the door and get scanned.

VeriChip is a subsidiary of a Palm Beach, Fla., company called Applied Digital, which also makes implantable chips for tracking livestock and identifying lost pets. All are based on technology called radio frequency identification, or RFID.

The technology is commonly used in quick-pay toll systems and building access cards. It's also being used by Wal-Mart and other major retailers to monitor inventory and deter theft.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared VeriChip for medical use in October. The company is targeting patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions requiring complex treatment.

Harvard's Halamka, a practicing emergency room physician, said the chips may also be useful for speeding care in emergency situations in which patients are often unconscious or nonresponsive. The technology could also help prevent errors in treating and administering medication to patients, he said.

"I'm not endorsing the product, yes or no," Halamka said. "I'm evaluating the product. So far there've been no problems."

Halamka said he has no financial relationship with VeriChip or its parent company.

Others who've had the devices implanted include Mexico's attorney general and some of his staff. A nightclub in Spain beat the one in Scotland; it's been offering chip implants since last April. At last count, in July, VeriChip had sold about 7,000 of the devices; about 1,000 of those have been inserted in humans, the company reported.

The practice has drawn criticism, however. Privacy advocates worry the technology would make it easier for the government to spy on its citizens and for marketers to identify customers and bombard them with sale pitches. Others object at a gut level, equating human RFID chips with the "mark of the beast," a demonic symbol described in the Bible.

Since U.S. regulators approved them for medical use last year, implantable identification devices from VeriChip have turned up in some interesting places.
Harvard Medical School's chief information officer, Dr. John Halamka, had himself injected with a VeriChip identification microchip in December, the company announced on Friday.


Dr. John Halamka
The rice grain-sized chips, designed to be injected into the arm's fatty tissue, can be scanned like a bar code to call up personal information such as name, blood type and medical records.

The devices can also be linked to financial information such as credit card numbers and buying habits, which is why a nightclub in Glasgow, Scotland, recently began offering to implant its patrons with the chips. The club, called Bar Soba, said the chips let customers leave their wallets at home and count on their favorite drink being ready as soon as they walk through the door and get scanned.

VeriChip is a subsidiary of a Palm Beach, Fla., company called Applied Digital, which also makes implantable chips for tracking livestock and identifying lost pets. All are based on technology called radio frequency identification, or RFID.

The technology is commonly used in quick-pay toll systems and building access cards. It's also being used by Wal-Mart and other major retailers to monitor inventory and deter theft.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration cleared VeriChip for medical use in October. The company is targeting patients suffering from Alzheimer's disease, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and other conditions requiring complex treatment.

Harvard's Halamka, a practicing emergency room physician, said the chips may also be useful for speeding care in emergency situations in which patients are often unconscious or nonresponsive. The technology could also help prevent errors in treating and administering medication to patients, he said.

"I'm not endorsing the product, yes or no," Halamka said. "I'm evaluating the product. So far there've been no problems."

Halamka said he has no financial relationship with VeriChip or its parent company.

Others who've had the devices implanted include Mexico's attorney general and some of his staff. A nightclub in Spain beat the one in Scotland; it's been offering chip implants since last April. At last count, in July, VeriChip had sold about 7,000 of the devices; about 1,000 of those have been inserted in humans, the company reported.

The practice has drawn criticism, however. Privacy advocates worry the technology would make it easier for the government to spy on its citizens and for marketers to identify customers and bombard them with sale pitches. Others object at a gut level, equating human RFID chips with the "mark of the beast," a demonic symbol described in the Bible.
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October 14, 2004
Identity Badge Worn Under Skin Approved for Use in Health Care
By BARNABY J. FEDER
and TOM ZELLER Jr.

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

The approval, which the company announced yesterday, is expected to bring to public attention 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 ability 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 expressed hope that such medical uses would accelerate the acceptance of under-the-skin ID chips as security and access-control devices.

Scott R. Silverman, chairman and chief executive of Applied Digital, said the F.D.A.'s approval should help the company overcome "the creepy factor" of implanted tags and the suspicion it has stirred.

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

In Applied Digital's vision, patients implanted with the chips could receive more effective care because doctors, other emergency-room personnel and 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 in computers. The records could be easily updated.

