Actually this is a way to track anthrax that has been being developed since all those anthrax attacks back in the day which were so very expensive to clean up.
They have been trying to learn more about how it spreads and the most effective ways to clean up from a real world attack since then.
The barcode, if you will is uses small genetic signatures attached to an insecticide/pesticide found in nature to not only be considered safe, but is also very similar to anthrax in the way it behaves.
http://tmgbiosciences.com/barcoded-spore-simulant/ (a short article on the topic with links to the two scientific papers written on this.
Here is also an article on this from 5 years ago outlining why they are researching this and why the new technology is important for researching response to anthrax attacks. https://www.ecbc.army.mil/news/2012/Play...-game.html
Here is the thing - to me all this seems perfectly legitimate and I don't see anything inherently faulty with it, nor problematic. They can put small machines in the buildings in various locations which simulates a person inhaling and exhaling to learn more about how an anthrax attack outside in a public area would affect people inside buildings, and possibility build buildings in a safer manner since biological attacks are a worry and a fear - we've already had them and that creates a higher likelihood of it happening again.
As to they can slap a barcode on anything now, well quite frankly they can but it's not necessarily nano tech either... a genetic marker turned barcode isn't the same as a GPS chip that's implanted like on your dog. Our bodies process things and once inhaled or otherwise digested, that barcode is gone... it only survives the life of the biological object it's a part of I will assume, which makes this very effective for tracking effective clean up.
I don't trust the government perse, but I don't see a reason not to allow technologies go forward that can also help us be better protected from our nation's enemies.
They have been trying to learn more about how it spreads and the most effective ways to clean up from a real world attack since then.
The barcode, if you will is uses small genetic signatures attached to an insecticide/pesticide found in nature to not only be considered safe, but is also very similar to anthrax in the way it behaves.
http://tmgbiosciences.com/barcoded-spore-simulant/ (a short article on the topic with links to the two scientific papers written on this.
Here is also an article on this from 5 years ago outlining why they are researching this and why the new technology is important for researching response to anthrax attacks. https://www.ecbc.army.mil/news/2012/Play...-game.html
Here is the thing - to me all this seems perfectly legitimate and I don't see anything inherently faulty with it, nor problematic. They can put small machines in the buildings in various locations which simulates a person inhaling and exhaling to learn more about how an anthrax attack outside in a public area would affect people inside buildings, and possibility build buildings in a safer manner since biological attacks are a worry and a fear - we've already had them and that creates a higher likelihood of it happening again.
As to they can slap a barcode on anything now, well quite frankly they can but it's not necessarily nano tech either... a genetic marker turned barcode isn't the same as a GPS chip that's implanted like on your dog. Our bodies process things and once inhaled or otherwise digested, that barcode is gone... it only survives the life of the biological object it's a part of I will assume, which makes this very effective for tracking effective clean up.
I don't trust the government perse, but I don't see a reason not to allow technologies go forward that can also help us be better protected from our nation's enemies.