RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices

An anonymous reader writes "A new study suggests RFID systems can cause 'potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.' (Here is the JAMA study's abstract.) Among other things, electrical interference changed breathing machines' ventilation rates and caused syringe pumps to stop. Some hospitals have already begun using RFID tags to track a wide variety of medical devices, but the new finding suggests the systems may have unintended consequences."

Comments

This is too much

[Mensa Babe]

The radio frequency identification, or RFID, is an inherently flawed idea. It is a technological solution to a social problem that it created. It is a threat to our security, our privacy, our freedom, and now also our health! And this is not a just conspiracy theory. Some of the most respectable members of our society are protesting against RFID technology, including Bruce Schneier and even Richard Stallman. My only question is, how much more insult to our intelligence can we take as a society before we start actively protesting? Our freedom, our privacy, our health and our dignity is being taken from us and all we can do is complain on the Internet? Where are the protesting groups? Where are the outraged people desperate to change the situation? Where are the angry mobs? What else are we going to let them take away from us before we stop talking and start acting?

Re:This is too much

[arotenbe]

Yes, but... think of the all of the jobs it would create for snails!

Re:This is too much

[Anonymous Coward]

By merely asking the questions and and taking an outraged tone you're really doing no more than the people you're chastising. Instead of making vague mentions of what "we" should do, name a time and a place for people in your area to congregate and discuss action to take, and perhaps set up a website to help others in their area do the same.

I don't disagree with your sentiment one bit, which is why I encourage you to take your own advice.

If you're now thinking that I'm a hypocrite for not doing the same I'll simply point out that I'm on the wrong side of the Atlantic for this particular issue, but when it comes to taking action against this here I'll be more then happy to do my part.

Re:This is too much

[FooAtWFU]

Right. Because "quickly locating a very expensive portable medical device which may have been left in the wrong room in a 10,000-room hospital" is a problem that didn't exist before those evil overlords invented it. Heck, even the "gee it would be nice to track my supply chain better" problems are fundamentally real. And these things work.

You talk of privacy issues and such? Oh, you betcha! They're real. But you can't pretend it's not a useful technology. That is the real insult to intelligence in this thread.

Re:This is too much

[SomeJoel]

Are you suggesting that because of some perceived misuse of the technology, we should protest its existence? RFID readers are used in some semiconductor manufacturing fabs to track carriers (and hence wafers). These allow for faster and easier reading than other tracking devices, such as barcode readers. This generally make an automated fab run more smoothly, and increases throughput. I don't think this particular use violates your security, privacy, or freedom.

Re:This is too much

[Gewalt]

My only question is, how much more insult to our intelligence can we take as a society before we start actively protesting?

Yea, um. Ok, I'll start protesting against the insult to my intelligence that is your posts. I mean, since you requested action, I feel compelled to deliver.

Re:This is too much

[fragmentate]

You had me...

Right up until you brought up Richard Stallman.

That guy would protest clean underwear, not just RFID tagged underwear.

Next.

Re:This is too much

[Itninja]

My only question is (well, your first question anyway) , how much more insult to our intelligence can we take as a society before we start actively protesting? Our freedom, our privacy, our health and our dignity is being taken from us and all we can do is complain on the Internet? Where are the protesting groups? Where are the outraged people desperate to change the situation? Where are the angry mobs? What else are we going to let them take away from us before we stop talking and start acting?

Let's take this one question at a time:

how much more insult to our intelligence can we take as a society before we start actively protesting?
Until the insult turns into something that physically hurts.

Our freedom, our privacy, our health and our dignity is being taken from us and all we can do is complain on the Internet?
Pretty much, yeah.

Where are the protesting groups?
Panem et Circenses my friend.

Where are the outraged people desperate to change the situation? Where are the angry mobs?
See previous question.

What else are we going to let them take away from us before we stop talking and start acting?
I suspect some modern form of prima nocturne. But even then, there's TV to distract them.

Re:This is too much

[PopeRatzo]

But you can't pretend it's not a useful technology.

If they want to put them on expensive medical equipment, I'm OK with that. But I absolutely don't want them on anything I carry,or wear, or my car, or my bike, not even my rollerblades. Certainly not on my currency or anything I use as currency. And I don't want them on my self (Google "SWIFT" and be appalled).

Besides the fact that I find this surveillance culture creepy as hell, and absolutely do not trust any of the people who are likely to have access to the data, there are the clear religious implications, since as everybody knows THEY ARE THE MARK OF MOTHERFUCKING CAIN AND THEIR USE HERALDS THE COMING OF THE ANTICHRIST (or something).

Other than that, I'm cool with the RFIDs.

Re:This is too much

[utopianfiat]

yhbt lol
Are you serious? Nobody caught this? The poster's name is MENSA BABE ffs!! His signature uses BRITISH SPELLING!! His writing style comes straight out of Hillary Clinton's campaign!

This man may be the biggest troll in the world.

Re:This is too much

[flaming error]

"quickly locating a very expensive portable medical device which may have been left in the wrong room in a 10,000-room hospital" Who/what are you quoting? RFID is good at identifying things you have, not finding things you've lost. Distances like 30 cm aren't much help "in a 10,000-room hospital".

Re:This is too much

[whoever57]

His signature uses BRITISH SPELLING!!

I hate to break it to you, but his (?) sig does not contain British spelling (or even "BRITISH SPELLING!!"). It contains a spelling error, viewed from either side of the Atlantic ocean.

Re:This is too much

[Awptimus Prime]

I am on the same page as you. I suspect I am old enough to be one of the few people here who have had to do pre-IT work in my younger days. I once worked for a gigantic (800,000 sq ft) food distribution center. Many times, the outside of pallets "packages" would have the bar codes scraped off them due to handling with forklifts, lift-clamps, etc. If I had the option of just driving a big palette of food products through a scanning device that counted the products and gave me weights automatically, it would have added up to likely 10 hours of time saved per loader a week. Not to mention the hazards of having to get on and off an industrial lift repeatedly all day long, the shock to joints, the static discharge (sometimes reaching an 8" arc), and so on would have been nice to cut down on.

My impression with a lot of the folks who play a scared advocate on such technologies don't have much of a grasp of what the rest of the world has to put up with in their day-to-day experiences and could care less about their lives being easier, because, there *might* be some madman somewhere ready to spy on them given the chance. These same people probably do their banking online, have credit cards, and homes without decent security systems. Those are the real things to worry about, in my opinion.