Tiny radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags similar to VeriChip have been embedded in livestock and pets in the millions in recent years as a more secure form of identification than external tags. 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 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, Rafael Macedo de la Concha, Mexico's attorney general, announced that he and scores of his subordinates had received implanted chips that control access to a secure room and documents considered vital in Mexico's struggle with drug cartels.

Also, Solusat, the sole distributor of VeriChip in Mexico, says about 1,000 people have received the chip implants to link to their medical records. "You can have all the benefits of radio identification," a Solusat executive, Antonio Aceves, said, "but now it is inside your body."

In March, the Baja Beach Club in Barcelona began offering VeriChips to regular patrons who wanted to dispense with traditional identification and credit cards. About 50 "V.I.P.'s" have received the chip so far, according to a spokesman, which allows them to link their identities to a payment system. The program has been expanded to a club in Rotterdam also owned by Baja, and about 35 people there have signed up for the implants, the company said.

VeriChip announced last week that it had signed a distribution agreement with a British company, Surge IT Solutions, which it said intended to use the technology to control access to government facilities. And Antonia Giorgio Antonucci, an Italian doctor, is leading a study using VeriChip at the National Institute for Infectious Diseases Lazzaro Spallanzani in Rome.

"We want to see if the doctors think the device is practical or not," Dr. Antonucci said.

Applied Digital has been free to sell VeriChip in the United States for nonmedical applications, but lack of acceptance of the technology made F.D.A. approval for medical uses a high priority.

"I've believed all along that the medical application was the best, followed by security and financial applications," Mr. Silverman said.

Still, the science-fiction specter of a nation of drones tagged with sub-dermal bar codes may be a difficult image for the company to overcome in selling its technology.

Online conspiracy theorists, for example, often attach abilities to the technology that do not exist, like the ability to track individuals via satellite.

But 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, executive director of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, a public interest advocacy group in Washington. "I think, increasingly, if this takes off - and it's still not clear that it will - the real social debate begins around prisoners and parolees, and perhaps even visitors to the U.S. That's where the interest in being able to identify and track people is."

Indeed, the debate over civil liberties and privacy has made discussing any practical benefits of a technology like VeriChip harder.

"The fact that we're engaged in such a deep, fundamental privacy debate really does complicate the prospect for this kind of technology," said Clyde Wayne Crews Jr., director of technology studies at the Competitive Enterprise Institute, a regulatory research group in Washington. "We haven't even sorted out the appropriateness of a RFID tag that goes on a pallet of tomatoes," Mr. Crews said, "much less one that can go under a person's skin."

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

But critics say that if the technology gains a foothold, employers, government authorities and others with power over individuals could dictate how it 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.

The evolution of radio identification technology also concerns some critics. Passive tags like VeriChip do not broadcast radio waves and cannot now be used to track a person's movements. And current scanners cannot read the passive chip from more than a few feet away. But design advances or the addition of a separate power source for the chip could expand those ranges and make tracking possible.

Mr. Silverman has said that the current chip could help managers of high-security installations like nuclear power plants locate people in the building because scanners in doorways should be able to track who enters and leaves a room.

Applied Digital has VeriChip distribution agreements with companies in several states, but those have been largely dormant. It said it hoped to find big medical distribution companies to market the chip to doctors' offices, specialty clinics and emergency rooms.

Dr. Richard Seeley, Applied Digital's medical adviser, said the company would concentrate on winning acceptance of the chip among patients with complex problems like diabetes, which require them to see many doctors, and those with disorders like Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Seeley said the company was also talking to large orthopedics companies to demonstrate the value of linking the chip to medical devices like hip and knee implants.

Mr. Silverman said that surveys had shown that 14 percent to 22 percent of people would consider having the implant, but more than 80 percent of those surveyed said they would consider having the implant if the question was framed to show a medical benefit from the chip.

Applied Digital, which has been losing money for years, cautioned yesterday that it did not expect substantial revenue or profit from VeriChip anytime soon. But investors were optimistic enough about the F.D.A. news to send the company's shares up 68 percent, to close at $3.57 yesterday. Shares of Digital Angel, a subsidiary of Applied Digital that makes animal tags and manufactures the VeriChip, rose nearly 29 percent, to $3.49.
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FDA approves computer chip for humans
Devices could help doctors with stored medical information
The Associated Press
updated 2:38 p.m. AKT, Wed., Oct. 13, 2004
WASHINGTON - Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.

