- By Sherrie Gossett - April 29, 2003
-
- Miami journalist gets 'chipped'
Implantable-ID company puts product into science writer
© 2003 WorldNetDaily.com - Applied Digital Solutions, maker
ofimplantable identification chips for humans, is ramping up
a new media blitz with the "chipping" of a reporter
and unveiling yesterdayin London of a new temperature-sensing
microchip.
Meanwhile, a June deadline looms for the financially troubled
company to pay off a $30 million IBM loan.
Applied Digital Solutions (NASDAQ: ADSX) of West Palm Beach,
Fla., makerof the implantableVeriChip
, coined the term "getting chipped" as part of a marketing
campaign that attracted worldwide coverage. It culminated last
May when 8
individuals were chipped.
The VeriChip is an injectable radio-frequency identification
chip marketed for human use. It can carry a unique identification
number along with other data. In addition, it is wirelessly write-able.
The company invited Angela Swafford, a Miami-based journalist,
to get "chipped" while she was working on a VeriChip
story for a major media outlet.
Angela Swafford
-
Swafford is a science writer whose work has appeared in New Scientist
magazine, Astronomy magazine, Discovery, and ABC News. Her story
is expected to be released in the near future.
"When it comes to reporting on stories, I like to get as
involved as possible in the science behind them," said Swafford.
"I have been known to lend my body to science, from participating
in NASA hyper-gravity tests, to having my brain scanned by neurologists
trying new imaging techniques at MIT. All in the name of exploration
of new frontiers ... and of good stories."
She added, "When offered the opportunity to be chipped,
it occurred to me that I could tell this story in a unique way.
I think the technology is tremendously exciting, with applications
that defy our wildest dreams. This chip is quietly heralding
a time when humans will literally have technology under the skin."
'Cap Cyborg' a 'media tart'?
Meanwhile, in England, mixing getting chipped with publicity
has back-fired on
famous British professor Kevin
Warwick , who has recently been accused of launching a "publicity
stunt" in the "worst possible taste."
Warwick, who had previously been implanted with various chips
as a part of research projects, announced to a flurry
of press coverage he
planned to implant a British girl with a GPS-tracked
device.
The announcement came on the heels of the tragic deaths of two
abducted British girls.
An intermediary firm began handling requests from media who wanted
to interview Warwick, dubbed "Captain Cyborg," charging
reporters a rate of $125 for ten minutes of talk time.
WorldNetDaily contacted Warwick asking for proof the GPS implant
existed, but received no response. In addition, Jackie Fenn,
vice president of Emerging Technologies and a research fellow
with Gartner Research
, told WND she could not obtain verification the implant exists.
When no one could verify the existence of such a device, the
merciless headlines read, "Cap Cyborg is a Media Tart. True."
Critics charged him with fueling hysteria following the deaths
of the girls and with manipulating the fears of parents.
The respected online tech-journal the Register called him a "tedious
self-publicist" who was essentially providing "less
critical elements of the press with a never-ending stream of
stupid stories."
John Lettice, of the Register noted, "And by pushing positive
aspects of tagging, even years before it's actually feasible,
they're softening public opinion up for the days when it can
be widespread, and when its application
can be more sinister."
Warwick had called for an urgent government debate on the issue,
and said government ministers should consider implants for all
children.
"This is why we need the debate to take place," he
said. "In the future, it may be that only the police have
the authority to allow the system to be activated. But, as things
stand, parents can have that right themselves."
The suggestion that only police, and not parents, might have
control of such a future system is sure to raise hackles in England,
where there has been a steady stream of police officers arrested
on child-porn charges.
In 1999, Applied Digital announced they had obtained the patent
rights to a GPS implant. The microchip was described as a syringe-injectable
implant that was "small enough to be implanted in a child"
and could be "continuously tracked by GPS."
Four years later, the implant has yet to make it to market, but
the company discussed the need for GPS implants during last year's
child kidnapping crises. Jackie Fenn of Gartner notes Applied
Digital has told her they are on track for bringing a GPS implant
to market.
To date, only intelligence agency uses of GPS implants have been
reported as being in current use: Time magazine previously reported
the Israeli Secret Service was using GPS implant technology in
some of its operatives.
About Applied Digital, the Register complained the firm has essentially
been busy "punting cattle tags at the hard of thinking."
Tagging in health care
Meanwhile, yesterday and today Applied Digital was scheduled
to make two presentations at the IDTechEx "Smart Tagging
in Healthcare" conference in London.
IDTechEx refers to the London conference as the "first major"
conference devoted to the potential health-care benefits of smart
tagging technologies. As described by IDTechEx, the conference
is intended to help attendees "learn how smart labels can
save lives, reduce errors, improve health, reduce costs and lead
to new services."
