Micro-chipped family

Get this!

A family in Florida are the first people to be implanted with computer chips.

Jeff and Leslie Jacobs and their 14-year-old son Derek don’t have to carry address books any more. By using a hand held computer the family can read or print out telephone numbers and info about their previous medications.

But the information at the Jacobs’ fingertips is only the start of things to come! In the future, chips might contain the wearer’s entire medical history and actually save lives.

Why have them?

Just imagine if you were implanted with a chip and you had a major car accident and were rushed to the emergency room. Doctors could scan the chip and know straight away if you were a diabetic or not, what you were allergic to, what medication you were on and who your family doctor was. You could be treated quickly and properly – what a relief.

The computer chip is called a VeriChip and is about the size of a grain of rice. Jeff, Leslie and Derek had the tiny micro-chips implanted in their arms in about a minute. The data in the chip can be read or printed out by wearers or other authorised people (like doctors) only. The VeriChip was designed by an American company and is like the chip that vets implant in pets to find them if they are lost.

How much does it cost?

The VeriChip is expected to sell in America for about $370 Australian dollars. A scanner is needed to read the information in the chip and would cost between $1,800 and $5,600.