Think UPC code. The identifier, emblazoned on a food item, brings up its name and price on the cashier’s screen.

Chip's dual uses raise alarm
The VeriChip itself contains no medical records, just codes that can be scanned, and revealed, in a doctor’s office or hospital. With that code, the health providers can unlock that portion of a secure database that holds that person’s medical information, including allergies and prior treatment. The electronic database, not the chip, would be updated with each medical visit.

The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets. But the chip’s possible dual use for tracking people’s movements — as well as speeding delivery of their medical information to emergency rooms — has raised alarm.

“If privacy protections aren’t built in at the outset, there could be harmful consequences for patients,” said Emily Stewart, a policy analyst at the Health Privacy Project.

To protect patient privacy, the devices should reveal only vital medical information, like blood type and allergic reactions, needed for health care workers to do their jobs, Stewart said.

An information technology guru at Detroit Medical Center, however, sees the benefits of the devices and will lobby for his center’s inclusion in a VeriChip pilot program.

“One of the big problems in health care has been the medical records situation. So much of it is still on paper,” said David Ellis, the center’s chief futurist and co-founder of the Michigan Electronic Medical Records Initiative.

'Part of the future of medicine'
As “medically mobile” patients visit specialists for care, their records fragment on computer systems that don’t talk to each other.

“It’s part of the future of medicine to have these kinds of technologies that make life simpler for the patient,” Ellis said. Pushing for the strongest encryption algorithms to ensure hackers can’t nab medical data as information transfers from chip to reader to secure database, will help address privacy concerns, he said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced $139 million in grants to help make real President Bush’s push for electronic health records for most Americans within a decade.

William A. Pierce, an HHS spokesman, could not say whether VeriChip and its accompanying secure database of medical records fit within that initiative.

“Exactly what those technologies are is still to be sorted out,” Pierce said. “It all has to respect and comport with the privacy rules.”

Applied Digital gave away scanners to a few hundred animal shelters and veterinary clinics when it first entered the pet market 15 years ago. Now, 50,000 such scanners have been sold.

To kickstart the chip’s use among humans, Applied Digital will provide $650 scanners for free at 200 of the nation’s trauma centers.

Implantation costs $150 to $200
In pets, installing the chip runs about $50. For humans, the chip implantation cost would be $150 to $200, said Angela Fulcher, an Applied Digital spokeswoman.

Fulcher could not say whether the cost of data storage and encrypted transmission of medical information would be passed to providers.

Because the VeriChip is invisible, it’s also unclear how health care workers would know which unconscious patients to scan. Company officials say if the chip use becomes routine, scanning triceps for hidden chips would become second nature at hospitals.

Ultimately, the company hopes patients who suffer from such ailments as diabetes and Alzheimer’s or who undergo complex treatments, like chemotherapy, would have chips implanted. If the procedure proves as popular for use in humans as in pets, that could mean up to 1 million chips implanted in people. So far, just 1,000 people across the globe have had the devices implanted, very few of them in the United States.

The company’s chief executive officer, Scott R. Silverman, is one of a half dozen executives who had chips implanted. Silverman said chips implanted for medical uses could also be used for security purposes, like tracking employee movement through nuclear power plants.

Such security uses are rare in the United States.

Meanwhile, the chip has been used for pure whimsy: Club hoppers in Barcelona, Spain, now use the microchip to enter a VIP area and, through links to a different database, speed payment much like a smartcard.
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Microchip for people may cause cancer
Company didn't tell public of decade-old studies tying device to rat tumors
The Associated Press
updated 6:13 a.m. AKT, Sun., Sept. 9, 2007
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients’ medical records almost instantly. The FDA found “reasonable assurance” the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005’s top “innovative technologies.”

But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had “induced” malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.

“The transponders were the cause of the tumors,” said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.

Leading cancer specialists reviewed the research for The Associated Press and, while cautioning that animal test results do not necessarily apply to humans, said the findings troubled them. Some said they would not allow family members to receive implants, and all urged further research before the glass-encased transponders are widely implanted in people.