This same line of thought often reminds me of the "sticking it to the man" attitude I see around here a lot. Like "It's about time Company X learned it's lesson", well, Company X doesn't usually learn a lesson. The individuals on the lower end of the employment ladder just get treated worse, while the shareholders and executives don't really have much to worry about. Or, "Corporate greed", got to love that one. It's the individual greed of many people combined with a lot of Joes trying to keep their households afloat. There I go rambling again.

Re:This is too much

[GigaplexNZ]

Our freedom, our privacy, our health and our dignity is being taken from us and all we can do is complain on the Internet? Says the one complaining on the internet... do something about it if you have a problem with inaction.

Re:This is too much

[Repton]

Nothing wrong with clean underwear, but if you're wearing underwear, anyone who doubts its cleanliness should be able to inspect it themselves.

Re:This is too much

[FooAtWFU]

Actually, my company occasionally works with active, battery-powered RFID tag technology. They chirp location beacons by themselves. I understand most of the applications are currently more "warehouse" than "hospital", though.

Re:This is too much

[blincoln]

Also, if you have scanners in highly-trafficked doorways, you can at least get a good idea of where a passively-tagged item is based on the last one it passed through, and possibly the last few (to give you a rough vector).

Re:This is too much

[confusedneutrino]

Between your username and sig, I'm reminded of why I never paid my Mensa dues past the first year, way back in middle school. Seriously, get over yourself.

Re:This is too much

[billcopc]

WTF is it about the parent that warrants flamebait ?

Every day sees new ways to usurp our rights as citizens and as human beings. We are assumed guilty until proven innocent, if we even have a chance to defend ourselves. RFID tagging, while having its benefits, is far too easy to abuse, and abuse is the only constant in today's society.

If hospital staff can't be bothered to track their own equipment, how is RFID going to help ? There's is still a human somewhere that's going to screw it up out of sheer laziness.

Re:This is too much

[drinkypoo]

Where are the outraged people desperate to change the situation? Where are the angry mobs? What else are we going to let them take away from us before we stop talking and start acting?

Where are the trolls? Oh, right here.

RFID is immensely useful and the privacy considerations, while real, are mostly overblown.

You are either a troll or a fool. Either way, go crap up digg.

Re:This is too much

[GoodNicksAreTaken]

Who/what are you quoting? RFID is good at identifying things you have, not finding things you've lost. Distances like 30 cm aren't much help "in a 10,000-room hospital". You know, like how a barcode can't tell you where your package is if it is 1,000 miles away. Distances like 5cm aren't much help on a planet this size.

Re:This is too much

[houghi]

I hope you are not working in an office or have a job where you need to visit any office.

Just to bring you up to speed. They give you a card, so you can swipe open doors, like server rooms. Instead of people getting a key, they are given cards, so they can track where you are ALL THE TIME.

And when you visit a company, you need to enter your name at the reception and you get a badge, so everybody can identify you are a visitor. Next to that in many offices, a person from the office needs to be with you at all times. Talk about control.

And tracking people can be done without those devices as well. I have been followed by some people when I was in Sweden. They were from some security police or whatever and I am still pissed of that they did not send me the pictures they took. They did it so unbiously obvious that I know they wanted me to know that I was being followed.

So as much as you say that RFID chips might be a technical solution to a social problem, NOT having RFID chips is also a technical solution to a social problem. Forbidding RFID is throwing the baby away with the bathwater.

There are tons of places where RFID chips would be a great idea.

Oh and almost everybody already walks around with not just an RFID chip, which is passive, but with a thing that sends out where they are all the time: the cell phone. And on a private scale, you can catch bluetooth and see where they are.

Interference in medicine

[neapolitan]

Interesting -- Slashdot has talked about this kind of thing before and I remember responding:

http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=234315&cid=19078365

Every time I read something like this I get a bit frustrated. I can't paste the whole article for copyright reasons, but I am hoping a kind AC will. Either way, the gist of the article is that when very close (some have interference "distances" of 0.1 cm) RFID active readers / transmitters may interfere with some medical equipment.

The interobserver variability in the study was high, and they defined an event very broadly, essentially as any change in the operation of a device. It is a bit aggressive -- and I fear that good technology may inadvertently be stifled for "interference" concerns...

Re:Interference in medicine

[Gewalt]

can't paste the whole article for copyright reasons, but I am hoping a kind AC will.

Believe it or not, but you too can actually post as AC! It's amazing, I know! Just check that box you see right after the subject of your post.

Re:Interference in medicine

[ColdWetDog]

the gist of the article is that when very close (some have interference "distances" of 0.1 cm) RFID active readers / transmitters may interfere with some medical equipment.

And the paranoids are after us all. TFA doesn't paint this as A Big Deal. It's just another thing to watch for. That's why hospitals typically don't allow cell phones in patient critical areas (and then wildly overestimate the danger potential and try to ban them everywhere which of course doesn't work). The ONLY time the problems arose was when the tags were being scanned.

This isn't going to happen all of the time, and in an ICU room, it's likely not to happen at all. Besides, even a ventilator can have a brief hiccup without killing somebody - I'd worry if it reset it's controls to some different settings, but the new ones are pretty carefully designed to handle all manner of human abuse without doing something awful.

A hospital may need to develop a policy on RFID scanning - just like we develop policies On Everything.

TFA does point out yet another issue we need to study. Just put in on the pile over there. We'll get to it.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Anonymous Coward]

It takes random kind AC's time to clean up formatting a tiny bit and remove symbols that are interpreted as http code by slashdot.

Sarcasm does not make you smart, contributing to knowledge does.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Tony Hoyle]

And the paranoids are after us all. TFA doesn't paint this as A Big Deal. It's just another thing to watch for. That's why hospitals typically don't allow cell phones in patient critical areas (and then wildly overestimate the danger potential and try to ban them everywhere which of course doesn't work).

In the UK at least the reason for the blanket ban is so they can push their expensive 'Patientline' phones. It's rigidly enforced.. they'll physically throw you out if they see a mobile phone near a ward... critical area or not.

Re:Interference in medicine

[mrbluze]

The interobserver variability in the study was high, and they defined an event very broadly

It was the same with mobile phones - in almost all circumstances they made absolutely no difference, since practically all devices are properly shielded. But we kept the "Switch off your fuckin phone" signs up because it was just plain annoying when patients (especially teenage females) are forever texting and chatting when you're trying to explain a procedure to them.

OTOH I think RFID tags and many other technological 'enhancements' are thrust upon the medical industry by IT reps and accepted by hospital committees without answering the fundamental questions: Does it save money, will it help patients, will it make our jobs easier?

Most of the time the devices don't do any of the three.

