The RFID Reader

In an effort to stop the amount of counterfeit Viagra that is being sold, Pfizer has adopted strict measures. Now all packages of Viagra made be Pfizer will be tagged with RFID technology. Pfizer hopes this will help stop the illegal sale of the popular pill prescribed for impotence.

The ID tags created by Pfizer will be a block “for criminals who might attempt to counterfeit our products”, the company stated.

People should as pharmacists and wholesalers will be given a RFID tag reader that will be able to send data to the Internet to Pfizer’s webpage to verify if the Viagra is authentic or not.

There have been a number of lawsuits in the past by Pfizer, against individuals selling Viagra illegally.

Apparently, there is a 29 year old male entrepeneur Amal Graafstra living in Canada who has had RFID tags implanted into his hand.

With the use of these tags, Graafstra is able to open his front door using one chip. Using another chip, he can even log onto his computer.

Graafstra feels that RFID technology is perfect for him, because he “does not want to be without access to things that he needs to get into”. He feels having a chip implanted into his skin will still allow him to enter his house even after his keys and clothes have been stolen.

The chips are quite affordable costing only $2 and interact with computers and other electronic devices. The reader for these chips usually run about $50 which is inexpensive for this type of technology.

This is just one of many uses for humans being tagged with RFID, other uses can be seen especially in the banking and healthcare industries.

RFID is becoming very popular in such a way that a few of the European airlines are considering using this technology to tag luggage.

In an articles appearing on cheapflights.co.uk, there is new legislation that will increase the amount people will be compensated for if the airline loses their luggage. The cost is now £814 (1,440 USD ) which is expected to result in £678 billion (1Tlrn USD) a year for the average amount of claims that are submitted.

Since the airlines will be paying almost triple than what they have paid before, this will be a big incentive for many of them to start using RFID tags to keep track of the bags they handle.

It was announced today that Wal-Mart, in cooperation with Texas Instruments’ Educational Productivity Solutions business division, has started supplying RFID tags to the cases and pallets of calculates that are being sold within its store.

Texas Instruments is the not the first Wal-Mart supplier to do this as many of Wal-Mart’s other suppliers have started carrying out this process for the past year.

Last October, Wal-Mart extended its use of RFID tags by making sure at least 500 of its stores were enable with RFID readers.

According to a spokesperson for Texas Instruments, the use of RFID tagging on its calculators will help ensure that enough calculators are in stock for the start and duration of the school year.

With the federal government planning to implement RFID tagging within passport, a RFID chip vendor On Track Innovations has been given the “green light” by the court to resume testing RFID chips, as a provider of this technology, after the company issued a lawsuit.

The New Jersey based company will continue were it previously left off testing the RFID chips, after the Government’s Printing Office rejected On Track Innovations’ technology to produce the chips
In the beginning a hand full of vendors were selected to test and produce the chips, and On Track Innovations was not one of them. However, the federal government decided to reconsider some of the rejected vendors, and On Track Innovations was once again considered and discarded. . The company sued the GPO in small claims court and was given permission to test their RFID chip technology.

Many analysts are still concerned that the use of RFID enabled passports will give the government the ability to spy on its citizens.

VeriChip, which is also known as the Human Chip Firm, has released on Friday an Initial Public Offering of $45.8 million.

The company is well-known for its manufacture of a microchip that can be implanted in humans. These microchips use RFID technology, and plans are being made to have the chips “injected with the rice-sized tag”.

VeriChip hopes someday to have a person’s medical records contained within the chips. Last September, the CEO of VeriChip, Jon Merriman, allowed himself to be tagged. The tag does not contain his medical records, but at present his chip contains information about end of life care that he would like. This is called a living will.

It will be interesting to keep track of how successful the company will become, before this IPO, VeriChip has lost approximately $7.7 million spread over a four year period.