To date, about 2,000 of the so-called radio frequency identification, or RFID, devices have been implanted in humans worldwide, according to VeriChip Corp. The company, which sees a target market of 45 million Americans for its medical monitoring chips, insists the devices are safe, as does its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, of Delray Beach, Fla.

“We stand by our implantable products which have been approved by the FDA and/or other U.S. regulatory authorities,” Scott Silverman, VeriChip Corp. chairman and chief executive officer, said in a written response to AP questions.

The company was “not aware of any studies that have resulted in malignant tumors in laboratory rats, mice and certainly not dogs or cats,” but he added that millions of domestic pets have been implanted with microchips, without reports of significant problems.

“In fact, for more than 15 years we have used our encapsulated glass transponders with FDA approved anti-migration caps and received no complaints regarding malignant tumors caused by our product.”

The FDA also stands by its approval of the technology.

Awareness questioned
Did the agency know of the tumor findings before approving the chip implants? The FDA declined repeated AP requests to specify what studies it reviewed.

The FDA is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, at the time of VeriChip’s approval, was headed by Tommy Thompson. Two weeks after the device’s approval was formally announced on Jan. 10, 2005, Thompson left his Cabinet post, and within five months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied Digital Solutions. He was compensated in cash and stock options.

Thompson, until recently a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says he had no personal relationship with the company as the VeriChip was being evaluated, nor did he play any role in FDA’s approval process of the RFID tag.

“I didn’t even know VeriChip before I stepped down from the Department of Health and Human Services,” he said in a telephone interview.


Also making no mention of the findings on animal tumors was a June report by the ethics committee of the American Medical Association, which touted the benefits of implantable RFID devices.

Had committee members reviewed the literature on cancer in chipped animals?

No, said Dr. Steven Stack, an AMA board member with knowledge of the committee’s review.

Was the AMA aware of the studies?

No, he said.

Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous “sarcomas” — malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.

A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent — a result the researchers described as “surprising.”
A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors’ cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, “These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence” of cancer.
In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors “are clearly due to the implanted microchips,” the authors wrote.
Caveats accompanied the findings. “Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided,” one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted.

Still, after reviewing the research, specialists at some pre-eminent cancer institutions said the findings raised red flags.

“There’s no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members,” said Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.

Before microchips are implanted on a large scale in humans, he said, testing should be done on larger animals, such as dogs or monkeys. “I mean, these are bad diseases. They are life-threatening. And given the preliminary animal data, it looks to me that there’s definitely cause for concern.”

Dr. George Demetri, director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, agreed. Even though the tumor incidences were “reasonably small,” in his view, the research underscored “certainly real risks” in RFID implants.

In humans, sarcomas, which strike connective tissues, can range from the highly curable to “tumors that are incredibly aggressive and can kill people in three to six months,” he said.

‘Some reason to be concerned’
At the Jackson Laboratory in Maine, a leader in mouse genetics research and the initiation of cancer, Dr. Oded Foreman, a forensic pathologist, also reviewed the studies at the AP’s request.

At first he was skeptical, suggesting that chemicals administered in some of the studies could have caused the cancers and skewed the results. But he took a different view after seeing that control mice, which received no chemicals, also developed the cancers. “That might be a little hint that something real is happening here,” he said. He, too, recommended further study, using mice, dogs or non-human primates.

Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: “It’s much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you’re seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people.”

Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven’t reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP’s four-month examination of research on chips and health. In one dog, the researchers said cancer appeared linked to the presence of the embedded chip; in the other, the cancer’s cause was uncertain.)

Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines “to see if you have a biological effect.” Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence “does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations.”

Meanwhile, the animal study findings should be disclosed to anyone considering a chip implant, the cancer specialists agreed.

To date, however, that hasn’t happened.

The product that VeriChip Corp. won approval for use in humans is an electronic capsule the size of two grains of rice. Generally, it is implanted with a syringe into an anesthetized portion of the upper arm.

When prompted by an electromagnetic scanner, the chip transmits a unique code. With the code, hospital staff can go on the Internet and access a patient’s medical profile that is maintained in a database by VeriChip Corp. for an annual fee.