Re:Interference in medicine

[fast turtle]

The interobserver variability in the study was high, and they defined an event very broadly, essentially as any change in the operation of a device. It is a bit aggressive -- and I fear that good technology may inadvertently be stifled for "interference" concerns... When dealing with life support and such medical devices. Death from a malfunction is a possibility and the liability issue is upon the Manufacturer. That's why most manufacturers do not sell such equipment but lease it to the hospital with a maintenance program. It's to protect themselves from a liability issue and should a hospital deploy an RFID system without input from the vendors, someone will be at an increased risk of death.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Gewalt]

Thanks for that. In the future I'll be sure to ask your permission before making a post. You know, just in case you are in the mood for an "informative" post when I was preparing a "funny" post. I can't believe I have been so careless as to have offended you with the wrong post type. I do hope you can eventually find it in your heart to forgive me. Not now, I understand, your heart still burns with rage. But maybe years from now you will be able to look back on my penance and see that I am worthy of forgiveness.

Re:Interference in medicine

[jellomizer]

Unfortunately people want to go into panic mode when they here these thing. Now we know it is a problem we can normally work around it, and still maintain the advantages. Often with minor reengineering we can fix these problems. However society will go "TECHNOLOGY BAD DONT USE IT, IT IS MY LIFE ON THE LINE!" Not realizing that other things are out there that can create the same problems.

Re:Interference in medicine

[ColdWetDog]

In the UK at least the reason for the blanket ban is so they can push their expensive 'Patientline' phones. It's rigidly enforced.. they'll physically throw you out if they see a mobile phone near a ward... critical area or not.

Uh oh, I see an upcoming "payphone gap" - we'd better get right on this. I'll just go tell our CEO about this....

Actually, with the current day bed charges in the US we should be giving the patient a phone, an iPod and a laptop every time they spend the night.

Re:Interference in medicine

[bill_mcgonigle]

I can corroborate your basic point, and the sad part is that my data is 10 years old. Back then wireless ethernet (2Mbps pre-b stuff, even) was new and we were testing for interference. The very same kinds of machines had trouble as in TFS, and it was at sub-foot ranges.

I suspect either this study tested old gear (I'm assuming our hospital used a popular vendor) or the same vendors are playing lazy. Back then, the biomedical engineering guys explained to me that the FCC granted exceptions to medical device manufacturers for emitted interference, and that an emitter is a receiver, but that most good medical products companies didn't need to bother with these exceptions, they did a fine job on principle.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Anonymous Coward]

You are a sad, sad person.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Dolohov]

It's useful to know in case someone thinks it's a good idea to tag pacemakers with RFID tags, or thinks it's a bright idea to build an active reader powerful enough to trigger every tag in a hallway, but you're right: this is being blown way out of proportion.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Opportunist]

Get used to it. I post something insightful and it gets modded funny. I post a witty response, it gets modded offtopic. I get pissed and write a rant, it's modded insightful.

I stopped trying to understand moderators.

Re:Interference in medicine

[Opportunist]

Well, I could see how some hospitals were already pondering adding RFID chips to their hospital gowns, for doctors and patients alike. It could make laundry a heck lot easier and more automated, you see. Or how about RFID tagged patient reports?

So I can see how RFIDs interfering with medical equipment is a threat, even though the chips are only active while being read.

Re:Interference in medicine

[quarkify]

I completely agree with neapolitan, however, you need to also consider the general populous when considering the use of RFID transmission in hospitals. For years, there have been reports issued regarding the danger of all sorts of EM radiation (Note: microwaves and cell phones). To this day there is not enough definitive evidence (in terms of common knowledge) for non-scientifically inclined citizens to believe that the use of RFIDs in hospitals would not incur negative effects. If a cell phone has the potential to interfere with medical equipment and cause brain tumours (according to details in the public domain), then what is the possibility that additional sources of RFIDs would be appropriate for use in hospitals. As I said before, I completely agree with you, however, the sociological feasibility of the use of RFIDS may be difficult to sell to the general public.

Let's just hope...

[katterjohn]

..that people with these devices don't receive any mail via snail.

Electromagnetic Compatability Study Needed

[loose electron]

Electromagnetic compatability is a huge undertaking in the hardware world.

As an example, IEEE EMC society:
http://www.ewh.ieee.org/soc/emcs/

I would be very curious to know if any EMC work was done between all of theses devices? Nothing indicated of substance in the article.

my 20 cents (adjusted for inflation and to account for the energy costs per post) :)
jerry

Re:Electromagnetic Compatability Study Needed

[EMCEngineer]

If the devices carry a CE mark(which would be required to sell in the EU), they had EMC testing done on them.

The basic EMC standard for medical devices is EN 60601-1-2. For radiated interference, it requires testing from 80 to 2500 MHz - 3 V/m for non-lifesupporting equipment and 10 V/m for lifesupporting equipment. This is a 1 kHz AM modulated signal.

There are further requirements for implantable devices and some other life supporting equipment. EN 45502 has magnetic field requirements, and AAMI PC69 covers cell phone frequencies with a pulsed test.

There is at present no requirement to test at the specific frequencies that may be used for RFID and the like, and no requirement to use a modulation similar to what they employ.

Hazardous

[electricbern]

I dub thee harzardous technology of the week. You can now join the cellphone, TV, radio, power grid, Internet, and so on in the list of hazardous technology. Welcome on board.

Re:Hazardous

[Anne_Nonymous]

RFID toe tags, however, are the neatest thing since sliced bread.

Need in health care for asset tracking

[steeljaw]

Interestingly enough, I've been approached 3 times now by people in the health care industry who have expressed a need for some time of asset tracking software and I've always given them my brother's card (his company specializes in RFID based asset tracking). Actually, one person specifically asked me if I was capable of integrating an RFID solution into their environment. I wonder how many companies are currently developing RFID based software geared towards the health care industry only to receive a backlash from the medical community when this type of information becomes common knowledge..

Re:Need in health care for asset tracking

[Anonymous Coward]

Hi All
I work as a Biomed Technologist, so this is in my direct field of work.

Really, RFID tags will not be a problem in hospitals unless multiple failures are already present. Of more concern is hand held radio's security sometimes use (we've had a vent restart from those). ALL medical devices have EM shielding, and it's usually in things like lead wires (for an ECG for example) that will have cracked shielding that might be a problem. Most wireless technology now is either in the MHZ range (1 HZ might be a problem... >100kHZ is really a non-problem for interference), and they often use frequency spreading so no one frequency has that many watts of EM.

It's really the people are are always concern with liability that will take notice of this. From a practical point of view it's not a problem at all.

Re:Need in health care for asset tracking

[Tony Hoyle]

What about the backlash to the makers of the affected medical equipment? That's where any blame should lie.

