Disadvantages of RFID technology

Although there are a lot of advantages, some disadvantages remain. Here are some of them.

1- Researchers have found that some mice with chip implants have developped malignant tumors. It is reported that

"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." (Source: Washington Post:Chip implants linked to Animal Tumors).

2- RFID implant chips can be dangerous for confidentiality matters. If someone finds a way to get into this system and into the database, very confidential information will be available to anyone.

3- A debate arose about the right of privacy. You cannot be sure of what they are inserting into you when they implant the microchip. The government can have access to anything. Therefore, some people think that it is a breach in the right of privacy agreement.

References

New York Times: A debate we don't need: Do RFID chips in humans cause cancer?

Antichips: Human Branding

Google Groups: Plan to implant Micro-Chips in Alzheimer's patients causes protest

Washington Post:Chip implants linked to Animal Tumors

Advantages for Organizations

This technology has its advantages and disadvantages. Here are a few reasons why an organization would implement this technology to its employees.

1- It can be used in transport companies such as FedEx and Purolator in order to track where their trucks and drivers are. They already use this technology (RFID tags) to locate packages and track them around the world. Because they do not have to contact every drivers to know if they are on schedule, it saves time and money.

2-Taxi drivers should get RFID implants so that their superiors can track them easily and send the closest driver to a location asked by a client.

3- Some bars already use this chip in Europe, regular clients get an implant and when they come in and have a drink, they don't need money or plastic to pay. They only scan the chip and everything is paid.

4- In some organizations, chips are used by employees to access their workplace and the computer network. Although most of them use a plastic card with a chip, the implanted chip is great when employees lose, forget, or get their ID card stolen. It reduces the price for organizations.

5- Governments can now track convicts, pedophiles and they can regulate restraining orders and those in house arrest.

References

World Net Daily: Bio-chip implants arrived for cashless transactions

You Tube: RFID commercial

Information hospitalière: Verichip, une puce pour l'identification des patients

*2 implant chips with the instruments used to implant them. Verichip website

This RFID has not yet replaced anything that is already on the market. However, in the future, if this chip was implanted into everyone, medical centers and hospitals would not need paper files anymore. Everything would be saved in the chips and onto the database. Unfortunately, it could take many decades before this happens. A very interesting article in Time magazine, written by Siobhan Morrissey says: "Pen-and-paper record keeping is 97% of medical records today; 98,000 deaths occurred last year in emergency rooms because of no information or inaccurate information.(United States,October 2007))" .The implant chip could have saved a lot of time and many lives , by having useful information quickly. Furthermore, the RFID implant chip helps to identify victims in disaster recovery efforts. In 2005, after Hurricane Katrina, Gary Hargrove, a Mississippi coroner, used Verichip to identify 300 victims. The chip was injected in the deceased and had many information saved onto it such as height, weight, hair, eyes and clothing. Hargrove said that it helped identifying victims because friends and families described a missing person, and they could look at the database instead of having to look at all bodies.Then, the families could have answers a lot faster than before. Again, in th future, this technology can easily replace pen-and-paper records and can save a lot of time and a lot of worries for many people.

References

Time Magazine: Are microchips safe?

C-NET: RF-IDing the dead

E-Week: Health Care IT : Medical RFID Tagging could save lives

Implant Chip Technology

Introduction

This blog will be about implant chips. An implant chip is "a technology-enabled microchip implanted into the human body." It can be done for many reasons. First, some wealthy mexicans are spending thousands of dollars to implant chips in people in order to find them by satellites in case they are kidnapped. In Great Britain, the Minister of Justice wants to implant chips under the skin of offenders ,so authorities can create more spaces in jails and enforce curfews. Researchers working for the Boston Retinal Implant Project are developing a chip that could bring back the sight of people who suffer from age-related blindness. They also implant chips in patients suffering from Alzheimer's. These chips contain all their medical history(allergies, diagnosis,medications, physicians,recent test results and emergency contact information) so that hospitals can gain access quickly if an emergency occurs. I decided to concentrate on this particular chip called RFID (Radio-Frequency Identification) . More specifically, I will write about the RFID chip implanted in humans and its medical use. This microchip is as small as a grain of rice. It contains a 16-digit personal ID number that is associated with your own personal information.This video explains how helpful RFID implants can be.


References

Definition of Implant chip
Uses of implant chips
Implant chips in case of kidnapping
Implant chips on offenders
Bionic eye
Plans to implant chip on Alzheimer's patients
Video : CNN