News
[PSUs]| Monday 18th October 2004 |
The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given approval to the VeriChip system from Applied Digital Solutions, which uses RFID technology to read a unique identification number stored on the chip. This ID can then be linked to a secure database to pull up the person's medical records.
The manufacturer believes that it will be particularly useful in emergencies and when patients are not conscious enough to provide information themselves.
Privacy campaigners, however, are concerned that the chips may be used in the future to tag prisoners or visitors from a another country, possibly without their knowledge.
'They've crossed a line by placing it under people's skin,' Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center told Nature, arguing that tagged bracelets or cards carrying medical information are just as effective.
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