Any piece of life saving equipment that can be screwed up by a low power radio transmission is not fit for purpose. These things are supposed to be built to high standards and have near zero failure rates.

Re:Need in health care for asset tracking

[drinkypoo]

I seem to recall a news item about some heart monitors being set off by a digital television test, I seem to recall it being in Texas? Turns out they weren't required to be FCC licensed (this is the story as I remember it, I could be way off base) and they wound up on the same frequency as terrestrial digital television, which won.

I feel the same way about medical equipment as I do about an airplane. If a cellular phone or an RFID scanner can cause it to malfunction, it's not safe enough to actually use. I place pacemakers which cannot be used near a microwave oven in the same category. Isn't there some kind of technology dividend from the space program which can solve that problem?

Re:Need in health care for asset tracking

[Detritus]

Like many of the people who use wireless microphones, they were using "unused" TV channels to relay information. That works fine until someone is allocated that channel.

The local police and fire departments operate their radios on an unused UHF TV channel. The difference is that the FCC gave them permission to use those frequencies.

Oh, please

[spun]

Lets take these points one by one. First, it is not a flawed idea, it is a flawed implementation. All privacy concerns can be easily mitigated, with or without cooperation from RFID manufacturers. Pop your undies in the microwave for ten seconds and they won't be reporting back to the mothership, don't worry. Second, they are a technological solution to a physical, not social problem: inventory tracking. The fact that they are being used in other ways does not change the fact that this is what they were invented for, and they do a good job keeping costs down and efficiency up.

Bruce was complaining about their use in passports. So, screen the passports so they can't be read unless opened. Besides the passport issue, here is Stallman's fear:

Progress in gel batteries could result in RFIDs readable from 300 feet. If one of them is inserted in something you carry, you could be scanned from a block away! Total monitoring of everyone's movements could be a reality. Gosh, that could never happen with any other kind of technology, oh wait, spies have been doing that for years, and tracking people over a much longer distance. How would protesting RFID change that, exactly? There are much, much scarier things to protest against than RFID tags, get some perspective please.

Re:Oh, please

[johnny cashed]

Pop your undies in the microwave for ten seconds and they won't be reporting back to the mothership, don't worry.

But it is what's in my undies that concerns me...

on another tangent...

But how do I know that my microwave doesn't have an RFID reader that enables it to know that there is an RFID tag inside and it only goes through the motions of microwaving my undies, thereby rendering any RFID chip(s) in my undies untouched and fully functional? Far fetched? Future microwave dinners and popcorn might have RFID tags embedded which tell various microwave oven how long to cook the product. Can I get thicker tinfoil for my hat?

Re:Oh, please

[spun]

Oh man, you are using actual tinfoil for your hat? You know that's made from aluminum, right? Aluminum amplifies the mind control rays.

Re:Oh, please

[maxume]

Fear not, Ice T and Henry Rollins will have a microwave that is free of government control. You will be able to take your undies to them for sanitization.

Re:Oh, please

[johnny cashed]

No No, it's tinfoil all right. It says so on the label...wait a minute, how do I know if Fisher Scientific isn't in on it as well... Everyone is conspiring against me...

Re:Oh, please

[Anonymous Coward]

they are a technological solution to a physical, not social problem: inventory tracking.

Bruce was complaining about their use in passports. So, screen the passports so they can't be read unless opened.

First off passports already are designed to not be readable unless they're opened. The real problem is where they can be opened. I'm guessing you've never been to Europe? Lots of hotels in England, France, German and many other countries will look at your passport. Which means anyone with a cheap RFID reader that's sitting in the lobby can get a quick grab of your identity, places visited and even a picture of you.
As you say they're for inventory tracking. Last I checked I'm not "inventory". Anything that furthers the conversion of people to inventory won't end well.

Re:Oh, please

[RiotingPacifist]

But how do I know that my microwave doesn't have an RFID reader that enables it to know that there is an RFID tag inside and it only goes through the motions of microwaving my undies, thereby rendering any RFID chip(s) in my undies untouched and fully functional? Far fetched? Future microwave dinners and popcorn might have RFID tags embedded which tell various microwave oven how long to cook the product. Can I get thicker tinfoil for my hat? Simple, but some pizza in cheese and nachos in thier with your undies,
if the cheese melts, the microwave worked your undies are now untaged
if the cheese doesn't melt, the microwave is goverment controlled AND you dont have any cheese nachos, so you pretty fucked tbh.

Re:Oh, please

[jnork]

"Pop your undies in the microwave for ten seconds and they won't be reporting back to the mothership, don't worry."

I first read this as "reporting back to the motherchip". Heh, heh.

I like it. :)

Re:Oh, please

[wooferhound]

You need to get an Open Source microwave oven

Re:Oh, please

[Anonymous Coward]

Well, just stick an AOL CD in there with it. If the AOL CD is disabled, then so is your underwear. ;)

-Huck

Re:Oh, please

[KGIII]

Err... Don't the RFID tags actually, you know, just exist? They don't acquire new data (such as where you've been) I don't think? If they did then I got my information mixed up which isn't entirely unlikely. But, assuming that they contain only the picture of you (and perhaps your country of origin) then wouldn't the person in the hotel lobby just get, you know, a picture of you (which they'd already seen you and stuffs) and your country of origin which, well, is probably something they could figure out pretty easily by listening to your accent? It seems like a rather silly way to spend your money when you can likely just ask the average (non-spy) tourist, "Hey, where are you from?" They'll probably happily tell you. Add to that a cell phone and, well, you get their picture too. But, maybe I'm getting the technology wrong... They call 'em RFID readers, not RFID R/Ws so I'm pretty sure they just store the above mentioned static data.

Re:Oh, please

[Anonymous Coward]

Throw a slice of bacon in the microwave along with the undies; (No, not ON them, the grease stain might be hard to get out!) When the bacon is crispy, so is the RFID transponder.

Re:Oh, please

[redxxx]

But how do I know that my microwave doesn't have an RFID reader that enables it to know that there is an RFID tag inside and it only goes through the motions of microwaving my undies, thereby rendering any RFID chip(s) in my undies untouched and fully functional? All the lightning, sparks and visually obvious damage are good hints that the microwave was active.

Re:Oh, please

[redxxx]

Most class 1 and up tags can be re-encoded. It's not that hard, for the most part readers are r/w. Even though class 1 are 'write-once' that's really more about reliability than actual tag capabilities. Most can and will re-encode hundreds of times without issue.

Class 0 tags can not be re-encoded, because they are pretty much hard coded when they are produced.

