RFID is Poised for Change

Contrast IATA agreeing one standard for baggage tags worldwide, opening up a different benefit to human safety and well being. Settling for 2D barcodes on drugs for the “mass singulation” used in anticounterfeiting “pedigree” is no answer because it is tough to automate and sensitive to misorientation and obscuration and cannot provide a good extra payback in automated logistical control. Counterfeit drugs have even been unknowingly sold through legitimate pharmacies and the problem is increasing, say the FDA, WHO and other respected observers. The equivalents to the FDA in other countries are similarly relaxed about using modern technology to tackle the problem and it may take a major epidemic of counterfeiting deaths in the West for the problem to be taken more seriously. Tragically, over 100,000 deaths yearly from counterfeit drugs in the Third World has no galvanising effect on suppliers of genuine product in the developed world.