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More arrests after UK attacks

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

British police have arrested another person in connection with attempted car bombings in

London and Glasgow, a police spokesman has said.

Eight people have now been arrested after a blazing jeep was crashed into Glasgow airport on Saturday and two cars were found outside a London nightclub loaded with gas canisters and nails on Friday.

The eighth man was arrested at an undisclosed location and is currently in custody, police said.

The BBC reported that the man was arrested overseas, but did not say in which country.

Peter Clarke, head of London’s anti-terrorism branch, said that the investigation was “extremely fast-moving” and said links between the attacks were becoming “ever clearer”.

“I’m confident, absolutely confident, that in the coming days and weeks we will be able to gain a thorough understanding of the methods used by the terrorists, the way in which they planned their attacks and the network to which they belong,” he said.

The attacks led to the government raising the security alert level for the country to “critical”, the highest on a five-level scale.

‘Worst time’

But on Monday, British newspapers argued against the government rushing through new “anti-terrorism” legislation.

The Daily Telegraph said in an editorial: “The immediate aftermath of a terrorist atrocity is the worst possible time to legislate.

“The government’s response to the bombers should be proportionate to the threat faced, not to the public outrage.”

The Independent took a similar line saying it “is vital that the prime minister does not rush through new repressive anti-terror laws … it is vital that our political leaders pause for thought”.

The Labour government of Tony Blair, the former prime minister, tried to push through new laws after the 2005 London transport system bombings that killed 52 people.

The bill, which would have let police detain suspects for 90 days without charge, was defeated.

Controlled explosion

Gordon Brown, the new prime minister who replaced Blair on Wednesday, said before taking office last week that he wanted police to have the extended detention rights.

Properties in Glasgow, Liverpool and central
England were searched on Sunday [AFP]

The Daily Mail, a newspaper that is often critical of the governing Labour Party, offered tentative praise for Brown and Jacqui Smith, the new interior minister.

“This time … there has been no political grandstanding, no promises of ‘tough’ new measures. Instead, Gordon Brown and Jacqui Smith concentrate on reassuring the public and letting police and MI5 [the domestic intelligence service] get on with the job. And that is surely right,” it said.

Police confirmed on Sunday that one man and one woman arrested on a motorway near Liverpool were being interviewed in London.

They also said that a controlled explosion had been carried out on a car outside a hospital where one of the Glasgow suspects is being treated for burns.

A British government security official told the Associated Press that a loose UK-wide network appeared to be behind the attacks but investigators were struggling to ascertain suspects’ identities.

“These are not the type of people who always carry identity documents, or who use their real identities,” the official said on condition of anonymity.

Homes raided

Residents of homes near addresses being raided by police officers in central England and Liverpool said the residents were doctors or medical students. Police in London and Glasgow refused to comment on the claim.

The United States increased security at airports following the attempted attacks in Britain, while Michael Chertoff, homeland security secretary, said that more air marshals were being deployed on flights to Britain.

George Bush, the US president, praised Brown’s “very strong response” to the situation during during a visit by Vladimir Putin, the Russian president.

In Paris, Michele Alliot-Marie, French interior minister, called a meeting with security chiefs to discuss events in Britain, while Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, said “no cause or belief can justify such acts of terrorism”.

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Man Busted For Reciting First Amendment

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

Reverend Billy was arrested and detained last night while reciting the First Amendment in Union Square. The police claimed his preaching it at this month’s Critical Mass constituted “Harassment of a Public Official”. The NYPD has a history of some controversial arrests at the Critical Mass events, and at last night’s the number of police practically outnumbered the riders. From the press release we received:

“…even unaffiliated riders were ticketed as they approached the park. Reverend Billy and his partner Savitri D were reciting the First Amendment to the United States Constitution to the gathered police force when Lieutenant Daniel Albano, head of the NYPD’s Legal Division, ordered the Reverend’s arrest and detention at the 13th Precinct station. It is believed Albano is the public official Reverend Billy has been charged with harassing.”

This brings up ongoing concern over protecting civil liberties and rights to free assembly and political action. However, it also draws attention to selectively enforced Parade Laws, drafted by the police and passed into law by the City Council earlier this year. The law criminalizes gatherings of more than 50 people that do not have permits. Something the press release points out is that “while the NYPD surrounded and intimidated last night’s Critical Mass cyclists, a line of several hundred shoppers formed just across the street to purchase the new iPhone, blocking pedestrian traffic and forcing people to walk in the street.”