I assume the ones in passports can't be re-encoded, but I don't know for sure. It seems like it would be pretty worthless if they could be modified easily. You'd need access to government databases to do what he is talking about, and that's probably not an easy thing to obtain.

Re:Oh, please

[TravisO]

I can't wait for the day when microwaves have an RFID detector and microwave popcorn bags have an RFID. Then these idiots at the office won't stick a bag in there for 10mins and walk away, stinking up the place and nearly setting the building on fire. It seems to happen every job I've been at, about once every 6 months or so.

Re:Oh, please

[GameboyRMH]

Right now, RFID chips just store information that was "flashed" onto them, not gather it.

It's the computers hooked up to the RFID readers that could gather information on where you've been and what you're doing. Even anonymous information could be used against you if enough is collected that it could be used to identify you...think of the search request storage situation, it's very much the same thing, especially in that companies may store data responsibly and keep it away from human eyes, but then governments and law enforcement could get their hands on that data.

Re:Oh, please

[KGIII]

I'd like to Ass-U-Me that they're not easily re-encoded. It seems to me that there are cheaper ways (and far more effective ways) to get this information. We're humans and not entirely bright. Just tell the hotel you're a university student and would like to place a survey on the lobby desk and that you'll share the results with the hotels that allow you to do so. In that survey ask 'em what country they're from, what they intend to do in this country, what were the last six countries they visited, what was the reason they took the trip, and fill it in with a smattering of less intrusive questions to water down the results. Offer them a discount on some trivial service or a taxi fare or a visit to a local museum for filling out the form. You can ask 'em anything you want and can probably get a home phone number as well as an email address out of them too. Tie that same thing into a form on a website, have them submit something for membership, store the information they submitted in a database unhashed and you probably have their password that they use for everything else. Hell, you can take that a hundred steps further if you want but that's just a nice easy way that doesn't involve sneaking into a hotel to put up an RFID reader or posting someone in every hotel lobby across a city.

Full text without graphs

[Anonymous Coward]

Electromagnetic Interference From Radio Frequency Identification Inducing Potentially Hazardous Incidents in Critical Care Medical Equipment
Remko van der Togt, MSc; Erik Jan van Lieshout, MD; Reinout Hensbroek, MSc; E. Beinat, PhD; J. M. Binnekade, PhD; P. J. M. Bakker, MD, PhD

JAMA. 2008;299(24):2884-2890.
ABSTRACT

Context Health care applications of autoidentification technologies, such as radio frequency identification (RFID), have been proposed to improve patient safety and also the tracking and tracing of medical equipment. However, electromagnetic interference (EMI) by RFID on medical devices has never been reported.

Objective To assess and classify incidents of EMI by RFID on critical care equipment.
Design and Setting Without a patient being connected, EMI by 2 RFID systems (active 125 kHz and passive 868 MHz) was assessed under controlled conditions during May 2006, in the proximity of 41 medical devices (in 17 categories, 22 different manufacturers) at the Academic Medical Centre, University of Amsterdam, Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Assessment took place according to an international test protocol. Incidents of EMI were classified according to a critical care adverse events scale as hazardous, significant, or light.

Results In 123 EMI tests (3 per medical device), RFID induced 34 EMI incidents: 22 were classified as hazardous, 2 as significant, and 10 as light. The passive 868-MHz RFID signal induced a higher number of incidents (26 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 63%) compared with the active 125-kHz RFID signal (8 incidents in 41 EMI tests; 20%); difference 44% (95% confidence interval, 27%-53%; P lessthan .001). The passive 868-MHz RFID signal induced EMI in 26 medical devices, including 8 that were also affected by the active 125-kHz RFID signal (26 in 41 devices; 63%). The median distance between the RFID reader and the medical device in all EMI incidents was 30 cm (range, 0.1-600 cm).

Conclusions In a controlled nonclinical setting, RFID induced potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices. Implementation of RFID in the critical care environment should require on-site EMI tests and updates of international standards.

Applications of autoidentification technologies such as radio frequency identification (RFID) in everyday life include security access cards, electronic toll collection, and antitheft clips in retail clothing.1-2 RFID applications in health care have received increasing attention because of the potentially positive effect on patient safety and also on tracking and tracing of medical equipment and devices.2-11 The current expenditure levels on RFID systems within health care in the United States are estimated to be approximately $90 million per year12 with 10-year growth projections to $2 billion.13
Possible applications of RFID include drug blister packs, which could be intelligently marked to prevent drug counterfeiting; and the quality of blood products being monitored with temperature-sensitive RFID tags.2, 10 The decreasing size and cost of RFID tags also permits incorporation into surgical sponges, endoscopic capsules, and endotracheal tubes, as well as the development of a syringe-implantable glucose-sensing RFID microchip.3, 8-9,14

However, the array of literature that promotes RFID in health care is not accompanied by research on the safety of RFID technology within the health care environment.15 The potential for harmful electromagnetic interference (EMI) by electronic antitheft surveillance systems on implantable pacemakers and defibrillators has already been recognized, but EMI reports on critical care devices are lacking.16-17
The focus of the present study was to assess and classify incidents of EMI by RFID on critical care equipment.

Background
The study was part of a research project entitled "RFID in Health Care" that was initiated by the Dutch Ministry of Health18 in May 2006. The RFID application of interest was the tracking and tracing of blood products and expensive medical suppli

Not the Tags

[Anonymous Coward]

The Slashdot title implies the tags are the problem, but the article says what was tested was tags and readers. It's likely the readers are the problem and it doesn't matter if the tags are even there.

More Slashdot pseudo-science

[Futurepower(R)]

Thanks for adding some sensible information to the discussion. Slashdot editors seem not to be able to know the difference between science and foolish imaginings.

