From the editors of the Washington Times:
Blog sites have been buzzing about the National Medical Device Registry, a new office in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration that was created in the Obamacare reconciliation package. Concern centers on the registry’s authority to conduct “postmarket device surveillance activities on implantable medical devices,” including those that feature radio-frequency identification. The word “surveillance” conjures ominous images of government tracking and reporting. Some have suggested the law lays the groundwork for compulsory microchip implantation so the state can keep tabs on everyone – for their own good, naturally.
But there is no compulsory microchipping in the new law, and “postmarket surveillance” is a term of art in the medical community that in this case refers to monitoring devices to make sure they do what they are supposed to do, and do not pose a health risk. The FDA has been involved in this for more than a decade. The innovation in the new law is to federalize and centralize what used to be a public-private partnership.
Read more in the Washington Times.