Dr. Richard Seelig of Applied will be speaking about possible
medical applications of the VeriChip, and will provide the first-ever
public demonstration of the company's new temperature-sensing
microchip technology, marketed, patented and first announced
by Digital Angel Corporation (AMEX: DOC) in February 2003.
This new Radio Frequency Identification microchip has similar
dimensions and performance characteristics to VeriChip, but it
can also obtain and transmit body-temperature data.
Dubbed "Bio-Thermo" the microchip previously was used
for pets, livestock and other animals. The information on the
chip can be retrieved with a handheld scanner or by the animal
passing through a special portal.
The London conference will mark the company's shift from marketing
the chip for animals to also marketing it for human use.
Currently, there is a wide variety of biosensors approaching
commercial viability.
Biosensors now are being developed to detect everything from
the first chemical signature of cancer to the presence of anthrax,
and advances in fields such as nanotechnology, microelectronics
and molecular diagnostics have paved the way.
As
previously reported by WND , Dr. Peter Zhou had commented
in 2000 that he was "very interested" in pursuing the
company's implantable technology as a form of a universal health-care
identifier, along the lines of what former HHS Secretary Donna
Shalala proposed under the Clinton administration.
Applied says its new BioTherm chip has applications relevant
to chemotherapy-treatment management, chronic-infection monitoring,
organ transplantation treatment management, infertility management,
postoperative monitoring, critical-care monitoring, medication
monitoring and response to treatment evaluation.
Surge of interest in chip tracking
The health-care tagging conference comes at a time where
there is a surge of industry interest in many applications of
Radio Frequency Identification chip tagging.
At the forefront of this interest is MIT's Auto-ID
Center.
Founded in 1999, the Auto-ID Center is a cutting-edge partnership
between more than 87 global companies and three of the world's
leading research universities: the Massachusetts
Institute of Technology in the U.S., the University of Cambridge
in the UK and the University of Adelaide in Australia.
Together they are creating the standards and assembling the building
blocks needed to create what they call an "Internet of things."
The Center proposes an "intelligent infrastructure"
that allows physical objects to communicate with one another.
This infrastructure would consist of low-cost electronic tags,
unique object identification numbers, common networking services
and standardized protocols and languages.
The Center is designing, building and testing the components
of such a system, with a view to deploying a global infrastructure
a layer on top of the Internet that will make it possible for
computers to identify any object anywhere in the world instantly.
"Electronic tags when coupled to a reader network allow
continuous tracking and identification of physical objects. Reader
arrays have been fabricated and integrated in floor tiles, carpeting,
shelf paper, cabinets and appliances. Similar to cellular phone
grids, the reader network may provide seamless and continuous
communication to tagged objects," says Auto-ID Center co-director
David Brock.
It's commonly accepted the proposed architecture has the potential
to revolutionize supply chain, logistics and inventory.
The Center foresees: "No more inventory counts. No more
lost or misdirected shipments. No more guessing how much material
is in the supply chain or how much product is on the store shelves."
Although its first applications are focused on supply-chain management,
the concept of seamlessly communicating physical objects has
many applications in other areas, such as health care.
The ability to provide continuity of care, continuous patient
monitoring, shared yet secure medical records, valid and accurate
medical dosages, medical equipment tracking and improved information
display and communication are some of the propositions enabled
by the technology.
In its full implementation, the Auto-ID technology is said to
have the potential to greatly reduce costs while increasing the
reliability and effectiveness of human health care.
Chip maker facing financial struggles
Meanwhile, Applied Digital continues to face financial struggles,
even in the wake of worldwide press coverage.
Under a new
forbearance agreement reached with creditor IBM, the financially
struggling Applied Digital gained the right to buy back its
existing indebtedness from IBM Credit with a one-time payment,
on or before June 30, of $30 million. If this payment is made,
Applied Digital would satisfy its full obligation to IBM Credit,
according to the company.
For 2002, Applied has posted a net loss of $112.5 million on
revenues of $99.6 million, according to the latest SEC filing.
The loss is significantly lower than 2001's net loss of $215.6
million, but the company's losses for the past three years total
$443.3 million.
Earlier this month, Applied announced the SEC
is conducting an informal inquiry into the company.
Related stories:
SEC
investigating Applied Digital
Applied
Digital gets reprieve from creditor
Implantable-chip
firm misses final deadline
Implantable-chip
company in financial straits
Post-9/11
security fears usher in subdermal
chips
'Digital
Angel' not pursuing implants
Digital
Angel unveiled
Human
ID implant to be unveiled soon
Big
Brother gets under your skin
Concern
over microchip implants
Sherrie Gossett
is a Florida-based researcher and writer, formerly with the South
Florida Sun-Sentinel, and a contributing reporter to WorldNetDaily.
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