Setzler: No chip requirement
Current rating:2.95833 by 24 users.






Published: 01/22/2008


By Jon Gillooly
Marietta Daily Journal Staff Writer



ACWORTH - State Rep. Ed Setzler, an Acworth Republican, wants to protect Georgians against human microchip technology.


"It's futuristic to some, but there's really a concern there. It's one of those attempts to get out in front of things before common practice becomes something that is unsavory to citizens," Setzler said.

The Microchip Consent Act of 2008, or House Bill 940, would ban required implantation in Georgia.

His idea came from a House study committee two years ago that examined privacy issues related to fingerprinting. Setzler also cited discussions within the Army about tagging soldiers so that in the event of injury, their medical records could be learned from a scan.

Microchip implantation technology has been used for pets and livestock for a number of years, but has only recently been developed for human use. In October 2004, the Food and Drug Administration cleared a microchip for medical use in humans. Its maker is VeriChip Corporation, a subsidiary of Delray Beach, Fla.-based Applied Digital Solutions.

Human microchips are used for security, financial and emergency identification. Some nightclubs in Europe allow patrons with microchip implants to pay with the electronic codes they carry under their skin.

In 2006, Wisconsin Governor Jim Doyle signed a law that prohibits the required implanting of microchips in humans. It is the first law of its kind in the United States, according to the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau.

"When you think about the impact on human dignity, on personal privacy, there are other ways to accomplish that," Setzler said, suggesting microchip bracelets or cards be used instead.

Setzler's bill is in the House Judiciary Committee, of which state Rep. Steve Tumlin (R-Marietta) is a member.

"Everything I've seen about (Setzler's bill) I really like," Tumlin said.

jgillooly@mdjonline.com

if you've got medical issues that need to be made known, why not? the law's fine because no one wants required microchipping, but all the conspiracy theory paranoia over it is a bit silly, IMO.

evenstar said:

I hear u.....but when have humans NOT abused technology?

Graycap23 said:

so let's ban it on the chance it'll be misused? okay! let's get rid of ALL technology then. come on

evenstar said:

Did I say anything about banning?

i think this legislation is a good idea.

for those folks who do not mind having their entire medical history, personal credit and health insurance information and illnesses retrievable without their knowledge and consent at a distance to any stranger with the proper scanning equipment - then mandatory implantation of this chip is fine.

but for people like me, who wish to keep medical information private and safe from illegal access, the mandated use of an implanted chip should be barred

I have a feeling that the TRUE purpose of these chips have not and will NOT be revealed. Just a feeling.

Graycap23 said:

where has there ever been legislation for required microchipping?

I live in Wisconsin. Ain't nobody chippin' me!

evenstar said:

Coming .....sooner than u think.

Graycap23 said:

sources? sorry, but there's no need to be a paranoid over a FEELING you & others have.

as long as it's optional I don't see what the problem is...

when it becomes mandatory, I have to wonder THEN what the real agenda is...

Slave2daGroove said:

Tip of iceberg.....

evenstar said:

dude, this is old news, since 2004.

here is some background info you might want to check out. especially the part about how the american government has spent millions of dollars in grants to implement this technology.

the topic of this thread is about enacting legislation to make it so that mandatory implantation is NOT Required.

really, don't you think it is best to make such a thing voluntary, and NOT MANDATORY?? especially considering how extremnely vulnerable medical records already are to hacking and illegal dissemination????


FDA approves computer chip for humans
Devices could help doctors with stored medical information

WASHINGTON - Medical milestone or privacy invasion? A tiny computer chip approved Wednesday for implantation in a patient’s arm can speed vital information about a patient’s medical history to doctors and hospitals. But critics warn that it could open new ways to imperil the confidentiality of medical records.

The Food and Drug Administration said Wednesday that Applied Digital Solutions of Delray Beach, Fla., could market the VeriChip, an implantable computer chip about the size of a grain of rice, for medical purposes.

With the pinch of a syringe, the microchip is inserted under the skin in a procedure that takes less than 20 minutes and leaves no stitches. Silently and invisibly, the dormant chip stores a code that releases patient-specific information when a scanner passes over it.