Here is a quote, a comment to the Wall Street Journal story:

"interference changed breathing machines' ventilation rates and caused syringe pumps to stop."
These things are FCC regulated. Should I feel safe knowing that not only are some of the systems in a hospital sensitive to EMF below FCC limits, but also that several life-critical devices FAIL under such radiation levels? For example, WHY should a syringe pump be designed so fragile that some radio waves can cause it to utterly stop?
Comment by RH - June 24, 2008 at 5:00 pm

Exactly. That's what I would have said. Here's another comment (my emphasis):

The usual ignorant hysteria. First of all, the test was of the reader, not the tags. "The median distance between the RFID reader and the medical device in all EMI incidents was 30 cm (range, 0.1-600 cm)." Second, and not available in the abstract is the AE classification. OBTW, Berwick is a shill for the trial lawyers, not a serious person.
Comment by jon - June 24, 2008 at 6:06 pm

Noticed and Unnoticed

[Anonymous Coward]

May or may not Be noticed
Electromagnetic interference can potentially change a medical devices operation in a few ways
1) It can cause it to outright stop working where it will be noticed and corrected
or
2) It can cause it to give false readings continuously or intermittently causing a patient to br potentially killed by unnoticed false readings that causes staff to administer too much or too little medication and the patient dies

3) it can potentsily kill a patent outright when the RF interference stops some device that is in critical life care service

Medical devices are tested for strong Radio frequency fields on commonly used frequencies

However, I'll bet bet Few are tested for mirco-watt low level RF fields on odd RFID tag frequencies leading to a potential disaster

Lawyer will not have evidence or brains to prove that hss happened too soon , so its is a bad thing

Since the Power level of RFID tags are so low ,
tag position changes and wire / sensor wire routing on a patient of mere Millimeters difference can make the difference between life and death/ correct and false readings , making it that much harder to correct and detect tag generated interference issues

The problem is also 2 fold
The problem is not limited to te RFID tag itself , it can be the reader/ which sends out a more powerful transmitted RF signal than the tag itself

I have witnessed this happen

[Anonymous Coward]

Every time I am near one of those RFID readers, my penis pump turns on. Its really embarrassing.

FUD and title errors

[Anonymous Coward]

Even if you ignore this article's lack of specifics or detail (which makes it more or less FUD in my view), the title /. gave it is *flatly incorrect*. It's not the tags that are causing the interference; it is the reader/interrogator. These inexpensive passive UHF tags are just that, passive; it's the active (4W) signal that might be able to interfere.

Yes, there are serious concerns with RFID, but there's no point spreading vague FUD. In medical applications, interference obviously a very serious matter. Several groups are working on this problem, so how about we wait until we have solid results before we make up our minds?

Re:FUD and title errors

[John Hasler]

Unfortunately most of the news stories Google brings up on this subject make the same error.

Well???

[Creepy Crawler]

Why are these medical devices having problems like that? I thought medical devices were SUPPOSED to be hardened against bad things and fail over nicely.

I guess not.

Re:Well???

[Opportunist]

Medical devices usually don't have "rugged" in their specs.

It's also hard to build a device that is at one hand very, very sensitive and able to pick up minuscle electronic signals (like brainwaves or heartbeats) and at the same time completely impervious to strong electronic signals and immune to EM interference.

Re:Well???

[John Hasler]

> Medical devices usually don't have "rugged" in their specs.

Life safety devices have "fail-safe" in their specs. If "rugged" is what it takes to achieve that for a particular machine then it damn well better be "rugged".

> It's also hard to build a device that is at one hand very, very sensitive and able to
> pick up minuscle electronic signals (like brainwaves or heartbeats) and at the same time
> completely impervious to strong electronic signals and immune to EM interference.

Pumps and ventilators (the examples in the article) don't deal in miniscule signals. Even machines that do can be designed to be reasonably resistant to interference and to fail safely when overwhelmed.

Re:Well???

[Creepy Crawler]

Did I say impervious?

Nope.

We, instead, could detect false signals and ring a bell on what the designer thinks is "very bad input". These device guys know how the biology works, and what signals are just impossible. Instead of catching every last remnant of EM, they could catch errors and loudly warn the nurse/physician like INTERFERENCE DETECTED signal.

If there were bad EM detectors built into life-critical devices, FCC Part 18 solves that issue rather well.

The headline is wrong, as usual.

[John Hasler]

The interference came from the readers not the tags. The tags are passive.

Re:The headline is wrong, as usual.

[TheMonkeyhouse]

if you read the link you will see that they tested both passive and active tags and the passive tags scored a higher problem score.

the implication from the limited text is that they were using the same reader (although this is not confirmed) but the difference in tags did change the issue rate, so the tags do share part of the problem.

Re:The headline is wrong, as usual.

[TheMonkeyhouse]

narf. forget it. i should read it better before i post. they took "two similar systems". you are right, it was interference from the readers at the frequencies they were using.

it doesn't matter if it is passive, active or battery assisted passive tags, ctirical medical devices should be protected against this sort of thing.

Re:The headline is wrong, as usual.

[John Hasler]

> the implication from the limited text is that they were using the same reader (although
> this is not confirmed) but the difference in tags did change the issue rate, so the tags
> do share part of the problem.

No they don't. The passive tags are powered by the rf they absorb from the reader so they require the reader to put out more rf. They would have gotten the same results if there had been no tags present at all and they had just done "dummy" readings. The tags themselves emit orders of magnitude less rf than the reader.

Re:The headline is wrong, as usual.

[Anonymous Coward]

It depends on the type of RFID. There are both active and passive tags.

Re:The headline is wrong, as usual.

[Anonymous Coward]

What good are the tags if you can't read them?

Kill switch

[lazyDog86]

What is it with medical equipment? Does every piece down to a stethoscope have a radio-activated kill switch?

Remember when they were hypersensitive about cell phones in hospitals for the same reason? They still have the signs up, but no one seems to notice any more.

Sounds to me like the main issue here is how to get a grant to buy some cool stuff for your EM lab and maybe get your name in JAMA, but maybe I'm just a cynic.

Re:Kill switch

[Opportunist]

Remember when they were hypersensitive about cell phones in hospitals for the same reason? They still have the signs up, but no one seems to notice any more.

Unless they want to sell you their "comfort phones" or they have a deal with the local phone company, with a rate that makes you wonder if it includes tampons for your nose after you paid up. BOY, then they are all over you when you dare to bring your cell for your stay!

For your own safety, of course.

Don't panic!

[Wowsers]

There's no need to panic, politicians don't have a heart to have any side effects from this revelation.

Re:Don't panic!

[Opportunist]

But they're usually in the age range for a pacemaker. At least if they're in any position to influence such a law.

Pros and cons

[EmbeddedJanitor]

First off, lets be pedantic. RFID tags are passive (well slightly active while transponding) and don't cause problems just sitting there. It is the readers that cause the problems.

The field drops off at a square of distance, so a RFID reader at 10cm will have one hundredth the EM field of a reader at 1cm.

A huge % of medical deaths are due to human error (wrong drugs/dosage etc)and the correct use of RFID can go a long way to mitigate that. Clearly that would be offset if the RFID equipment was to interfere with equipment.

Medical devices should be designed to be highly robust to EM interference, but the flip side to that is that often the sensors need to be very sensitive to detect slight electrical signals in the body (pulse, brain activity etc). Still, it should be possible to design equipment that is not degraded by RFID readers.

