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If you missed the earlier
article on this chip last month please be sure to review it.
 Applied
Digital Solutions designed the VeriChip - about the size of a grain of
rice - to hold information that could be read with special electronic
scanners. The company has touted the chip as a potential way to hold a
person's medical records or security codes.
They plan to begin selling
a computer ID chip that can be embedded beneath people's skin, now that
the Food and Drug Administration has said it will not regulate the implant
as long as it contains no medical data.
Applied Digital had held off
sales pending discussions with the FDA of whether an implanted chip would
be considered a medical device. If the chip solely provides identification,
it needs no FDA clearance - advice officials have long given others developing
ID for tracking children, prisoners or workers with top-security clearances.
But, "if they put medical
records in, we would be concerned about the use," said the FDA's
medical device chief, Dr. David Feigal, who made clear that the agency
could step in at that point.
If someone is unconscious in
an emergency room and implanted medical records are outdated, that could
be more dangerous than if doctors had no information, he said. Feigal
urged companies considering such health-related implants to consult with
the FDA.
For now, the VeriChip will
bear only an identification number, said David Hughes of Technology Sourcing
International, a consulting firm helping Applied Digital in its discussions
with the FDA. But that ID code could be cross-referenced with a database
to detail any kind of information.
The
company said production would begin immediately.
VeriChip emits a radio signal
and has been derided by some for its "Big Brother" implications.
Applied Digital has said it could prove invaluable in emergency situations
when someone is either unconscious or cannot otherwise give information.
VeriChip is expected to sell
for about $200. A scanner used to read information contained in the chip
would cost between $1,000 and $3,000. A doctor would insert the chip with
a large needle-like device.
USAToday.com
April 4, 2002
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