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VeriChip defends its implantable microchips, promises they're safe
Man, that was quick. Just two days after reports hit the net about RFID implants being linked to cancer, VeriChip is lunging out to vehemently defend its own implantable microchip. Interestingly enough, the firm cites phrases from a number of studies to suggest that all is well and we've nothing to fear by getting one of these bad boys inserted into us, and it also makes darn sure we know the thing has been "cleared by the FDA as a Class II Medical Device." Lastly, the company has promised to continue looking at the "veracity and credibility of the studies," and noted that it would "take the necessary steps to ensure that our products remain safe to the end user." Phew, good thing, eh?
RFID implants linked to cancer in lab tests
As if pain, conspiracy, big brother, and lack of necessity weren't already enough to deter you, the average Joe or Jane, from getting a subcutaneous RFID chip implant, a number of studies over the past decade have amassed which link the chips to malignant tumors in animal tests. Besides the potential foul play going on at the FDA and VeriChip Corp. that got the chips approved for human use in 2004, studies showing as little as 1% cancer rates in lab animals led researchers to note that the aggressive tumors which immediately encased RFID implants with cancerous cells were "clearly due to the implanted microchips", and not random occurrences. That isn't to say RFID itself is dangerous -- we put far more powerful radios up to our heads every day using a cellphone or even a Bluetooth headset. But implants are still looking mighty sketchy all of a sudden; probably not the news some 2,000 US RFID implantees (including Mythbuster Kari Byron, who got a chip injection on-camera last week) want to hear, but the sooner you can deal with it, the better, says we.
VeriChip chipping 200 Alzheimer's patients for RFID VeriMed trials
Maybe it's our inevitable future, but we still can't help but feel a bit icky at the thought of VeriChip implanting VeriMed RFID chips into 90 volunteers suffering from Alzheimer's. The two-year trial program, VeriMed Patient Identification Project, will involve 200 patients, and apparently so far everybody is pretty upbeat about the idea. We first heard about this a couple months ago, but it seems things are really ramping up. The chips are designed to manage the records of the patients and their caregivers, and VeriChip is confident that it'll be growing into other "high-risk patient categories" soon.
Alzheimer's patients, caregivers receiving VeriMed RFID chips
Caring for those with Alzheimer's could be getting a whole lot less stressful, as VeriChip has reportedly doled out 25 VeriMed RFID implantable microchips at the Alzheimer's Community Care 2007 Alzheimer's Educational Conference. Of course, these aren't the first invasive chips that the company has crammed under folks' skin for one reason or another, but these data packin' devices are aiming to provide medical personnel "quick access to identification and medical records information in an emergency situation." Interestingly, not much else was said about future rollouts beyond this small sample trial, but we can't imagine these not showing up en masse (and in humans) once it gets the green light from regulators.
VeriChip patents glucose-sensing RFID chip
You know how we love to rag on VeriChip, but we really can't complain about the do-gooder nature of this chip patent awarded to its sister company, Digital Angel Corp. The described glucose-sensing RFID chip would allow for quick, painless and purportedly more accurate glucose concentration readings for diabetics who have the chip implanted. Of course, ever with an eye for commercialization, Digital Angel says the chips could also work for tracking diabetic livestock, an apparently common and costly problem. Still, we're sure the 230 million human beings with the disease won't mind sharing such quality-of-life enhancements with their animal brethren, and hopefully such commercializations will help Digital Angel keep prices low for the chips. We're a long way off from an actual product -- it seems like most of the required development, testing and FDA approval is yet to be accomplished -- but we'll be keeping an eye out for the chips in completed form to make life a whole lot easier for the diabetics among us.[Via The Wireless Report]
How to clone yourself a VeriChip
Just how it seems VeriChip has moved their implantable RFID tags from executives, to law enforcement, to soldiers -- and we're sure their next step is every baby born in the US as the child exits its mother's womb -- the ability to hack the chips has quickly made its way into the hands of the common man as well. Jonathan Westhues has posted up a tutorial for building your very own VeriChip cloner that lets you point and clone with the greatest of ease, stealing at whim the identities of all those foolish security conscious enough to wear an RFID tag within their flesh. We won't get into all the technical details involved in sticking it to the man in such a way, but the hack really doesn't look too incredibly hard as far as these things go, and it's not like you had anything better planned for a Tuesday night, right?[Via MAKE]
VeriChip wants to chip every US soldier
Despite some pretty significant security concerns, everyone's favorite futurific company VeriChip is looking to get its chips under the skin of the largest group of people yet: the entire US military. According to the DC Examiner, the company is lobbying the Pentagon to choose its RFID tags as a replacement for the famous metal dog tags, making information like a person's name and complete medical record instantly available with the swipe of an RFID reader. Needless to say, not everyone's sold on the idea, with veterans' groups and some members of Congress already raising concerns. There doesn't seem to be any indication as to when a decision might be made, although given VeriChip's political connections, we wouldn't be so quick to bet against it.[Via Newsmax]
VeriChip's human-implatable RFID chips clonable, sez hackers
In case anyone needed more proof that we're all living in a Philip K. Dick novel, a pair of hackers have recently demonstrated how human-implantable RFID chips from VeriChip can be easily cloned, effectively stealing the person's identity. Annalee Newitz and Jonathan Westhues showed off their handiwork at the HOPE Number Six conference in New York City this weekend, with Newitz herself playing the role of guinea pig, implanting a VeriChip RFID chip in her right arm. To clone the chip, Westhues first read Newitz's arm with a standard RFID reader, then scanned it again with a homebrew antenna connected to his laptop, which recorded the signal off the chip. He then used the same RFID reader to read the signal from his laptop, which promptly spit out Newtiz's supposedly unique ID. For its part, VeriChip has only said they haven't yet had a chance to review the evidence but still insist that "it's very difficult to steal a VeriChip." [Via Techdirt]