As of now, Reverend Billy is being held at 100 Centre Street, awaiting arraignment. Hopefully he’ll be out for tomorrow’s Hot and Holy Highline Revival show!

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Former CIA Official Exposes Bush Administration Fraud

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

Flynt Leverett worked as a senior director for Middle East affairs at the National Security Council, the NSC, and he was a CIA analyst.

http://representativepress.blogspot.com The Bush Administration has committed fraud before. See background information on the fraud committed by the Bush Administration to get us into the Iraq War:

The Problem Was Not “Faulty Intelligence,” the Problem Was Dishonestly Selecting And Omitting Intelligence.

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Independence Day Hypocrisy

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

By Stephen Lendman
RINF Alternative News

Along with Christmas, no federal holiday is more celebrated than the day a new nation declared its independence from the British Crown on July 4, 1776. Coming in the summer with good weather across the country, it’s a day or long weekend of parades, outings, various other celebratory events, and baseball at all levels that many years ago often meant major league “double-headers” that was a big occasion for young boys, like this writer, growing up in “big league” cities whose dads took them out for an endless day at the ballpark. It’s also a day commemorating the nation’s history, liberation and traditions most people don’t know or forgot. That’s just as well because they were never taught the truths about them, just the acceptable illusions learned in school to the highest levels. They’re extolled by the dominant media, most in academia, and by the clergy and others in high places as well who are willing to spread acceptable myths for the status and benefits doing it affords them.

Young people are never taught our real history, only what’s falsely portrayed about it with all ugly parts suppressed. It’s to program their minds and train a new generation of “good citizens” to believe what serves the privileged best benefits everyone and assure they won’t resist to keep it that way. So we’re taught to accept the myth of America’s exceptionalism, our special nature, goodness, and democratic way of life, in the best of all possible countries with the best of all possible leaders running a government of, for and by the people serving everyone. If only it were true.

We’re also taught to commemorate our Founders’ glorious achievements and their liberating Revolution from the repressive British Crown and aristocracy. They replaced it with an experimental system of government never tried before in the West outside its imperfect earlier form in ancient Athens for a few decades only. After the war of independence, the Founders met in 1787, in the same Philadelphia State House where the Declaration of Independence was signed 11 years earlier. They came to frame a Constitution they hoped would last into “remote futurity” - for their interests alone.

Yet, they managed to include unimaginable freedoms in it as well, including real democratic ones in the Bill of Rights, ratified in 1791. It gave people the rights of free expression, religion, peaceable assembly, protection from illegal searches and seizures, due process and more. We still have them, but, in the age of George Bush, they hang by a thread and can be revoked by a “unitary” executive authority in the name of national security if he says so.

Noted political scientist and social critic Michael Parenti wrote of our Founder’s achievement in the 8th and earlier editions of his important book, “Democracy for the Few.” In it, he states “the Constitution was consciously designed as a conservative document” with provisions in it, or omitted by intent, to “resist the pressure of popular tides” and protect “a rising bourgeoisie(’s)” freedom to “invest, speculate, trade, and accumulate wealth” the way things work for capital interests today. It was to codify in law what politician, founding father, jurist and nation’s first Chief Supreme Court justice, John Jay, said the way things should be - that “The people who own the country ought to run it (for their benefit alone).”

Benjamin Franklin was reportedly asked at the end of the Constitutional Convention whether the 55 attending delegates created a monarchy or republic. He responded “A republic, if you can keep it” without acknowledging notions of an egalitarian nation were stillborn at its birth. It was true then and now in spite of all the pretense contrived to portray an idealized society, in fact, always out of reach for most in it. Republican America was created as a nominal democracy Adam Smith said should be “instituted for the defense of the rich against the poor.”

The nation’s founders achieved mightily handing down their legacy to succeeding generations of leaders always mindful of who gave them power and who they were there to serve. At the nation’s birth, only adult white male property owners could vote; blacks were commodities, not people; and women were childbearing and homemaking appendages of their husbands.

Religious prerequisites existed until 1810, and all adult white males couldn’t vote until property and tax requirements were dropped in 1850. States elected senators until the 17th amendment in 1913 gave citizen voters that right, and Native Americans had no franchise in their own land until the 1924 Indian Citizenship Act gave them back what no one had the right to take away in the first place. Women’s suffrage wasn’t achieved until the 19th Amendment passed in 1920 after nearly 100 years of struggling for it.

