Soon, Felix the housecat may no longer be the only member of the household to have a microchip implanted under his skin. A recent FDA ruling has cleared the way for Applied Digital Solutions to offer its personal ID chip for use by Felix's owner. The feds determined that Applied Digital's VeriChip is not a medical device and may be implanted in humans.

As small as a grain of rice, the radio-frequency device is similar to Felix's in that it contains information that can be read by a bar scanner. Increasingly, animal shelters are requiring owners of adopted pets to have their new family members tagged subcutaneously so that lost animals can be found more easily. In this case, the $200 VeriChip provides identification and not medical records; therefore, it needs no clearance from FDA. Eventually, the chip may be combined with a GPS device to track incapacitated, or kidnapped, humans.

The Palm Beach, FL–based firm plans to launch its Global VeriChip Subscriber Registry service this month. The registry will link to the physician-implanted chip to offer information provided by the user and accessed by a proprietary scanner. The registry can provide rapid
information about allergic reactions, medical device implants, and preexisting medical conditions, the company says.

The existence of the biochip has already sparked a catty discussion about its Big Brotherly potential. Some religious critics believe the device is the "Mark of the Beast"—and it's not Felix—from the Bible's Book of Revelations.