Word: verichips
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...long foreseen, but when it finally happened, it still seemed spooky. The FDA last week approved an implantable microchip for medical uses. When activated by a handheld scanner, the tiny VeriChip emits, via radio signal, an ID number that can be linked to a patient's medical records. Critics see Big Brother. Enthusiasts say ambulance crews and ER doctors will be able to access such critical data as medications and drug allergies, even if a patient is unconscious. Future versions may have sensors to read vital signs like pulse, temperature and blood sugar...
...been a remarkable turn in orders for semiconductors and the high-tech equipment needed to make them should take note: products such as cars and medical devices--from pacemakers to hearing aids--are taking up a lot of the slack left after the telecom bust. APPLIED DIGITAL SOLUTIONS' new VeriChip, for example, is injected under your skin and when scanned--say, in the emergency room--gives doctors a complete medical history. The semiconductor recovery won't be complete without renewed demand from traditional users such as CISCO and NORTEL. But if they kick in later this year, it could...
Leslie set up a lunch with Keith Bolton, vice president of Applied Digital Solutions, the company behind VeriChip. At first Bolton (who jokingly refers to the Jacobses as "the Chipsons") was skeptical. Since the first wave of VeriChip publicity, he has heard from roughly 2,500 would-be cyborgs. But the Jacobs family is particularly well suited to test VeriChip for use in medicine. If a patient with VeriChip were injured, the theory goes, a harried ER doc could quickly access the victim's medical background by scanning the chip with a device that looks like a Palm handheld computer...
...satellite receiver that can track where you are. The company makes a pager-like gadget called Digital Angel that does both those things, and its engineers are doing their darnedest to cram Digital Angel's functions into a package small enough to implant. Once they do, VeriChip will be very powerful indeed. That's one of the reasons the Jacobses want to get involved. "There are endless possibilities," says Derek. "For me it's marvelous," says Leslie. "Every day I worry about my husband. We definitely feel it will make us all feel more secure...
Security is part of the VeriChip business plan. The company has already signed a deal with the California department of corrections to track the movements of parolees using Digital Angel. Seelig believes VeriChip could function as a theftproof, counterfeit-proof ID, like having a driver's license embedded under your skin. He suggests that airline crews could wear one to ensure that terrorists don't infiltrate the cockpit in disguise. "I travel quite a bit," he says, "and I want to make sure the pilots in that plane belong there...