VeriChip Corp., whose parent company has been marketing radio tags for animals for more than a decade, sees an initial market of diabetics and people with heart conditions or Alzheimer’s disease, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.

The company is spending millions to assemble a national network of hospitals equipped to scan chipped patients.

But in its SEC filings, product labels and press releases, VeriChip Corp. has not mentioned the existence of research linking embedded transponders to tumors in test animals.

When the FDA approved the device, it noted some VeriChip risks: The capsules could migrate around the body, making them difficult to extract; they might interfere with defibrillators, or be incompatible with MRI scans, causing burns. While also warning that the chips could cause “adverse tissue reaction,” FDA made no reference to malignant growths in animal studies.

Did the agency review literature on microchip implants and animal cancer?

Dr. Katherine Albrecht, a privacy advocate and RFID expert, asked shortly after VeriChip’s approval what evidence the agency had reviewed. When FDA declined to provide information, she filed a Freedom of Information Act request. More than a year later, she received a letter stating there were no documents matching her request.

“The public relies on the FDA to evaluate all the data and make sure the devices it approves are safe,” she says, “but if they’re not doing that, who’s covering our backs?”


Protecting trade secrets
Late last year, Albrecht unearthed at the Harvard medical library three studies noting cancerous tumors in some chipped mice and rats, plus a reference in another study to a chipped dog with a tumor. She forwarded them to the AP, which subsequently found three additional mice studies with similar findings, plus another report of a chipped dog with a tumor.

Asked if it had taken these studies into account, the FDA said VeriChip documents were being kept confidential to protect trade secrets. After AP filed a FOIA request, the FDA made available for a phone interview Anthony Watson, who was in charge of the VeriChip approval process.

“At the time we reviewed this, I don’t remember seeing anything like that,” he said of animal studies linking microchips to cancer. A literature search “didn’t turn up anything that would be of concern.”

In general, Watson said, companies are expected to provide safety-and-effectiveness data during the approval process, “even if it’s adverse information.”


Watson added: “The few articles from the literature that did discuss adverse tissue reactions similar to those in the articles you provided, describe the responses as foreign body reactions that are typical of other implantable devices. The balance of the data provided in the submission supported approval of the device.”

Another implantable device could be a pacemaker, and indeed, tumors have in some cases attached to foreign bodies inside humans. But Dr. Neil Lipman, director of the Research Animal Resource Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, said it’s not the same. The microchip isn’t like a pacemaker that’s vital to keeping someone alive, he added, “so at this stage, the payoff doesn’t justify the risks.”

Silverman, VeriChip Corp.’s chief executive, disagreed. “Each month pet microchips reunite over 8,000 dogs and cats with their owners,” he said. “We believe the VeriMed Patient Identification System will provide similar positive benefits for at-risk patients who are unable to communicate for themselves in an emergency.”


And what of former HHS secretary Thompson?

When asked what role, if any, he played in VeriChip’s approval, Thompson replied: “I had nothing to do with it. And if you look back at my record, you will find that there has never been any improprieties whatsoever.”

FDA’s Watson said: “I have no recollection of him being involved in it at all.” VeriChip Corp. declined comment.

Thompson vigorously campaigned for electronic medical records and healthcare technology both as governor of Wisconsin and at HHS. While in President Bush’s Cabinet, he formed a “medical innovation” task force that worked to partner FDA with companies developing medical information technologies.

At a “Medical Innovation Summit” on Oct. 20, 2004, Lester Crawford, the FDA’s acting commissioner, thanked the secretary for getting the agency “deeply involved in the use of new information technology to help prevent medication error.” One notable example he cited: “the implantable chips and scanners of the VeriChip system our agency approved last week.”

After leaving the Cabinet and joining the company board, Thompson received options on 166,667 shares of VeriChip Corp. stock, and options on an additional 100,000 shares of stock from its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, according to SEC records. He also received $40,000 in cash in 2005 and again in 2006, the filings show.

The Project on Government Oversight called Thompson’s actions “unacceptable” even though they did not violate what the independent watchdog group calls weak conflict-of-interest laws.

