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By Robert O'Harrow Jr.
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, December 19, 2001; Page E01

A New Jersey surgeon has embedded under his skin tiny computer chips that can automatically transmit personal information to a scanner, a technology that his employer hopes will someday be widely used as a way to identify people.

One bioethicist called the procedure the stuff of science fiction. The chip, developed by Applied Digital Solutions of Palm Beach, Fla., is similar to that implanted in more than a million dogs, cats and other pets in recent years to track and identify them.

The new chip measures slightly smaller than a Tic Tac mint and has a miniature antenna that emits signals containing about two paragraphs worth of data when scanned by a handheld reader.

The device must undergo clinical trials and be approved by the Food and Drug Administration before it can be marketed, first to patients with other implanted medical devices, such as pacemakers.

The surgeon, who said he implanted the device in his hip and one arm in September, asked not to be named because he worries about the attention his initiative will draw. He said he decided to test the chip himself after seeing rescuers at the World Trade Center disaster site write their names and Social Security numbers on their arms so they could be identified in case they were injured or killed at the site.

Applied Digital has high hopes for the technology, in part because it is struggling financially and recently fell behind on loans from one of its major creditors. Its stock, which trades on the Nasdaq Stock Market, was as high as $3 in the past year. It closed at 38 cents yesterday.

Company officials said they hope to sell the device to patients with pacemakers, artificial hips and other implanted devices. The idea is that the chip will provide prompt and accurate medical information in the event of an emergency, they said.

The signal can contain a name, telephone number and other information. Or it can send out a code that, when linked to a database, can call up records. The scanner can read it through clothes from up to four feet away, company officials said.

Applied Digital executives said its new product also could serve as a tamper-proof form of identification. Corrections authorities have expressed interest in using the chips to better identify prisoners and parolees, officials said.

Airlines, nuclear power plants and other sensitive facilities may want to use the chips for employees, they said. Some parents may consider embedding chips in young children or elderly relatives who may not be able to say their names, addresses or telephone numbers.

"It depends on the spirit of the marketplace and the demand," said Keith Bolton, the company's vice president and chief technology officer, adding that use of the chip should be voluntary unless the law allows otherwise. "We're ready to begin."

Some medical and technology specialists said the device raises new questions about the nexus of humans and computer technology. And it could pose ethical or privacy dilemmas if implanted against someone's wishes, or if it exposes personal information to prying eyes.

Thomas Murray, president of the Hastings Center, a bioethics research institute in New York, said the chip "evokes images of science fiction."

"We need to consider carefully the broader implications," Murray said. "Alongside the possible benefits, it has the potential to be misused by forces who do not have your interests at heart."

Although the system has been in development for a couple of years, company officials said they were uneasy about implanting the chips in people until recently, fearing there might be a backlash from civil libertarians and others.

On Sept. 16, the doctor, using a local anesthetic, used a syringe-like device to insert the chips under the skin of his forearm. He followed the same procedure to implant the chip on his hip.

The chip is coated with a substance that encourages the body to hold it in place, he said. After just over two weeks, all signs of the procedure were gone. "After that, it was like nothing had happened," the physician said. "I felt it was important enough to do, that I took responsibility myself."

Airports are beginning to use similar micro-devices to improve security by tagging bags with more detailed instructions about how they're to be handled and screened. Automakers are installing the chips in keys to deter auto theft. Libraries are beginning to use the technology to track books.

Three years ago, a British cybernetics researcher had a chip temporarily implanted to allow a computer to track his movements in a university building.

"The computer has jumped off our desktops and it is insinuating itself into every corner of our lives. Now it's finding its way into our bodies," said Paul Saffo, director of the Institute for the Future in Menlo Park, Calif. "This stuff is going to happen. These guys are the start."

Staff researcher Richard Drezen contributed to this report.