The 1865 13th Amendment freed black slaves, the 1870 15th Amendment gave them the right to vote, but it wasn’t until passage of the landmark Civil and Voting Rights Acts in the mid-1960s, abolishing Southern Jim Crow laws, that blacks could vote, in fact, like the Constitution said they could decades earlier. Today those rights are gravely weakened for all through unfair laws still in force and a nation growing more repressive and less responsive to the needs of ordinary working people and the nation’s least advantaged. The limited high-water mark of Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society has steadily eroded since in loss of civil liberties and essential social benefits. It’s hardly a reason for those harmed and people of conscience to celebrate July 4 or any other day commemorating a nation unresponsive to them and most others.

The nation’s Native Indians have the least to celebrate. Few once remained of the 100 million or so throughout the Americas and around 18 million in our America. Long before the nation was liberated from the British Crown, white settlers began slaughtering them mercilessly. Our Native peoples lived peacefully on these lands for thousands of years. They developed proud cultures “Western civilization” began eroding when it arrived.

When the first European settlers came in the late 15th century, Native peoples helped them adjust to a hostile unfamiliar new land. They weren’t repaid kindly in our great push West and South that exterminated millions of them given no rights or quarter in our grand “democratic” experiment excluding them. Survivors today enjoy few freedoms only gotten grudgingly, and most suffer severe repression and deprivation in a land they once thrived on.

Today, our original inhabitants live in more desperate poverty and despair than any others in the nation. Their needs are shamelessly unaddressed and virtually ignored. No day honors them for what they sacrificed for the privileged few to enjoy alone. For them, justice long delayed is justice never gotten.

They have no reason to commemorate the nation’s founding that cost them their rights and destroyed their proud heritage, culture and lives. Today, their traditions aren’t taught in schools and are unknown by the public. They’re ignored by the dominant media that mocks and demonizes them in films and society as drunks, beasts, primitives and savages, noble or otherwise. Their legacy is one of made and broken treaties, stolen lands, rights denied, welfare ignored and lives taken for 500 years. They’re still repressed and denied in a shameful attempt to “Americanize” them against their will and destroy their proud cultures doing it.

Many others in the nation have no reason to celebrate either on this or any other day. It’s truer than ever in an age of extreme greed, unprecedented wealth disparity, loss of civil liberties and essential social services, a state of permanent imperial wars of aggression, galling corruption, and virtual abandonment of the rule of law by a government complicit in all its branches serving the privileged alone. Through lies, deceit and imperial arrogance, they created conditions hostile to the rights of ordinary people everywhere.

They ignore the needs of millions in the country enjoying few of the fruits available to a shrinking number of people in the “land of opportunity” offering less of it to growing numbers in it. Today tens of millions of poor and deprived, especially those of color, are practically condemned as criminals for their disadvantaged state. Through no fault of their own, they’re ignored by a heartless state worshiping wealth and privilege at the expense of those having little or none.

Newly arrived immigrants have little to celebrate either, especially the undocumented and exploited forced here by repressive trade agreements like NAFTA and DR-CAFTA. They destroyed their livelihoods at home enriching corporate giants at the expense of working people where they’re in force. Their choice was stay at home and perish or risk coming north to survive in a hostile unwelcoming climate uncaring of their plight and exploiting and persecuting the ones getting here and able to stay.

Muslims as well have little to celebrate, including citizens whose rights are nominally protected by the laws of the land. Instead, their government defiles Islam in the age of George Bush calling its believers “militants,” “terrorists” and “Islamofascists” threatening the nation’s security because the president says so. Thousands have been illegally hounded in witch-hunt roundups since 9/11, held in secret detention, unjustly deported, and given no rights including due process to clear their names. Their “crime” is their faith and color in a nation nominally guaranteeing all its people can worship freely. That right’s now voided for those of the wrong faith. They’re demonized, unwanted, condemned and persecuted in “the land of the free” but not for them. Shame on the nation that strayed from its founding principles, never granted to all, still only afforded a chosen few, and now denied anyone designated an enemy of the state even if they aren’t one.

Finally, African Americans have little to celebrate this independence day that gave them none at all at first, precious little thereafter, and still treats them as second class citizens at best. They were first commodified and sold into bondage as human property. Their worth and status were then degraded in Article 1, Section 2, Clause 3 of the Constitution. That was the infamous “three-fifths clause” euphemistically referring to slaves as less than people (and Indians as non-people) that remained the law of the land until voided by the 13th Amendment in 1865.

