Pacemakers threatened by millennium bomb

A report from the US General Accounting Office (GAO) has warned that pacemakers could be under threat from the millennium bug. It goes on to heavily criticise manufacturers for failing to release critical information.

The report says that some biomedical equipment might rely on computers or embedded chips for calibration and day-to-day operations, but because medical companies are reluctant to divulge information there is no way to calculate the extent of the problem.

Others devices such as magnetic image resonance equipment and cardiac defibrillators could also be badly effected.

The US Veterans Health Administration (VHA) has been carrying out independent research into the problem. It says it has information on date-sensitive biomedical equipment from 73 per cent of manufacturers - but less than half of those claimed their products were entirely free from Y2K risk.

The GAO report also warned of the potential threat to other types of medical technology, which rely on date or time calculation - one manufacturer admitted that an error in radiation equipment could result in incorrect dosage being administered.

The report suggests compliance information about biomedical devices should be made available to the public over the Internet.