Microchip implants raise flags

MAX MAUDIE, EDMONTON SUN | June 10 2006

Let's check the chips before we shoot 'em up our arms.

An expert in technology and ethics yesterday brought that warning to a national information conference about microchips implanted in patients, easing access to health care.

"Let's talk a little about the implications before that happens, because sometimes you can't put the genie back in the bottle," said Ian Kerr, Canada Research Chair in Ethics, Law and Technology.

He spoke to a few hundred information professionals from government, health care and other sectors, at the downtown Westin yesterday on the growing use of microchips to identify patients in the United States.

Ninety-seven hospitals there have agreed to use the system sold by VeriChip, according to the company.

The radio frequency identification chips are about the size of a grain of rice and are injected under the skin, usually near the tricep.

The technology can also be used to track materials and for access control.

Kerr, a professor at the University of Ottawa, said the system hasn't been approved for use in Canada yet.

He said chips have been successfully copied in the U.S., giving rise to concerns of identity theft.

Kerr stressed the chips don't hold personal information, just numbers that match up to one's information in a secure database.

Alberta's Information and Privacy Commissioner Frank Work said he knows of no plans in Alberta's health-care system to adopt the technology.

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