Black Americans are now nominally free, but along with Native Americans suffer the highest rates of poverty, deprivation, and incarceration and get the least amount of government aid for essential social services. That includes decent affordable health care, education and housing and enough food to eat for the poorest and most deprived with single mothers with children most harmed.

This July 4, at holiday outings, picnics, barbecues, ballgames, outdoor concerts, parades, fireworks displays, visits to the shore on vacation, and other celebratory events, remember the growing millions of victimized and deprived Americans in need. The state ignores them, denies them, even condemns them for their plight. Those most desperate are helped the least so the most privileged and well-off can be advantaged the most. As we give thanks and count our blessings this and every day, think of the poor and desperate who have few or none of what we take for granted. Remember, but for the grace of the Almighty, their plight could be ours.

Finally, remember as well on our “day of independence” the many tens of millions worldwide we deprived of theirs. Included are the people of Iraq, Afghanistan, Palestine and every nation living under US-imposed neoliberal unfair free-market rules exploiting the many for the interests of a privileged few. Those harmed range from the southern tip of Chile to the vastness of Africa to the Asian continent and throughout Europe, most notably in the East once under Soviet control. People everywhere pay for our nation putting wealth and power interests above basic humanity.

On this “independence day” and all others, think of them and our own deprived millions at home. Then imagine a future time free of that condition because enough people mobilized to change things bettering everyone. That would be something worth giving thanks for and celebrating.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

Also visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to The Steve Lendman News and Information Hour on TheMicroEffect.com Saturdays at noon US central time.

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Calls for action on mesothelioma

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

Lee Bloomquist

Joe Scholar has had cancer twice.

But he has only one concern.

“All I want to do is save the children of the Range,” said Scholar, 84, of Virginia, a former LTV Steel Mining Co. employee. “Especially the ones in Virginia that have to drink water that has tailings in it and breathe the air that comes into Virginia from U.S. Steel and Eveleth [United] Taconite.”

Scholar and about a half-dozen other Iron Range residents gave the state Department of Health and about a dozen lawmakers a piece of their minds Thursday night during a public meeting about mesothelioma in front of about 160 people at Mountain Iron Community Center.

Miners, their wives and retirees say exposure to iron ore dust and asbestos has for years been a concern on the Range.

However, it never has been determined whether 58 miners who, since 2003, have died of mesothelioma, a type of cancer, developed it from commercial asbestos, iron ore dust or other sources.

To a person, Iron Rangers say they want action.

“Commissioner [Dianne] Mandernach, will you ask the governor for a special session and get some funding and get this rolling?” asked Robert Bassing, a miner at U.S. Steel’s Minntac Mine in Mountain Iron. “We have to quit this political stuff and work together.”

Nine DFL lawmakers, eight from the Iron Range, last week called for Mandernach’s resignation as state health commissioner after it was discovered that the department delayed for a year announcing that an additional 35 miners died from mesothelioma.

Mesothelioma is a rare form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs and abdomen. It is seen almost exclusively in people who have been exposed to asbestos. It generally takes 20 to 50 years to develop.

By the time it’s discovered, it’s often fatal.

Mandernach, a Moose Lake native, reiterated Thursday that it was a mistake not releasing the information. She said the department planned three studies on the issue and pledged to come back in six months for a public meeting to update residents.

“I am keenly aware of the frustration on the Range,” Mandernach said. “In listening to your stories and frustrations, I apologize. Every commissioner since the 1980s has dealt with the issue.”

Sen. Dave Tomassoni of Chisholm said Iron Range residents have lost confidence in the department and said an independent group should perform future studies. “I’m hoping that somewhere along the way, if we find an independent study, that you will cooperate,” Tomassoni said.

Mary Stodola of Hoyt Lakes said her husband, a former LTV worker, has been diagnosed with mesothelioma. “The guys would come home black,” Stodola said. “The little masks they gave the men and coveralls they wore didn’t protect the men. It’s too late for us, but it’s not too late for our children and grandchildren to have a better life.”

Former state Rep. Joe Begich of Eveleth said he worked more than 30 years at a taconite plant. He called the delay in releasing information a “cover-up.”

“What I’m saying to the commissioner is shame, shame on you for not protecting lives. It’s wrong what the administration is doing.’’