Re:Pros and cons

[Anonymous Coward]

An RFID tags ar a low power Micro watt power level transmitter. in facts its a transponder

EMC Electromagnetic incompatibly is a function of the tag and the medical device in its RF field while in operation.
The RFID tags reader is much more powerful, it needs to transmit enough RF to power the tage transponder . Medical devices are robust and designed to have immunity to Commonly used radio frequencies, but low Power devices like these tags pose a potential danger as many med devices d are not tested for operation in the presence of tiny RF power level and Rf fields generated by these tags and readers,
It is incorrect to assume that low transmitter power such as an RFID tag means no danger because that ignores the proximity of the tags transmitter to some medical sensors which may be only millimeters of distance away , making the situation the same as a receiver next to a transmitter 10 feet from a megawatt RF power source (transmitter )

What we need to do is d more testing of these medical devices EMC ( electromagnetic compatibly on the specific frequencies commonly used by BOTH the tags and the tags reader which is also a transmitter .

Re:Pros and cons

[Opportunist]

That RFIDs would change the mortality in insignificant ways is a given. But we're not talking about a new drug that cures thousands and kills a handful. It's not some operation where a minor mistake kills the patient while it can save his life if it runs ok. In either case I'd be right with you, saying to hell with the risk, it's worth it!

But unless you can save at least a single life with RFID that would be lost without, I'd prefer to avoid the risk. The only gains I can see for RFID is to lower workload, streamline processes and thus be able to lay off a few more nurses and other workers to increase profit.

And here, I don't say that's worth the risk. Even if it's one life a year.

Re:Pros and cons

[EmbeddedJanitor]

Medical errors are a huge killer. In USA they are responsible for 40k+ deaths per year. If RFID can save 10% of those then you get a saving of 4k+ lives per year.

Interference related deaths need to be pretty bad to offset that.

Re:Pros and cons

[Opportunist]

Please elaborate how RFID can reduce medical error related death.

If you think that with an RFID tag it should be impossible that someone gets the wrong meds, the wrong treatment or the wrong operation, this SHOULD already be impossible, due to nurses and doctors being able to read patient sheets. Errors like handing out the wrong meds to the wrong people are usually due to being heavily overworked, something an RFID tag won't change.

Re:Pros and cons

[KGIII]

Are you saying that a nurse not having to go from room to room to find a piece of equipment used during the prior shift in either a rush situation or during the course of their shift is safer or less work than them being able to find out the last place the equipment was and find it more easily? I dun get it?

Re:Pros and cons

[Frank T. Lofaro Jr.]

but the flip side to that is that often the sensors need to be very sensitive to detect slight electrical signals in the body (pulse, brain activity etc).

Especially to have an EEG which would work on Bush.

Safety Recalls Needed

[John Hasler]

The machines that suffered dangerous faults should be recalled and repaired. Keeping them away from RFID readers and other sources of rf will not suffice. The fact that rf interference could cause dangerous faults means that they contain design defects such that component failures or other sorts of damage or interference could also cause dangerous faults.

And yes, I have designed medical life support equipment, though not in this century.

Re:Safety Recalls Needed

[CodeBuster]

Isn't this why the FCC here in the United States classifies different electronic devices according to whether or not they can emit or must accept radio frequency interference from outside sources? Perhaps the medical device manufacturers have a more critical classification where they have the "right" not to be interfered with (unlike say, your iPod which must accept any outside interference and generate none of its own) and designed their systems around this assumption of legal protection by device classifications?

Re:Safety Recalls Needed

[John Hasler]

> Perhaps the medical device manufacturers have a more critical classification where they
> have the "right" not to be interfered with (unlike say, your iPod which must accept any
> outside interference and generate none of its own) and designed their systems around
> this assumption of legal protection by device classifications?

Even if there was such a classification relying on it to the detriment of patient safety would border on criminal negligence. Designers know that people often break such rules (often unknowingly: how many people know which of the gadgets around them emit rf at times?)

Rf is a normal part of the human environment these days. Anywhere you find people you are likely to find radio transmitters. Life safety and life support equipment must be designed in such a way that lives are not put at risk when someone keys a transmitter even when they do so against the rules.

Re: 'mensa' indeed....

[Anonymous Coward]

1) The summary of the article was so incomplete that no conclusion can be drawn from the summary. Forget about even repeating the experiment. What does "mean distance" actually mean. Does that mean devices were tried at various distances and the average was 30cm? Were the results repeatable? I think the FCC requires 8" clearance from antenna.
2) Its a logical fallacy to state that because so-and-so says its bad, it must be bad.
3) Passive RFID uses open frequencies the same ones your wireless phone uses (or used to use). To say RFID is dangerous is to say wireless phones are dangerous.

And yes, I know hospitals and airplanes make you turn your cell phones (different frequencies) off - but the real risk even there is small.
Computer World

As for those afraid of being spied on. A microwave oven will toast a chip in about 2 seconds. A chip buried in your body won't work at all (you are after all "ugly bags of mostly salt water" wikipedia

As for Schneier's comments. Passive RFID is not by itself secure. It was never intended to be. There is not enough computational horsepower to do any real encryption. The tags must get their power over the air - beamed to them...
However, RFID is still subject to laws of physics. You can easily prevent someone, even with an over-powered RFID reader from reading your passport - or even knowing your passport has an RFID chip in it. A thin piece of aluminum foil would do it.

The real tough part is that with RFID + facial recognition there is no need for the customs official anymore. Who is going to tell them they are out of a job. Their lives would be reduced to random spot checks. I could just walk straight in to the country. Once inside, cover the passport in foil and back to anonymous.

More than just the devices...

[ravergonemad]

In the coming years most of the containers for drugs could have RFID tags. California is pushing through a new law (E-Pedigree Law http://www.pharmacy.ca.gov/about/e_pedigree_laws.shtml) that creates a chain of custody for any drug. RFID has been one of the recommended technologies to help manufactures and everyone else in the supply-chain to deal with this law.

Having boxes with hundreds of RFID tags rolling down the hallways of a hospital doesn't seem so safe now!

Re:More than just the devices...

[John Hasler]

> Having boxes with hundreds of RFID tags rolling down the hallways of a hospital doesn't
> seem so safe now!

Please read the original article, not the erroneous Slashdot headline. The tags are passive. The interference comes from the "readers" which actually transceivers.

Re:More than just the devices...

[IHC Navistar]

It also makes it much more easier for "Highway Pirates" to target specific types of merchandise. Here in Claifornia, many truck drivers are targets of well-planned hijackings where criminals steal whatever the trucker is hauling for sale on the black market. A good RFID reader would allow gangs to easily discriminate profitable targets from unprofitable targets (i.e. iPhones and plasma TVs from spinach and brussels sprouts.).

