RFID tags to "revolutionise" UN relief ops?

Embedding electronic tags in containers of food and supplies - and even in workers' identification documents - will "revolutionise" the way the United Nations doles out relief in the aftermath of the next tsunami, civil war or disease outbreak, a senior organisation official has said.

When UN workers descend on distressed locales, they often encounter logjams at airport tarmacs and confusion over what exactly is in this or that box, said David Nabarro, who's chiefly in charge of co-ordinating responses to bird and human influenza for the UN Development Group.

Nabarro said he envisions his organisation one day going the way of the military and companies such as Wal-Mart, using RFID chips to track and trace those critical goods.

And ideally, even smarter chips could be used to send out signals that indicate what's happening inside a container - for instance, whether a box has been tampered with, knocked around in transit or subjected to high temperatures that could make food go sour.

Nabarro told a group of US bureaucrats and company representatives at an RFID event in Washington hosted by the US Chamber of Commerce: "Effective RFI tracking and good inventory management software would make a huge difference in our ability to deal with relief [operations]."

The advent of RFID-laced passports and other travel documents could also provide UN managers with a way to track staffers and other key non-UN personnel helping out on the scene, Nabarro added, "particularly if they are sick and incapacitated".

Still, there are a number of obstacles to carrying out such a plan, Nabarro said. Because relief operations often occur in "worse than unspeakable" conditions, it's risky to rely on anything that requires electricity, computers, dry conditions or clean air, he said. And in the case of a flu outbreak or other incident that puts lots of personnel out of commission, the systems must not be burdensome to use.

That means whatever RFID chips and readers are selected must be "incredibly robust" and simply designed - and inexpensive.

Nabarro told the audience, perhaps only half-joking: "What I'm looking for, is someone who can come and offer to us at exceedingly low cost... 10,000 RFID tags and 100 scanners."

Anne Broache writes for CNET News.com