Dave Trach, director of a 1,200-member steelworkers’ retiree group and former LTV Steel Mining Co. employee, said 480 LTV miners have been screened for health issues since 1999.

Of the 480, 286 have some type of health problems linked to asbestos-like fibers, Trach said.

Trach said miners were never told about asbestos products used in the mines.

“I’ve been terribly frustrated since 1999 and it seems like I’ve been butting my head against the wall. I hope this starts something.”

In 2003, the state Department of Health — in a study of 72,000 miners — identified 17 who had worked in the mines between the 1930s and 1982 and developed the disease between 1988 and 1996. Of the 17, 14 had significant exposure to commercial asbestos, such as brake linings, plumbing, furnaces or boilers, the department said. One of the 17 was potentially exposed to high amounts of mineral dust.

The department concluded that exposure to commercial asbestos in the mining industry — not fibers in the ore — could reasonably explain the occurrences in miners.

However, because exposure to taconite dust was not specifically studied, it wasn’t ruled out as a potential contributor to the disease.

In March 2007, the department said an additional 35 miners developed mesothelioma from 1997 to 2005.

A Star Tribune newspaper investigation this month discovered that the department knew of the additional deaths in March 2006, but didn’t announce them. Last week, the department said another six miners have died from the disease, bringing the total to 58.

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ZEITGEIST, The Movie DVD

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

ZEITGEIST The Movie on DVD

You can order the Zeitgeist DVD here. (Scroll down for more retailers)

WARNING: Please bear in mind that a large part of this film is suspected as misinformation, for details see:
Here Here Here Here Here
Here Here Here Here Here

You can also see an example here of the damage this type of project is doing to the public perception of credible information about the banking system and 9/11.

Other retailers for ZEITGEIST The Movie DVD:
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here
Here

ZEITGEIST, The Movie - Official Release - Full Production (including the ‘Overture’)What does Christianity, 911 and The Federal Reserve have in common?Overture: 0:00-9:34 Part 1: 9:35-35:53 Part 2: 35:54-1:09:16 Part 3: 1:09:17-1:56:23

Zeitgeist was created as a not for profit expression to inspire people to start looking at the world
from a more critical perspective and to understand that very often things are not what the
population at large think they are. The information in Zeitgeist was established over a year long period

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Carlyle Group in talks with Virgin Media over possible $19.6 billion bid

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

The Associated Press

The Carlyle Group private equity firm is in discussions with Virgin Media Inc. over a potential bid for the British cable TV company, The New York Times reported.The talks are preliminary and may not lead to a bid, the Times said on its Web site, citing a person familiar with the negotiations. The person was not authorized to speak about the negotiations and requested anonymity, the Times said in its report Sunday.

The offer for Virgin Media, whose largest investor is Richard Branson, would be worth about $19.6 billion (€14.5 billion) including debt, the person said, placing it among the largest ever in Britain.

A spokeswoman for Virgin Media declined to comment. A message was left Sunday evening seeking comment from The Carlyle Group.

Virgin Media, formed by a merger this year between Branson’s Virgin Mobile and cable operator NTL Inc., reported its seventh consecutive quarterly loss in May after subscribers defected to rival BSkyB.

Virgin Media lost customers earlier this year after it stopped airing basic BSkyB channels, dropping popular programs such as “Lost,” “24,” and “The Simpsons,” as the result of a battle over fees during negotiations to renew a distribution agreement.

BSkyB has long dominated pay TV in Britain, accounting for around 70 percent of the country’s pay-TV subscribers. But the arrival of Virgin Media has threatened a shake-up of the status quo, and relations between the two have become increasingly rancorous in recent months.

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RFID is not safe - AMA Report

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

By Mick Meaney
RINF Alternative News

The American Medical Association (AMA) has released a report highlighting the risks of human implantable RFID microchips.

The report contains safety and privacy warnings - as the chips have never been thoroughly tested, despite in 2004 the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) giving the go-ahead for the use of human implantable chips, causing outrage among medical professionals and privacy advocates.

Medical sales of RFID chips have been poor as a result.

VeriChip, the company manufacturing the chips, have been putting their own spin on the new report claiming that it will “enhance marketing efforts”.

However, the AMA will consider the future use of RFID, if proven secure and efficient. They will then encourage the widespread use across the global health care sector.

