<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0205090365may09.story>http://
www.chicagotribune.com/technology/chi-0205090365may09.story 
  




8 people to receive injected computer chip
Alzheimer's to be a target market




By David Streitfeld 
Special to the Tribune
Published May 9, 2002

Eight people will be injected with silicon chips Friday, making them scannable
just like a jar of peanut butter at the supermarket checkout line.

The miniature devices, about the size of a grain of rice, were developed by a
Florida company. They will be targeted to families of Alzheimer's patients --
one of the fastest-growing groups in American society -- as well as others who
have complicated medical histories.

"It's safety precaution," explained Nate Isaacson. The retired building
contractor will enter his Ft. Lauderdale doctor's office Friday as an
83-year-old with Alzheimer's. He'll leave it a cyborg, a man who is also a
little bit of a computer.

The chip will be put in Isaacson's upper back, effectively invisible unless a
hand-held scanner is waved over it. The scanner uses a radio frequency to
energize the dormant chip, which then transmits a signal containing a
verification number. Information about Isaacson is cross-referenced under that
number in a central computer registry.

Emergency-room personnel, for instance, could find out who Isaacson is and
where he lives. They'd know he is prone to forgetfulness, has a pacemaker and
is allergic to penicillin.

"You never know what's going to happen when you go out the door," said
Isaacson's wife, Micki. "Should something happen, he's never going to remember
those things."

Applied Digital Solutions Inc., the maker of what it calls the VeriChip, says
that it will soon have a prototype of a much more complex device, one that is
able to receive signals from Global Positioning System satellites and transmit
a person's location. It's a prospect deeply unsettling to privacy advocates, no
matter how voluntary the process may initially appear.

"Who gets to decide who gets chipped?" asked Marc Rotenberg, executive director
of the Electronic Privacy Information Center. "Parents will decide that their
kids should be implanted, or maybe their own aging parents."

Applied Digital, which says it has a waiting list of 4,000 to 5,000 people who
want a VeriChip, plans to operate a "chipmobile" that visits Florida senior
citizen's centers. An estimated 4 million people nationally have Alzheimer's,
with more than 10 percent of them in Florida.

Jeffrey and Leslie Jacobs and teenage son Derek, whose "chipping" will be
national media event, don't have problems with dementia. The Boca Raton, Fla.,
family has a mixture of ailments and interests: Jeffrey has been treated for
Hodgkin's disease and suffers from other conditions for which he takes 16
medications. Derek is allergic to certain antibiotics. Mostly, though, he's a
computer buff who considers the procedure nifty. Leslie is merely hoping to
feel more secure in an insecure world.

A third group ready for the simple outpatient procedure Friday are officials of
Applied Digital, a publicly traded company based in Palm Beach. Even the
publicist is doing it.

Getting chipped is easy. Making it more useful than a piece of body art will be
harder.

"There are a lot of practical issues here, as well as ethical and privacy
issues," said Mark Pafford, associate executive director of the Alzheimer's
Association's Southeast Florida chapter. "If it were me, I would use something
tried and proven, like a ID bracelet or a necklace that has an 800 number. . .
. Who knows how to look under someone's skin?"

Applied Digital says nearly all the major hospitals in the West Palm Beach area
will be equipped with the scanners. Yet St. Mary's Medical Center, a major
trauma center approached at random by a reporter, said no one had contacted
them.

Applied Digital is charging $200 for the chips, plus a $10 monthly fee to store
the information. As the first patients, Isaacson and the Jacobses are getting
their VeriChips for free.

David Streitfeld is a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times, a Tribune
newspaper.

Copyright © 2002, <http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo
gy/chi-0205090365may09.story />Chicago Tribune 

Advertisers


Choose: Info Menus Locations Opportun. 




<http://www.tribuneinteractive.com/chicago/mediakit/home.htm>How to advertise

<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo gy/chi-0205090365may09.story />Home |
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo gy/chi-0205090365may09.story
/services/site/chi-copyright.htmlstory>Copyright and terms of service |
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo gy/chi-0205090365may09.story
/services/site/chi-privacy.story>Privacy policy |
<http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo gy/chi-0205090365may09.story
/subscribe>Subscribe | <http://www.chicagotribune.com/technolo
gy/chi-0205090365may09.story
/services/site/chi-customerservice.htmlstory>Customer service |
<http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/>Archives |
<http://www.tribuneinteractive.com/chicago/mediakit/home.htm>Advertise<http
://adserver.trb.com/event.ng/Type=click&FlightID=18962&AdID=32412&Custom=&Ta
rgetID=1125&Segments=156,157,164,255,577,579,598,688,779,1115,1304,1470,1496
,1552,1599,1651,1977,2019,2033,2166,2243,2412,2434,2502,2518,2551,2706&Targe> 
Powered by <http://www.genuity.com>Genuity


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html