Think UPC code. The identifier, emblazoned on a food item, brings up its name and price on the cashier’s screen.

Chip's dual uses raise alarm
The VeriChip itself contains no medical records, just codes that can be scanned, and revealed, in a doctor’s office or hospital. With that code, the health providers can unlock that portion of a secure database that holds that person’s medical information, including allergies and prior treatment. The electronic database, not the chip, would be updated with each medical visit.

The microchips have already been implanted in 1 million pets. But the chip’s possible dual use for tracking people’s movements — as well as speeding delivery of their medical information to emergency rooms — has raised alarm.

“If privacy protections aren’t built in at the outset, there could be harmful consequences for patients,” said Emily Stewart, a policy analyst at the Health Privacy Project.

To protect patient privacy, the devices should reveal only vital medical information, like blood type and allergic reactions, needed for health care workers to do their jobs, Stewart said.

An information technology guru at Detroit Medical Center, however, sees the benefits of the devices and will lobby for his center’s inclusion in a VeriChip pilot program.

“One of the big problems in health care has been the medical records situation. So much of it is still on paper,” said David Ellis, the center’s chief futurist and co-founder of the Michigan Electronic Medical Records Initiative.

'Part of the future of medicine'
As “medically mobile” patients visit specialists for care, their records fragment on computer systems that don’t talk to each other.

“It’s part of the future of medicine to have these kinds of technologies that make life simpler for the patient,” Ellis said. Pushing for the strongest encryption algorithms to ensure hackers can’t nab medical data as information transfers from chip to reader to secure database, will help address privacy concerns, he said.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services on Wednesday announced $139 million in grants to help make real President Bush’s push for electronic health records for most Americans within a decade.

William A. Pierce, an HHS spokesman, could not say whether VeriChip and its accompanying secure database of medical records fit within that initiative.

“Exactly what those technologies are is still to be sorted out,” Pierce said. “It all has to respect and comport with the privacy rules.”

Applied Digital gave away scanners to a few hundred animal shelters and veterinary clinics when it first entered the pet market 15 years ago. Now, 50,000 such scanners have been sold.

To kickstart the chip’s use among humans, Applied Digital will provide $650 scanners for free at 200 of the nation’s trauma centers.

Implantation costs $150 to $200
In pets, installing the chip runs about $50. For humans, the chip implantation cost would be $150 to $200, said Angela Fulcher, an Applied Digital spokeswoman.

Fulcher could not say whether the cost of data storage and encrypted transmission of medical information would be passed to providers.

Because the VeriChip is invisible, it’s also unclear how health care workers would know which unconscious patients to scan. Company officials say if the chip use becomes routine, scanning triceps for hidden chips would become second nature at hospitals.

Ultimately, the company hopes patients who suffer from such ailments as diabetes and Alzheimer’s or who undergo complex treatments, like chemotherapy, would have chips implanted. If the procedure proves as popular for use in humans as in pets, that could mean up to 1 million chips implanted in people. So far, just 1,000 people across the globe have had the devices implanted, very few of them in the United States.

The company’s chief executive officer, Scott R. Silverman, is one of a half dozen executives who had chips implanted. Silverman said chips implanted for medical uses could also be used for security purposes, like tracking employee movement through nuclear power plants.
Such security uses are rare in the United States.

Meanwhile, the chip has been used for pure whimsy: Club hoppers in Barcelona, Spain, now use the microchip to enter a VIP area and, through links to a different database, speed payment much like a smartcard.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/...4?GT1=5472

I've heard rumblings of making it mandatory 4 all people who fly on U.S, domestic or international flight as well as other so called mandatory related situations.

damn, this is not a good thing

statuesqque said:

No.....it's not. This will "slip" right under the radar.

Graycap23 said:

yep, it sure will

Graycap23 said:

i think what will happen is that people who accept MEDICAID, or any form of health care underwritten by the government will find themselves being required to receive the implant.

XxAxX said:

That is a part of the "plan" 4 sure. Doctors.....