The full report:

REPORT OF THE COUNCIL ON ETHICAL AND JUDICIAL AFFAIRS* CEJA Report 5-A-07

Subject: Radio Frequency ID Devices in Humans

Presented by: Robert M. Sade, MD, Chair

Referred to: Reference Committee on Amendments to Constitution and Bylaws (Richert E. Quinn, Jr., MD, Chair)

INTRODUCTION

Radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are computer chips connected to miniature antennae that can be used to transmit information electronically via a proximate RFID reader. The use of these devices in health care represents another promising development in information technology, but also raises important ethical, legal and social issues. Specifically, the use of RFID labeling in humans for medical purposes may improve patient safety, but also may pose some physical risks, compromise patient privacy, or present other social hazards.

This report responds to Resolution 6 (A-06), “RFID Labeling in Humans,” which called for study of the medical and ethical implications of RFID chips in humans. This report focuses on ethical issues in the use of RFID chips, specifically in regard to their implantation for clinical purposes.

BACKGROUND

Radio frequency identification devices utilize wireless technology to communicate data via signals in the radio frequency range of the electromagnetic spectrum. Data are stored in a microchip attached to an antenna, and packaged so that they can be attached to or embedded in products, animals, or people.

The two main types of RFID tags are passive and active. Passive tags contain no internal power supply. They convert the radio frequency energy emitted from a reader device into signals that transmit stored data for a distance of a few feet. These passive devices currently have restricted amounts of data storage and are of limited functionality, because the information they contain cannot be modified.

In comparison, active RFID tags contain an internal battery, which provides increased reliability, longer transmission ranges, on-tag data processing and greater data storage.

¹ While their capacity to process data internally allows for expanded capabilities in the future, their greater transmission range presents a more substantial threat to data confidentiality and patients’ privacy.

In October 2004, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the first RFID tags specifically intended for human implantation.

² Approved RFID devices are currently limited to passive units, intended for identifying patients. Active RFID chips may be approved in the future.

Human-implanted passive RFID devices that identify patients may also contain essential biometric and medical information. The tags are primarily intended for patients with chronic diseases, such as coronary artery disease, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, diabetes mellitus, stroke or seizure disorder, or are implanted into patients with medical devices such as pacemakers, stents, or joint replacements. These devices are approximately the size of a grain of rice, and are implanted under the skin via a hypodermic-type needle in less than one minute.³

INFORMATION SYSTEMS

RFID tags may promote the timely identification of patients and expedite access to their medical information. As a result, these devices can improve the continuity and coordination of care with resulting reduction in adverse drug events and other medical errors.⁴ RFID tags also may improve efficiency within the health care system. In conjunction with improved medical record management, these devices may facilitate access to patient records, medication lists, and diagnostic tests.⁵ To be maximally effective, however, the information in these devices must be adequately integrated into present clinical information and communications systems, laboratory databases, and pharmacy systems.¹ Appropriate processes also must be developed to inscribe, read and archive data stored on RFID tags. As new designs enter the marketplace, the emergence of competing standards may present problems for hospital staff if a patient’s ID tag proves incompatible with the interrogation devices employed by the hospital.¹

Physical risks to patients

These devices may present physical risks to the patient. Though they are removable, their small size allows them to migrate under the skin, making them potentially difficult to extract. However, this tendency may be minimized by constructing RFID tags from materials that permit surrounding tissue to encase the device. In addition, RFID tags may cause electromagnetic interference, which may interfere with electrosurgical devices and defibrillators.¹ Finally, it has not been determined whether RFID tags might affect the efficacy of pharmaceuticals.¹^,6

PATIENT PRIVACY AND SECURITY

The primary concerns surrounding human RFID labeling pertain to their potential impact on patient privacy and security. Physicians must assure patients that their medical information will be held in confidence (see Opinion E-5.05, “Confidentiality”). Moreover, maintenance of privacy is required to protect patients from embarrassment, potential social discrimination, loss of health care coverage, or other detrimental consequences (see Opinion E-5.059, “Privacy in the Context of Health Care”). At this time, the security of RFID devices has not been fully established. Physicians, therefore, cannot assure patients that the personal information contained on RFID tags will be appropriately protected. In light of these security concerns, the FDA currently requires RFID transponders to store only a unique electronic identification code to be read by the scanner.² This identification code can then be used to access patient identity and corresponding health information stored in a database. To protect confidentiality and privacy, the medical community should advocate for the adoption of other protections, such as computer encryption or digital signatures. Ultimately, the medical community should undertake appropriate efforts to prevent unauthorized access to patients’ information contained on RFID tags (see also E-5.07, “Confidentiality: Computers,” AMA Policy Database).