Personally, I don't like the idea of tracking every single thing, including people, with RFID tags. Yes, they may be useful in tracking inventory, but far greater security needs to be used.

Whats especially troubling is the plan to line "International Corridors" in the U.S. with Chinese-monitored RFID readers.

Re:More than just the devices...

[hcdejong]

That only works for fabric-covered trailers. Shipping containers (which would be more common for bulk shipment of manufactured goods) are opaque to RFID.

Re:More than just the devices...

[Hektor_Troy]

A good RFID reader would allow gangs to easily discriminate profitable targets from unprofitable targets (i.e. iPhones and plasma TVs from spinach and brussels sprouts.).

That depends entirely on what the tags are encoded with. If they're simply refering to a shipping number or a barcode, how do you know if "5709246111130" or "5709404111897" is what you want to steal? Both are barcodes from items I have lying around. One is a US$2 item, the other is a US$20item.

There is absolutely no reason the tags should have anything more than a simple identifier in them. There's no reason they should have info like

"Sony, 52 inch LCD TV, X3500 BRAVIA, Black"

All you need to have is a simple identifier, which you compare to a database.

Re:More than just the devices...

[John Hasler]

> All you need to have is a simple identifier, which you compare to a database.

Which will be readily available on the Net.

Re:More than just the devices...

[Hektor_Troy]

As I said, the two barcodes I mentioned are from things that are readily available for sale in retail outlets. If things are that easy, why don't you tell us all what they are.

They have been bought in two different retail chains, and they're made by two different companies, so you can't even link a possible failure to find one with the possible failure to find the other.

Interfering With Passports

[Doc Ruby]

I'm still trying to find the way to determine just how much power to use in a given microwave oven to fry the RFID in a new US passport, without damaging the rest of the passport (like a burn mark, or discolored ink).

Re:Interfering With Passports

[drinkypoo]

AFAIK in every single microwave oven there is a single magnetron which is either on or off. The "power" level on the microwave actually corresponds to a duty cycle, and the cycles are pretty long because turning that thing on and off is ostensibly hard on the supporting hardware. I mean, you can feel it. And I'm not talking about a leaky microwave.

The point here is that if you want a lower power level you need a weaker microwave. The more relevant issue is the duration of exposure. However the US passport is supposed to have a mylar layer in the jacket, so determining the precise amount of exposure necessary is practically impossible. Your best bet is to come up with an RFID reader and just microwave the passport for a second, then two seconds, et cetera until the thing stops responding to pings. It takes a certain amount of time before the magnetron actually engages, so you have to account for that, too.

Or you could just keep your passport in a ziploc antistatic bag (silver not pink) and not worry about it...

Re:Interfering With Passports

[blacklint]

Using the microwave as a hammer should also work. Or a hammer, for that matter.

Re:Interfering With Passports

[John Hasler]

> Or you could just keep your passport in a ziploc antistatic bag (silver not pink) and
> not worry about it...

That won't work at all. The conductivity of the pink plastic is very low: just barely adequate to drain off static charges. It will have no measureable effct on rf.

Just make yourself a duct-tape wallet and line it with aluminum foil.

Re:Interfering With Passports

[drinkypoo]

Or you could just keep your passport in a ziploc antistatic bag (silver not pink) and not worry about it... That won't work at all. The conductivity of the pink plastic is very low: just barely adequate to drain off static charges. It will have no measureable effct on rf.

What a prophetic fucking name. Is it your real one? Hint: time to work on your reading comprehension. I specifically said not pink. Please try again.

Re:Interfering With Passports

[John Hasler]

> Don't feed the trolls - when an AC says something stupid, let it slide.

I'll take that advice (The "A" in "AC" can stand for several things. The "C", however, is constant).

Stupid designers

[darkpixel2k]

A new study suggests RFID systems can cause 'potentially hazardous incidents in medical devices.

Seriously--who the f*ck designs this 'medical' equipment. I have RFID tags and readers that are near tons of computer equipment every day. Switches, routers, servers, workstations...none of them have 'potentially hazardous' incidents.

When you buy medical grade equipment, you are paying *TONS* more money, simply to make sure the electronics aren't going to fail and cause a loss of human life. How the hell does my ordinary desktop PC survive the hellish fury of the RFID scanner sitting next to it? Why can't that be duplicated in medical devices.

Am I the moron here?

Re:Stupid designers

[Detritus]

I can crash many PCs just by transmitting near them on my 5 Watt VHF hand-held transceiver. That wouldn't happen if they were properly designed.

Re:Stupid designers

[John Hasler]

> How the hell does my ordinary desktop PC survive the hellish fury of the RFID scanner
> sitting next to it?

Devices for use in the home are subject to more stringent FCC EMI restricitions (Class B) than are devices intended for use in business (Class A). While the intent is to keep rf in, the shielding will work to keep it out as well. Medical devices, not being for use in the home (usually) will be designed to meet Class A but not Class B.

Re: 'mensa' indeed....

[KGIII]

Wild stab in the dark? Hospitals are tracking inventory better. Big medical industries aren't selling replacements as often nor as many spares. Big name medical journal uses flawed methods to find a minimal risk and then uses FUD to get the message across. Just a guess and likely I need a tinfoil beany after that one but, well, it seemed logical after my midwife g/f showed me the conflicting information put out by this same journal and then went on to try to get midwifery outlawed. (A tad bit silly an effort in many areas as a lot of areas actually recognize that the midwife, as a profession, probably came into being just after hooker and lawyer did.)

Easy

[Yvanhoe]

Just reinforce medical equipment against EM radiation. PRevent them from receiving and emitting unwanted radio waves. If an equipment can be disrupted by the faint field of an RFID, then it is probably very vulnerable to cellphones as well.

Magical Devices!

[bluie-]

Did anyone else misread the headline as "RFID Tags Can Interfere With Medical Devices" ??

RFID in medical environments

[Anonymous Coward]

I am an EE and RFID developer. The susceptible equipment should be treated as 'in need of repair' in my opinion. Even back in the 70s cardiac care units used 5 watt UHF radios for telemetry, which is more than a typical RFID reader radiates. This may be a case where no one has studied it before.

And before I become a lightning rod for the tin-foil-hat crowd, let me say I agree that privacy should be a top issue for RFID systems development and deployment. But it has the potential of being a very useful supply chain tool as well.

Oh, but they are working on resistant RFID tags

[johnny cashed]

See here:

http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2007/0132593.html

And so the cat and mouse game begins...