SATURDAY DEC 22, 2007 (Foodconsumer.org) -- The giant communication company AT&T has announced a new tracking system based on GPS (global positioning system) and RFID (radio frequency identification) indicated to help teachers and school administrators to keep track of students on school grounds and in buses, digitaltrends.com reported Dec 12th.
The comprehensive child-tracking solution for the K-12 education market was meant to overcome the challenge schools and teachers face trying to keep track of hundreds of students and assure their safety.
Literally, according to the story, the solution combing RFID and GPS technologies enable schools to keep track of school bus locations and speed while simultaneously monitoring events within the vehicles.
"Our RFID and MRM services help K-12 institutions rapidly deploy end-to-end solutions without significant capital investment," Ann Rotatori, vice president of Business Marketing for AT&T was quoted as saying in a statement.
"For the first time, school districts can now turn to a network services provider for all of their RFID and MRM needs, and that enables them to save money, make the most of their assets and resources and enhance student safety."
In addition to school children and buses, AT&T has thought of the communication technologies being used to track in-school assets like computers, projectors, laptop computers, and lab equipment.
Most audaciously, the company is also pitching the technology as a means to track students directly to enforce attendance and track visitors on school grounds.
"The system is designed to tie in with existing 802.11 Wi-Fi wireless networking solutions and display tracking information via a Web-based portal," digitaltrends.com reported.
Nevertheless, in AT&T's statement, no privacy rights of students or safety of these technologies were addressed.
There is no scientific evidence suggesting that GPS and RFID, which emit high levels of radiation, are safe to use, according to a consumer advocate affiliated with foodconsumer.org.
In fact, Reuters in September, 2007 reviewed studies on the safety of RFID and found that a significant percentage of animals wearing RFID tags developed tumors mostly near the tags.
In a September 8, 2007 news story, Washington Post cited some studies published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006.
According to the newspaper, the studies found lab mice and rats receiving microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" _ malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
One study of 177 mice conducted in 1998 in Ridgefield, Conn., found cancer incidence in the chip wearing animals were slightly higher than 10 percent, a result the researchers described as "surprising".
Another study conducted in 2006 in
France found 4.1 percent of 1,260 mice wearing microchip developed tumors.
In 1997, a German study found 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice developed cancer.
And the researchers attributed the tumors the implanted microchips.
Sources:
AT&T Offers GPS and RFID Child Tracking
Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors
