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VeriChip (now re-branding PositiveID) was the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved human-implantable microchip. It was marketed by PositiveID, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, and it received United States FDA approval in 2004. Its manufacture and marketing were discontinued in 2010. About twice the length of a dime, the device is typically implanted between the shoulder and elbow area of an individual’s right arm. Once scanned at the proper frequency, the VeriChip responds with a unique 16 digit number which could be then linked with information about the user held on a database for identity verification, medical records access and other uses. The insertion procedure is performed under local anesthetic in a physician's office. As an implanted device used for identification by a third party, it had generated controversy and debate. VeriChip's merger in 2010 officially changed their name to "PositiveID."

Destron Fearing, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, initially developed the technology for the VeriChip.

Privacy concerns

Certain privacy advocates have raised concerns regarding potential abuse of the VeriChip, with some warning that adoption by governments as a compulsory identification program could lead to erosion of civil liberties. In addition, it has been shown that the VeriChip's lack of security features made it susceptible to cloning, which could present a risk of identity theft.

Religious concerns

Some activists, including Mark Dice, the author of a book titled The Resistance Manifesto, make a link between the VeriChip and the Biblical Mark of the Beast. Gary Wohlscheid, president of These Last Days Ministries, has argued that "Out of all the technologies with potential to be the mark of the beast, the VeriChip has got the best possibility right now". Katherine Albrecht of CASPIAN and author of The Spychips Threat: Why Christians Should Resist RFID and Electronic Surveillance notes that "There are many ways in which current versions of RFID devices like the VeriChip implant do match the description of the mark of the beast in Revelation."

Health effects

According to Wired News online, and the Associated Press, there have been research articles over the last ten years that found a connection between the chips and possible cancer. When mice and rats were injected with glass-encapsulated RFID transponders, like those made by VeriChip, they "developed malignant, fast-growing, lethal cancers in up to 1% to 10% of cases" at the site at which the microchip was injected or to which it had migrated. However, the 10% rate was obtained with hemizygous p53-deficient mice, the counterpart of humans with the Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and rates near 1% were more typical. The Verichip corporation responded to this report, which caused a 40% drop in their stock value, by stating that rodent data had been provided to the FDA and did not reflect the effect of the chips in humans or pets. Dogs, alternatively, are more resistant to the formation of malignant soft tissue tumors in response to foreign body insult. Induction of sarcomas by foreign bodies has been reported in humans, and has been described as analogous to rodent foreign body-associated sarcomas and is fairly infrequent. Resolution of the question may be hindered by the long delay in onset of sarcoma induction or other deleterious side effects, analogous to the controversy in the mid 20th century over asbestos exposure and predisposition to pleural abnormalities such as malignant mesothelioma.

Tommy Thompson, the former Secretary of Health and Human Services, supported the VeriChip as a "useful tool in sharing medical information with health care providers in emergency situations". Thompson sat on the board of directors of VeriChip's parent company Applied Digital Solutions for two years. In June 2007, the American Medical Association declared that "implantable radio frequency identification (RFID) devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care, and may be used to enable secure access to patient clinical information".

The Discovery Channel's MythBusters explored whether an RFID tag will explode if placed inside an MRI. The Build Team inserted an RFID tag into pig flesh and placed inside the MRI, but failed to get any results. Team member Kari Byron then had an RFID tag placed inside her arm and was placed inside the MRI. The RFID tag remained unaffected, and left Kari unharmed.

See also

• Digital Angel

References

1. "Verichip Consumer FAQ". Retrieved 2009-08-16.
2. Smith, Richard M. “Tough Sell Ahead for the VeriChip Implant ID System.”, Computer Bytes Man. 27 Dec. 2001. 16 Oct. 2007
3. "WHY ADVOCATES AND LAWMAKERS ARE CONCERNED ABOUT INVOLUNTARY MICROCHIPPING".
4. "Demo : Cloning a Verichip".
5. Streitfield, David (9 May 2002). "First Humans to Receive ID Chips; Technology: Device injected under the skin will provide identification and medical information". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
6. Gilbert, Alorie (16 February 2005). "Is RFID the mark of the beast?". CNET News. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
7. Scheeres, Julia (6 February 2002). "They Want Their ID Chips Now". Wired News. Retrieved 13 September 2010.
8. Albrecht, Katherine (Mar-Apr. 2007). "Re: "A Security Analysis of the Verichip Implantable RFID Device"". J Am Med Inform Assoc. 14 (2). American Medical Informatics Association: 249–250. doi:10.1197/jamia.M2316. {{cite journal}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
9. Bruce Sterling (2007-09-08). "Arphid Watch: Arphid Cancer". Wired News.
10. Todd Lewan (2007-09-08). "Though FDA approved, microchip implants linked to animal cancer". Associated Press.
11. Summaries and fair use copies of all 11 scientific publications are available at the CASPIAN site "Antichips.com"..
12. "Rodent Sarcomagenesis" (PDF).
13. "". Mund Kiefer Gesichtschir. 10 (6): 415–8. 2006. doi:10.1007/s10006-006-0026-4. PMID 17006674. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
14. "Mediastinal malignant fibrous histiocytoma developing from a foreign body granuloma". Jpn. J. Thorac. Cardiovasc. Surg. 53 (10): 583–6. 2005. doi:10.1007/s11748-005-0074-y. PMID 16279594. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
15. "Epitheloid angiosarcoma of the splenic capsula as a result of foreign body tumorigenesis. A case report". Acta Chir. Belg. 104 (2): 217–20. 2004. PMID 15154584. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
16. "". Chirurg. 73 (8): 833–7. 2002. PMID 12425161. {{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter |month= ignored (help)
17. "American Medical Association CEJA Report 5-A-07".
18. MythBusters Episode 87, aired September 5th 2007

1. PositiveID

Further reading

• Katherine Albrecht, Liz McIntyre, Spychips : How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID, Nelson Current, 2005 (ISBN 1-59555-020-8).

External links

• Verichip Corporation
• PositiveID Corporation

• Personal identification documents
• Radio-frequency identification