By JULIE FOSTER

(WND) - New implant technology currently used to locate lost pets has been adapted for use in humans, allowing implant wearers to emit a homing beacon, have vital bodily functions monitored and confirm identity.

Applied Digital Solutions acquired patent rights to a miniature digital transceiver it has named "Digital Angel&reg." The company plans to market it for a number of uses including a "tamper-proof means of identification for enhanced e-business security."

Digital Angel® sends and receives data and can be ttracked by global positioning satellite. When implanted it’s powered electromecha-nically by the movement of muscles and can be activated either by the wearer or a monitoring facility. Said ADS chairman and CEO Richard Sullivan. "We expect to come forward with applications in many different areas, from medical monitoring to law enforcement."

Dr. Peter Zhou, chief scientist for development of the implant and president of

DigitalAngel.net, Inc, a subsidiary of ADS, said the device will send a signal from the person wearing it to his computer or to the e-merchant with whom he is doing business to verify his identity. Computers may be programmed not to operate without such user identification, he said.

Verification devices requiring a live fingerprint scan are already being sold by computer manufacturers.

Law enforcement may employ the implant to keep track of criminals under house arrest, as well as reduce emergency response time by immediately locating individuals in distress.

The device has the ability to monitor heart rate, blood pressure and other vital functions. "Your doctor will know the problem before you do," said Zhou.

The patent says, "Adults who are at risk due to their economic or political status, as well as their children who may be at risk of being kidnaped, will reap new freedoms in their everyday lives by employing the device."

Digital Angel®’s developer said demand for the implant has been tremendous. "We have received requests daily from around the world for the product," Zhou said.

One inquirer was the U.S. Dept. of Defense, according to Zhou.

American soldiers may be required to wear an implant so their whereabouts and health conditions can be accessed at all times, he said.

There is no central facility to mon-itor users—that will most likely fall to entities marketing the device, said Zhou. For example, a medical group would set up monitoring stations and militaries will want their own monitoring stations for security purposes.

ADS has received complaints from Christians who see the implant as fulfillment of Biblical prophecy which states people will be required to "receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark." Sullivan said no one will be forced to wear the implant. "We live in a voluntary society," he said.

Zhou cited some Christians’ objection to medicine, adding such opposition wanes when life-saving, life im-proving benefits are realized.

"Fifty years ago the thought of a cell phone, where you could walk around talking on the phone, was unimaginable. Now they are everywhere," Zhou explained. Just like the cell phone, he continued, Digital Angel® "will be a connection from yourself to the electronic world. It will be your guardian, protector. It will bring good things to you. We will be a hybrid of electronic intelligence and our own soul," Zhou concluded.

DigitalAngel.net is scheduled to complete a prototype of the dime-sized implant by year’s end.

ADS, which is the DigitalAngel.net’s parent company, received a "Technology Pioneers" award from the World Economic Forum (WEF) for its contributions to "worldwide economic development and social progress through technology advancements."

WEF, based in Geneva, is a non-profit organization "committed to improving the state of the world." It is preparing a China Business Summit in Beijing for the purpose of forging economic alliances with the Communist nation.