INFORMED CONSENT

To properly respect patient autonomy, RFID tags should not be implanted or removed without the prior consent of patients or their surrogates (see E-8.08, “Informed Consent,” and E-8.081, “Surrogate Decision Making”). During the consent process, decision-makers should be informed of the potential risks and benefits associated with RFID tags, including the many uncertainties regarding their efficacy. Patients are also entitled to know who will be granted access to the data contained on RFID tags and the purposes for which this information will be used.⁷

FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS

It seems likely that utilization of RFID devices for medical purposes will expand.⁴ The medical profession must continue to monitor the efficacy of these devices. If RFID tags are proven to benefit patient care significantly, the profession should advocate for widespread adoption of RFID technology, and for policies that make RFID tags available to all patients who would benefit (see Opinion E-2.095, “The Provision of Adequate Health Care”). However, if objective evidence demonstrates negative consequences that outweigh the benefits in relation to health care, the medical profession will bear an important responsibility to oppose the use of RFID labeling in humans. Finally, physicians should be aware of emerging non-medical applications of human-implantable RFID devices. For instance, active RFID technologies might be considered for the tracking or surveillance of individuals who pose a threat to others. Although this is only one of many possible uses of RFID technology in the future, it alerts the medical profession to the need for continuous assessment of the appropriate role of physicians participating in RFID labeling of human beings. Indeed, certain uses could constitute an infringement upon patients’ individual liberties, placing physicians in a position to act as patient advocates by promoting the use of other, less intrusive alternatives, when available.⁴

CONCLUSION

RFID technology has the potential to improve patient care as well as patient safety. However, the safety and efficacy of human-implantable RFID devices has yet to be established. Therefore, the medical community should support further investigations to obtain the data necessary to make informed medical decisions regarding the use of these devices. The medical community should also be sensitive to potential social consequences of RFID devices, such as non-medical applications in law enforcement.

RECOMMENDATION

The Council on Ethical and Judicial Affairs recommends that the following be adopted and the remainder of the report be filed. Radio frequency identification (RFID) devices may help to identify patients, thereby improving the safety and efficiency of patient care, and may be used to enable secure access to patient clinical information. However, their efficacy and security have not been established. Therefore, physicians implanting such devices should take certain precautions: (1) The informed consent process must include disclosure of medical uncertainties associated with these devices.

1. Physicians should strive to protect patients’ privacy by storing confidential information only on RFID devices with informational security similar to that required of medical records.

(3) Physicians should support research into the safety, efficacy, and potential non-medical uses of RFID devices in human beings. (NEW HOD/CEJA Policy)

Fiscal Note: Staff cost estimated at less than $500 to implement.

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Lieberman calls for wider use of surveillance cameras

Monday, July 2nd, 2007

By Klaus Marre

Sen. Joe Lieberman (D-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, said Sunday he wants to “more widely” use surveillance cameras across the country.

“The Brits have got something smart going in England, and it was part of why I believe they were able to so quickly apprehend suspects in the terrorist acts over the weekend, and that is they have cameras all over London and other of their major cities,” Lieberman said.

“I think it’s just common sense to do that here much more widely,” he added. “And of course, we can do it without compromising anybody’s real privacy.”

Lieberman lamented the “petty, partisan fighting” in Congress and called on his colleagues to join together to upgrade the nation’s electronic surveillance capabilities.

“Right now, we’re at a partisan gridlock over the question of whether the American government can listen into conversations or follow e-mail trails of non-American citizen,” he said on ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos. “That’s wrong. We’ve got to solve that problem, pass a law to give the people working for us the ability to protect us.”

Lieberman, who is more closely aligned with the GOP than the Democrats he caucuses with on the war in Iraq and many national security issues and insisted Sunday that the surge in Iraq is working.

“You might say that, in Iraq, we’ve got the enemy on the run, but for some reason, in Washington, a lot of politicians are on the run to order a retreat by our troops even as they are beginning to succeed,” he said.

Lieberman stated it is not fair to conclude that he is more likely to endorse a Republican for president.

But he added that “so far I would say that Democratic candidates, in the larger questions of American security, have been disappointing, and I hope things will get better as this goes on.”

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