Company To Offer Microchip IMplants for Breast Implant Tracing
The VeriTeQ company has a microchip RFID implant that has been cleared by the FDA for human use called VeriChip. It's about the size of a grain of rice and is passive, meaning it only responds to queries and requires no power source to do so. The company is offering the chips for use as identification tags for breast implants and other devices.
RFID (radio frequency identification) can be used for any number of things. It works by simply bouncing back a signal from a "reading" device that is on the correct frequency for the tag. It requires no power source and gives off no emissions except when queried.
These tags have been commonly used in animal and pet identification for years and are only recently approved for use in humans. They have been undergoing testing by agencies from the military to private companies hoping to use them to track foodstuffs or inventory.
In this case, the chips would be used to individually identify breast implants with information like date of manufacture, date of implant, type of implant, etc. This could help diagnosis and other issues in the future as well as better facilitate recalls and other things should they arise.
The chips would be voluntary, at least for now, and will be used on a variety of medical implants.