BioChips
Blessing or Boondoggle?
by Steven Sadlon, D.C.
Are biochips a new frontier in science, politics, or both? Are you even familiar with what biochips are or what they can do? Few people are. Biochips are rice-sized, implantable Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) devices containing 16-digit electronic identity codes that correspond to medical information about the wearer housed in a large database. This means there are some questions that need to be answered before implantation of these devices in humans begins.
Think this is some far off futuristic plan? Prepare to be surprised. The device has already been approved by the FDA for human implantation. Manufactured by VeriChip, a subsidiary of Applied Digital Solutions, it is meant to be implanted in the forearm under local anesthesia, probably as an outpatient procedure.
The device has been endorsed by the American Medical Association to “help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care.” For example, if a child has a severe asthma attack, the chip could alert medical personnel to existing medical conditions so treatment could begin immediately. Or if an Alzheimer’s patient wanders away from home, they might more easily be found by police, who could scan the biochip implanted in their body. It’s even conceivable that doctors wouldn’t really need to talk to patients anymore. Chips could be scanned in emergency rooms and provide immediate information without time-consuming interviews or data lookup.
Because staff in many US hospitals are so overworked, some believe this new technology offers the opportunity to serve patients better, while allowing for a significant boost in productivity. They believe scanned VeriChips could lead to quick, accurate data and help save lives.
These are the potential benefits of this technology, but there is an interesting political twist to the story as well.
Although some in the medical community support this advance, it turns out they’re not “leading the charge.” By many accounts, the government and industry are. And this despite the fact these chips have been found to cause cancer in lab rats. But why would the FDA approve potentially cancer-causing VeriChips? Maybe because when FDA approval was granted in 2004, the agency was overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHSD), headed by former Wisconsin governor Tommy Thompson. Five months after approval, Thompson left HHSD and became a board member of Applied Digital Solutions, VeriChip’s parent company.
So is this technology an example of gross intrusion on our privacy, or is it a bona fide scientific breakthrough? Each of us will have to make that decision. Personally, I believe the implantation of a biochip in the body is an intrusion, and opens up the possibility of inhumanity to man on a global scale. I can see that, in certain instances, this modern invention would be a boon. But as with all technology, there will be those who will abuse it, and the possibility of tampering with a biochip is too frightening to be acceptable. I believe this development is financially motivated and the potential for abuse far outweighs the benefits this development can bring to society.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Steven T. Sadlon, D.C., practices Chiropractic and Acupuncture at Chiropractic Health and Diagnostic Services of Upstate New York in Penfield. He can be contacted at (585) 586-7630.
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