VeriChip
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| Public | |
| Traded as | OTCQB: |
| Industry | Healthcare and information management |
| Founded | 2009 |
| Headquarters | Delray Beach, FL, USA |
| Revenue |
 US$ 43 thousand (2008) |
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US$ -13.9 million (2008) |
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US$ -13.1 million (2008) |
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| Total assets |
US$ 3.5 million (2008) |
| Parent | Digital Angel |
| Website | PositiveID Corp. |
PositiveID (formerly VeriChip) is a biological detection systems developer for America’s homeland defense industry and developer of rapid medical testing technology. It is most known for developing the only Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved human-implantable microchip of the same name (formerly VeriChip). The PositiveID chip received United States FDA approval in 2004. In 2010, its manufacture and marketing were halted until further notice.
About twice the length of a dime, the device is typically implanted between the shoulder and elbow area of an individual’s right arm. Once scanned at the proper frequency, the PositiveID responds with a unique 16-digit number which could be then linked with information about the user held on a database for identity verification, medical records access and other uses. The insertion procedure is performed under local anesthetic in a physician's office. As an implanted device used for identification by a third party, it had generated controversy and debate. VeriChip's merger in 2010 officially changed their name to "PositiveID".
Destron Fearing, a subsidiary of Digital Angel, initially developed the technology for the PositiveID.
PositiveID, formerly known as VeriChip Corporation, was formed in 2009 through the merger of VeriChip and Steel Vault Corporation. At the time of the merger in November 2009, the company changed its name to PositiveID Corporation.
In May 2011, PositiveID acquired California-based MicroFluidic Systems (MFS), founded in 2001, which specializes in the development and production of automated instruments for detecting and processing biological samples. MFS’ core technology is used for airborne pathogen detection, rapid clinical diagnostics, and sample preparation applications.
Certain privacy advocates have raised concerns regarding potential abuse of PositiveID, with some warning that adoption by governments as a compulsory identification program could lead to erosion of civil liberties. In addition, it has been shown that PositiveID's lack of security features made it susceptible to cloning, which could present a risk of identity theft. At the same time if these security features were to be increased the chips could begin to play a major role in Identity Theft protection. Three states in the United States of America have passed anti-chipping legislation, protecting against mandated implantation. These states are California, Wisconsin, and North Dakota.
According to Wired News online, and the Associated Press, there have been research articles over the last ten years that found a connection between the chips and possible cancer. When mice and rats were injected with glass-encapsulated RFID transponders, like those made by PositiveID, they "developed malignant, fast-growing, lethal cancers in up to 1% to 10% of cases" at the site at which the microchip was injected or to which it had migrated. However, the 10% rate was obtained with hemizygous p53-deficient mice, the counterpart of humans with the Li-Fraumeni syndrome, and rates near 1% were more typical. The PositiveID corporation responded to this report, which caused a 40% drop in their stock value, by stating that rodent data had been provided to the FDA and did not reflect the effect of the chips in humans or pets. Dogs, alternatively, are more resistant to the formation of malignant soft tissue tumors in response to foreign body insult. Induction of sarcomas by foreign bodies has been reported in humans, and has been described as analogous to rodent foreign body-associated sarcomas and is fairly infrequent. Resolution of the question may be hindered by the long delay in onset of sarcoma induction or other deleterious side effects, analogous to the controversy in the mid 20th century over asbestos exposure and predisposition to pleural abnormalities such as malignant mesothelioma.
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Wikipedia