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Chip implants in humans begin today Friday, May 10, 2002, 12:00 a.m. Pacific By David Streitfeld
LOS ANGELES — Eight people will be injected with silicon chips today, making them scannable just like a jar of peanut butter in the supermarket checkout line. The miniature devices, each about the size of a grain of rice, were developed by a Florida company. They are similar to those implanted in more than 1 million dogs, cats and other pets in recent years to track and identify them. A New Jersey surgeon had an experimental device implanted late last year, but today marks the first time that the chips are available to the public. They initially 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," Nate Isaacson said. The retired building contractor will enter his Fort Lauderdale, Fla., doctor's office today as an 83-year-old with Alzheimer's. He will 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 handheld 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 would 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, maker of what it calls the VeriChip, says that it soon will have a prototype of a more complex device, one that is able to receive signals from global positioning system (GPS) satellites and transmit a person's location. One potential market for such a device would be kidnapping targets in foreign countries. Still, it's a prospect deeply unsettling to privacy advocates, no matter how voluntary the process may appear initially. "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. It's an easier way to manage someone, like putting a leash on a pet." 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 centers. An estimated 4 million people nationally have Alzheimer's, with more than 10 percent of them in Florida. Jeffrey and Leslie Jacobs and their 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, while Derek is allergic to certain antibiotics. Mostly, though, he's a computer buff who considers the procedure nifty. As for Leslie, she's merely hoping to feel more secure in an insecure world. A third group readying themselves for the simple outpatient procedure today are officials of Applied Digital, a publicly traded company based in Palm Beach, Fla. Even their publicist is doing it. 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. Isaacson's family says he has a bracelet. He also has a wallet with ID. "The VeriChip is more of a 'God forbid,' " said Sherry Gottlieb, Isaacson's daughter. "You feel you have to have it but hope you never need it." 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 receiving their VeriChips for free, but that's the only financial consideration they are receiving. Isaacson's doctor, while agreeing to perform the insertion, has some qualms about it. He consented to be interviewed but asked to be anonymous until today. While protests against the VeriChip have been minimal, neither the doctor nor Applied Digital is eager to see demonstrations. A few religious groups feel the chips are "the mark of the Beast" referred to in the Bible. "I think this is going to be the cutting edge of the future because quick information saves lives," Isaacson's doctor said. "I get calls 24 hours a day informing me that a patient has had a stroke or a heart attack and is in the hospital. I have to go to my office, get the chart and then go to the hospital. All that takes time, while the patient is being treated with limited information." And yet this family practitioner doesn't see himself chipping youthful patients. While he believes the procedure is safe and the chip always can be removed, he's worried about long-term liability. "You do something to a young person, you may be responsible for years afterwards. He may be carrying this chip for 70 or 80 years." Long before then — by the end of the year, in fact — the next generation of devices will be tested. An embedded GPS would be slightly larger than a quarter and require actual surgery to install. Unlike the VeriChip, it also would require Food and Drug Administration approval. That will slow its U.S. introduction. "We believe we have solved the battery issue, which leaves the question of an antenna that can transmit through skin tissue," said Applied Digital's chief scientist, Keith Bolton. The devices will be powered by lithium ion batteries, which can be charged remotely from outside the body. Applied Digital says it has received considerable interest in the VeriChip from commercial and government sources in Brazil and Mexico, and expects the embedded system to be big wherever kidnapping is a threat. The prospect of such sales is no doubt one reason Applied Digital stock, which traded as low as 11 cents in the last year, recently quadrupled to about $2. Information from The Washington Post is included in this report. |