“A decade ago, people would be embarrassed to cash in on their government connections. But now it’s like the Wild West,” said the group’s executive director, Danielle Brian.

Thompson is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Washington law firm that was paid $1.2 million for legal services it provided the chip maker in 2005 and 2006, according to SEC filings.

He stepped down as a VeriChip Corp. director in March to seek the GOP presidential nomination, and records show that the company gave his campaign $7,400 before he bowed out of the race in August.


In a TV interview while still on the board, Thompson was explaining the benefits — and the ease — of being chipped when an interviewer interrupted:

“I’m sorry, sir. Did you just say you would get one implanted in your arm?”

“Absolutely,” Thompson replied. “Without a doubt.”

“No concerns at all?”

“No.”

But to date, Thompson has yet to be chipped himself.
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VeriChip: RFID Microchip Implants for Humans
by URI DOWBENKO

First it was cattle. Then it was pets. Now it's Mexicans.

Will Americans be next?

In Mexico, implantable and trackable micro-chips for humans, which can be used to store personal information, like medical, military, criminal and credit history, have been introduced by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Florida.

Its brand name is Verichip, and it's a tiny microchip the size of a grain of rice that is implanted under the skin.

In Mexico, which is suffering an epidemic of kidnappings for ransom, the device may be touted as "LoJack for People."

After the chip is implanted, government and hospital officials use a
scanning device to download a serial number to access the name, ID and personal history of the individual on their computer.

Applied Digital Solutions, which produces the controversial "Digital Angel" tracking device, as well as the "Verichip," also claims it is developing technology to use satellites to track people.

For government officials, the implications are obvious.
Anyone designated as a so-called "terrorist" can be tracked wherever they go with an implanted microchip.

In fact, eventually an entire micro-chipped population can be more easily tracked, managed and controlled by any government to make sure it’s compliant to the State's will.

In its report, CNN blithely (and falsely) states that "while the idea of using the chip to track people has raised privacy concerns in the United States, the idea has been popular with Mexicans."

This implies that Mexicans don't care about privacy, and will even stand in line just to get their microchip implants, as long as they will be allowed to move to the United States.

The CNN story also falsely implies that Mexicans will pay the $150 cost for the microchip injection plus the $50 annual fee for the "privilege" of being tracked like cattle.

That's probably on every Mexican's top priority list -- right after getting his or her daily burrito.

The IT Government market for Applied Digital Solutions, however, appears to be wide open, since the scanning device and related software cost $1,200.

The downside to the technology? Currently VeriChip can confirm a kidnap victim's identity -- only after the body is found.

YOUR FUTURE I.D. IS UNDER YOUR SKIN

According to the press release, "VeriChip is a secure, subdermal, radio frequency identification (RFID) microchip about the size of a grain of rice that can be used in a variety of security, financial, emergency identification and other applications."

This matter-of-fact description of the device is sure to alarm Christians, since it may be identified as the proverbial Mark of the Beast from Revelations, without which “no man might buy or sell save he that had the Mark.”

"In October 2002, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) ruled that VeriChip is not a regulated device with regard to its security, financial, personal identification/safety applications,” the press release contionues, “but that VeriChip's healthcare information applications are subject to regulation by the FDA in the United States."

Let's see if the FDA ruling can be deciphered. It's OK if the VeriChip tracks your credit report history, but not OK if it's used to inform doctors you're diabetic? This will undoubtedly be used as an argument to justify the VeriChip as a so-called "medical device" in the future.

The live "chipping" event in Mexico was billed as a "simple, outpatient procedure that requires only a few minutes for a local anesthetic and insertion of the chip with a specially designed needle."

This could actually be the start of a brand new low-cost underground industry. First there were back alley abortions. Then punk garage bands. Can basement microchip insertions be far behind?

HAPPY CHIPPED MEXICANS LOVE THEIR NEW SLAVERY

Even testimonials by satisfied customers were used to promote the “chipping” event by Applied Digital Solutions in Mexico.

For example, according to the VeriChip press release, Manuel Rosillo says, "I used to lead a normal, active life, but I never imagined I'd have a health problem as serious as this at my age. So far, I've suffered two heart attacks. I've undergone heart surgery and I'm under permanent treatment and medical supervision, which makes VeriChip an extremely useful product for me."

