Monthly Archive for October, 2008
Could a microchip implant like the VeriChip cause cancer? A French Bulldog named Léon was the catalyst for new questions about the safety of RFID implants.
One year ago, Léon’s owner contacted me with startling news. She believed that her dog’s cancerous tumor and his untimely death might have been caused by a microchip implant.
This was not just idle talk by a grieving dog owner grasping at straws to figure out why she had been robbed of her constant companion. This was a gutsy lady who refused to allow the vet to simply cremate the evidence.
This lady prefers to be known only by her first name of “Jeanne,” so the Associated Press couldn’t credit her properly as the original source for some of the explosive information in its article “Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors,” but I have the leeway in this forum to share the behind-the-scenes story.
Jeanne spent a small fortune trying to cure her ailing French bulldog, Léon, after he was diagnosed with cancer in 2004. When medical interventions failed and Léon passed away, she decided to hunt for the reason the fatal tumor in his body was attached to the glass-encapsulated microchip that had been injected into his neck for identification purposes.
Jeanne located a team of researchers in Italy who agreed to test tissue samples
Could we be constantly tracked through our clothes, shoes or even our cash in the future?
I’m not talking about having a microchip surgically implanted beneath your skin, which is what Applied Digital Systems of Palm Beach, Fla., would like to do. Nor am I talking about John Poindexter’s creepy Total Information Awareness spy-veillance system, which I wrote about last week.
Instead, in the future, we could be tracked because we’ll be wearing, eating and carrying objects that are carefully designed to do so.
The generic name for this technology is RFID, which stands for radio frequency identification. RFID tags are miniscule microchips, which already have shrunk to half the size of a grain of sand. They listen for a radio query and respond by transmitting their unique ID code. Most RFID tags have no batteries: They use the power from the initial radio signal to transmit their response.
You should become familiar with RFID technology because you’ll be hearing much more about it soon. Retailers adore the concept, and CNET News.com’s own Alorie Gilbert wrote last week about how Wal-Mart and the U.K.-based grocery chain Tesco are starting to install “smart shelves” with networked RFID readers. In what will become the largest test of the technology, consumer goods giant Gillette recently said it would purchase 500 million RFID tags from Alien Technology of Morgan Hill, Calif.
SANTA ANA, Calif.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–June 4, 1999–
Use of Implantable Cardio Defibrillators Growing at an Annual
Rate Exceeding 20 Percent
Microsemi Corp. (Nasdaq:MSCC) Friday announced that it has
introduced a new high voltage MOSFET for implantable cardio
defibrillator (ICD) applications that provides a size reduction of 40%
over currently available devices.
Component size is critical in the design of implantable electronic systems.
Designated the MSAFA1N100D, the new device is the first to be
developed jointly by Microsemi, a leader in discrete semiconductors for
human implantable electronics, and Advanced Power Technology, Bend,
Ore., a leader in advanced high power, high voltage MOSFET design.
This joint venture project was completed in only eight weeks as
part of the recently announced agreement between the two companies that
allows Microsemi to serve the implantable medical market with APT’s
patented Power MOS V MOSFET technology.
The Microsemi device will be used as an overvoltage protection
circuit in the next generation of implantable cardio defibrillators.
These implants must withstand high voltages induced either by the ICD
itself or by external defibrillation in emergency room and other
treatment procedures.
New types of multiple-phase high voltage therapies are driving
broader use of implantable cardio defibrillators, which can require 10
MOSFETs each. It is estimated that this market will grow at an annual
rate of more than 20%, with nearly 70,000 such implants last year alone.
Although much smaller than prior implantable MOSFETs, the new
Microsemi device provides equivalent electrical performance. In
addition to meeting the required specifications of 1,000 Volts and 13.5
Ohms at body temperature (37C), Microsemi’s new device provides ICD
designers with the ability to reduce battery drain by taking advantage
of the MSAFA1N100D’s gate charge spec of less than 20nC.
“For implantable devices that must function five to seven years, or
more, from a single Lithium Ion battery, the MSAFA1N100D provides a
significant advance for next-generation ICD designs,” reported Manuel
Lynch, worldwide marketing director at Microsemi.
