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[Forums Moderator]

Harvard Medical School's John D. Halamka has a computer chip implanted under the skin of his right arm that carries a numeric key to his medical history. If he is ever admitted to a hospital unconscious or incoherent, health-care workers will be able to use a special reader to learn his name, the medications he takes, his allergies, and any major illnesses he has suffered. Of course, there's always the risk that his chip will set off the security alarms at Wal-Mart -- not to mention the more serious risk of identity theft. Would those risks be worth it to you?
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[John]

No, not worth it.  I might consider carrying a card in my wallet or a nifty medical-alert necklace or bracelet, but not a computer chip in my body, thank you.  It's too much like being branded.

However, a computer chip might be a less painful, and more efficient, way to "brand" cattle.  Does anyone know if this is being done?

[%sig%]

[Catherine Cox]

As someone who is planning a major medical procedure that will have lifelong effects on medications I am allowed to take and the way in which certain medical tests must be performed - or potentially fatal consequences if mistakes are made - I would definitely consider a chip implant.  Perhaps not one with a key to my entire medical history, but a limited subset of critical information, yes. . . sort of an electronic "medicalert" tag.  The external tags can get lost or cause other problems, but an RFID version would be a great help.

[Tom Riley]

I don't know too much about the technical aspects of it, but cattle are ID'ed if this is the word, in a variety of ways, including being chipped.  The same company that has the patents on verichip is using this kind of chipping for pets and for cattle.  It is very accurate and carries the ID to a database that will track the animal through the supply chain until it gets to the food chain when it can be tracked in other ways.  This is necessary for identifying the sources of diseases such as BSE.

The USDA has a national ID porgram and some of the proposed program would include this kind of chipping.

Interestingly, I have heard that chips can migrate and create a problem thast way.  The company that makes the chips is one of the subsidiaries of Applid Digital Solutions Corporation (ADSX) called Digital Angel Corporation (DOC). http://www.digitalangelcorp.com/

[%sig%]

[SUNY Canton]

Re: chip in me, not hardly, smacks of tracking devices and real potential for remote and unauthorized scanning

RE: "cow chips"… (pun intended)... yes, is being done and retinal scanning as well for ID purposes, makes rustling more dangerous...:)

[Ray]

There are a couple of points about this topic that I find fascinating. The most pressing is that there is not MORE discussion about the topic. Isn't this the demographic group that typically screams out fears about invasions of privacy? Doesn't this community typically lambaste the government for every actual or alleged incursion into the private lives of American citizens? I assumed that more individuals would enter into the discussion. Alas, this apparently is not to be the case.

Just for fun, someone should take the position that having such a chip implanted is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that the chip is the Mark of the Beast from the Book of Revelation and see if that generates any conversation. In all probablity, the high-minded intellectuals will then gaze imperiously down their noses at such errant nonsense. But at least they would talk.  

Have a good day!

[Leo Irakliotis, U of Chicago]

This is no different that the RFID (radio frequency ID) microchips veterenerians implant in pets and stock animals.  It carries no data other than an ID number.  A handheld scanner can pick up the ID number and the record of the carrier (be it a pet or a human) can be obtained online by typing that number in a specific database.

This is great technology and has helped reunite lost pets with their anxious owners.  Its safe and effective.

Whether or not it works in terms of providing emergency room personnel with information about an unconscious or incoherent,  remains to be seen.  

The infrastructure required is minimal: a very inexpensive hand-held scanner and a computer with access to the internet.  What's more challenging is the adoption of a standard location where to embed the RFID chip.  Even more challenging would be the marketing of the service and the education of the user community.

It will be definitely more effective than bracelets or ID cards in wallets.  The recent misidentification after an accident involving two Taylor University students, reminded us quite painfully that wallets and bracelets can be mixed up.

The downside of an implanted RFID chip, is that just about any one can detect it.  It may be fun if your vet picks up your chip's signal while looking for your pet's.  It will be less funny is some big brother was tracing your chip's signals.

[Anonymous]

Ray, above, says, "Just for fun, someone should take the position that having such a chip implanted is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy and that the chip is the Mark of the Beast from the Book of Revelation and see if that generates any conversation."

I've seen a telepreacher make exactly that claim--that ID microchips are fulfillment of prophecies in Revelation and constitute further proof that we have entered the End Times. Y'all better get ready. Various experts have made Mark-of-the-Beast claims about barcodes, ATM cards, Social Security numbers, and credit cards. Any fool knows that Satan lives on the Internet and can possess you whenever you go online. And don't think that using a wireless mouse will save you; the devil don't need no wires.

Of course, other people have a secular view of ID chips and suchlike technology. A backwoods survivalist once explained to me that barcodes on products are in fact encoded post-invasion instructions to make the Red Chinese conquest of the U.S. faster and easier. The ubiquity of barcodes and the general--indeed, almost universal--ignorance of the plot only prove that we're dealing with a really big conspiracy.

A similarly astute fellow told me that flu vaccines are secret government mind-control drugs. And those dark helicopters that you assume are U.S. military or DEA? Hah. They're Chinese Communist scouts. Our gummint is in cahoots with them. It's all part of the big World Government plot.

Rifle ranges and certain hole-in-the-wall lunch counters are good places to pick up this sort of knowledge.

So the question isn't whether you should have a microchip implanted. The question is why you're so reckless as to go through the day without wearing an aluminum-foil hat that blocks the mind-control beams coming from all those satellites (the launching of which, by the way, accounts for almost all weather disasters, according to yet another acquaintance who Knew the Real Truth).

Sleep well.

[mindfulwhim]

So...do I need to have a new chip implanted everytime I go to the doctor so my medical history is up to date?

[accountingprof]

Harvard Medical School's John D. Halamka has a computer chip implanted under the skin of his right arm that carries a numeric key to his medical history. If he is ever admitted to a hospital unconscious or incoherent, health-care workers will be able to use a special reader to learn his name, the medications he takes, his allergies, and any major illnesses he has suffered. Of course, there's always the risk that his chip will set off the security alarms at Wal-Mart -- not to mention the more serious risk of identity theft. Would those risks be worth it to you?
Read more...

No.