In other words, doctors at the hospital could monitor Senor Rosillo, while he was having another heart attack -- and dying at a remote location.

Another VeriChip testimonial comes from Francisco Pujano who says, "I was extremely interested in having a VeriChip implant after suffering a cerebral aneurysm. When I have an attack, I don't remember where I am or understand what's happening around me, and it can sometimes last for a long time, so for safety reasons, I opted for VeriChip."

Imagine how this could have helped George Bush -- while he was choking on that Enron Pretzel a while back.

FROM RFID'S TO NATIONAL I.D. CARD IMPLANTS

So how do RFIDs work?

Patented in 1973, Radio Frequency Identification tags (RFIDs) are very small (11 mm) microchips, which act as transponders (a combination of transmitter and responder), which are always listening for a radio signal sent by the transceivers, or RFID readers.

When a transponder receives a radio query, it transmits its unique ID code back to the transceiver.

RFID tags are already in use in the United States, including ID chips for cats and dogs, EZPass for highway tollbooths, and gas cards like ExxonMobil's SpeedPass.

Government officials have discussed putting RFID tags on all vital documents -- paper money, passports, drivers' licenses, passports, stock certificates, university diplomas, medical degrees/ licenses, birth certificates, and so on. In other words, these are the documents necessary for daily life in a "civilized" society.

With implantable microchips containing this information, external microchips (RFIDs) will be a moot point.

A National ID Card-Chip is the logical extension of this technology.

Currently the VeriChip, an RFID microchip tag, has been sold as a way to keep track of errant pets, wandering children and mindless Alzheimers patients.

Future potential uses are, however, much more sinister. For example, delegates to the Chinese Communist Party Congress were required to wear RFID-chipped badges, so their movements could be tracked and recorded. The Chinese correctly assumed that this procedure will cut down on defections to the West.

The next step is also obvious. Who needs a badge when you require your delegates -- or your employees -- or your citizens -- to have a microchip ID implanted in their arms?

Applied Digital Solutions Chairman/ CEO Scott R. Silverman must be salivating at the Global Slave Labor Market with its billions and billions of potential microchip implantees.

NEW IMPROVED IMPERIAL I.D.

It's not difficult to imagine a future which degenerates into a nightmare world where all transactions are tracked and stored on a global basis. The microchip implant makes 24/7 ubiquitous surveillance of any individual a sobering reality.

Today you can crush, puncture or microwave the RFID tag in the jeans you bought at Walmart -- but you can't demagnetize it.

If your ID is under your skin, the only way to get rid of it is to dig it out with an Exacto blade -- a science fiction scenario which is about to become very real.

Of course, this will also bring about a black market of phoney chips and reprogrammed IDs.

While the Roman Empire had tesserae (ID tags) for its slaves, the New American Empire will require more sophisticated devices to keep track of their "citizens."

Since Global High Tech Feudalism is the political-economic model of the future, implantable ID chips will be inevitably marketed to young people as being "cool" -- like the fad for body piercing and tattoos.

VeriChip's own cutesy advertising tagline is "Get Chipped," as in "Hey Mom, can I get chipped?"

The Human MicroChip Implant Scam is here and now. It is the latest affront to human liberty and dignity, disguised as a "simple" means for more "security" and more "comfort."

Rest assured, however, that a new generation of hackers are already working on ways to subvert this technology.

As William Gibson, author of "Neuromancer" wrote, "The street has its own uses..."
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From; http://www.drugresearcher.com
FDA clears RFID chip for humans

18-Oct-2004 - The US Food and Drug Administration this week approved the first implantable radiofrequency identification microchip for human use, elevating RFID from a tool for supply chain management into an enabling technology for improving healthcare delivery to patients.

The approval comes after a period of scrutiny at the FDA, started in July, in which the agency has looked into any privacy and patient confidentiality issues that could arise from the technology.
One implanted in a patient's skin, the RFID tag would allow doctors to scan patients and, for example, ensure that they receive the proper treatment. The unique ID could be linked to a number of data points including a patient's complete medical history and any history of allergies, drug interactions, etc.

