A Contraceptive Implant with Remote Control
July 14th, 2014Date check: Nope, it’s not April Fool’s Day.
Just make sure the firewall on your birth control chip is up to date…
Via: MIT Technology Review:
A startup has developed a contraceptive chip that could be deactivated and reactivated using a wireless remote.
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Developed by MicroCHIPS of Lexington, Massachusetts, the device will begin pre-clinical testing next year in the U.S. The goal is to have it on the market by 2018.
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To conceive, women turn off the implant with a remote control; another click of the remote restarts it. After 16 years, it could be removed. Doctors could also adjust dosages remotely. Currently, no hormonal birth control lasts over five years.
The idea for the device originated two years ago in a visit by Bill Gates and his colleagues to Robert Langer’s MIT lab. Gates and his colleagues asked Langer if it were feasible to create birth control that a woman could turn on and off and use for many years. Langer thought the controlled release microchip technology he invented with colleagues Michael Cima and John Santini in the 1990s and licensed to MicroCHIPS might offer a solution.
Few private companies step up to the challenge of creating new contraceptives. MicroCHIPS’ timing could be good. An international coalition of governments, companies, philanthropies, and nonprofits recently committed to providing family planning to 120 million more women in the world by 2020.
More work remains before MicroCHIPS files an application with the Food and Drug Administration.
For example, it will be necessary to encrypt the chips to keep their wireless data flow private and secure.
