Radio Frequency Identification ChipThe Food and Drug Administration has considered approving radio frequency identification chips, or RFID chips implanted under the skin that will contain information about the person into whom it is implanted the chip. Would you like to have all the personal information about your entire life on a tiny computer chip, the size of a grain of rice, implanted under your skin? The FDA should not approve the implantation of RFID chips in humans. First, the problem with RFID chips will be discussed and second, the possible solutions to RFID chips will be discussed. The problem with implanting RFID chips, or VeriChips, is privacy. Every detail of your life is defined on this chip. According to David Killick of The Press, a New Zealand newspaper published in May 2003, details such as the social security number, driving license number and even all birth certificate information are included in the chip. It also includes all of your vaccinations, all of your doctor's appointments, and pretty much everything else that's important to your health and personal life. It includes all the numbers and balances of your money accounts, such as savings accounts, checking accounts, and even credit card accounts. All those accounts that still exist, and even those that have been closed. With details as important and personal as those on these chips, strong security on the chips is necessary. RFID chips do not have sufficient security installed inside them. According to the Washington Post, a newspaper in Washington, DC, published in October 2004, hackers can easily breach the security barriers of the safeguard that is already... half the paper... in humans. These chips are already used in animals as tracking devices, used by their owners, to track their location. But humans shouldn't be tracked everywhere they go, especially if all their personal information is in one area. And even though the cost isn't that high, only one hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars per person, many people don't see the need for it. Some people think they are just another way for the government to monitor us by keeping track of everywhere we go and everything we do at any time, day or night. In conclusion, RFID chips pose a serious privacy threat to those involved. Stronger safeguards and security systems would be the only way to approve these chips. The FDA should not approve RFID chips. Violation of privacy is the main reason why RFID chips should not be implanted in humans.