VeriChip technology is already widely used for the tagging of pets, and to track livestock, so is well established as an 'in vivo' technology. The Italian Ministry of Health kicked off a six-month trial of the chips for hospitals in April.

The 11 millimetre RFID chips could save lives and possibly limit injuries from errors in medical treatments, claims VeriChip, the company behind the development. VeriChip - a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions - revealed details of the approval last week during a conference call with investors.

VeriChip believes that the technology could also be used to monitor other implantable devices, such as a pacemaker. It will not hold any data itself apart from a 16 digit number, but this could be linked to a database containing any amount of patient information.

The company plans to market the chip for $125 (not including implantation). It is anticipated that the chip would be inserted in the rear part of the triceps of the right arm under the skin

Meanwhile, the technology is finding some surprising applications outside of the healthcare arena. For example, in Mexico staff in the attorney general's office have received implanted chips from VeriChip that are used to control access to rooms and documents related to the country's efforts to combat drug cartels.

VeriChip is also working on an implant that will contain Global Positioning System (GPS) capabilities. Such a device would allow an individual with a scanner to pinpoint someone's position anywhere around the world.
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FDA approves implanted RFID chip for humans
By Jon Stokes | Published: October 13, 2004 - 12:24PM CT

In the category of unbelievably bad ideas that we all knew were making their way toward reality whether we like it or not comes the news the FDA has just approved VeriChip's implantable RFID chips for use in humans. These are the same chips that we're currently using to identify our pets. VeriChip is touting the chips' medical applications, as a way of potentially saving lives by storing medical data.

Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code — similar to the identifying UPC code on products sold in retail stores — that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over the chip. At the doctor's office those codes stamped onto chips, once scanned, would reveal such information as a patient's allergies and prior treatments.

The FDA in October 2002 said that the agency would regulate health care applications possible through VeriChip. Meanwhile, the chip has been used for a number of security-related tasks as well as for pure whimsy: Club hoppers in Barcelona, Spain, now use the microchip much like a smartcard to speed drink orders and payment.

In case it's not immediately obvious to you why you wouldn't want to walk around in public broadcasting your financial and/or medical information to anyone with an RFID reader, Bruce Schneier spells it all out for you in a great post on the Bush administration's plans to push for RFID-based passports. Here's a nice chunk of it, but you should read the whole thing.

These chips are like smart cards, but they can be read from a distance. A receiving device can "talk" to the chip remotely, without any need for physical contact, and get whatever information is on it. Passport officials envision being able to download the information on the chip simply by bringing it within a few centimeters of an electronic reader.

Unfortunately, RFID chips can be read by any reader, not just the ones at passport control. The upshot of this is that travelers carrying around RFID passports are broadcasting their identity.

Think about what that means for a minute. It means that passport holders are continuously broadcasting their name, nationality, age, address and whatever else is on the RFID chip. It means that anyone with a reader can learn that information, without the passport holder's knowledge or consent. It means that pickpockets, kidnappers and terrorists can easily--and surreptitiously--pick Americans or nationals of other participating countries out of a crowd.

It is a clear threat to both privacy and personal safety, and quite simply, that is why it is bad idea. Proponents of the system claim that the chips can be read only from within a distance of a few centimeters, so there is no potential for abuse. This is a spectacularly naive claim. All wireless protocols can work at much longer ranges than specified. In tests, RFID chips have been read by receivers 20 meters away. Improvements in technology are inevitable.

Do you really want to walk in and apply for a job knowing that you're broadcasting details about a heart condition/HIV infection/cancer history/etc. to everyone within 20 meters, including the people who are considering whether or not to hire you and pay your medical insurance and sick leave? Do you really want to walk down a crowded street broadcasting financial data of any kind to God knows who? Is it really a good idea to broadcast personal identification information to anyone and everyone, when identity theft is one of the country's fastest growing crimes?

All "Mark of the Beast"-type stuff aside, this makes about zero sense from a security and privacy perspective. You can make all the tinfoil hat jokes you like, but I'm with Bruce Schneier in concluding that the only use for this technology that makes real sense is what Wal-Mart wants to use it for by putting it on their products, namely surveillance and tracking. (Of course, in Wal-Mart's case, they're obviously tracking inventory and not people... so far.)

read and see more here!