Thiruvananthapuram: Police have ordered a stop to a consumer survey conducted by the city's Socio Economic Unit (SEU) after the study which uses microchip trackers outraged residents of coastal villages on the outskirts of Thiruvananthapuram city.
Authorities likewise seized a few microchips which were embedded in soaps and small vessels for carrying water and handed them over to the cybercrimes investigation unit.
A senior police official told Gulf News that since their cybercrimes unit could not decode the chip's program, they sought the assistance of the Centre for Development of Imaging Technology, the state's premier government agency dealing with information technology matters.
Residents were outraged by the survey which they claim was being conducted with the consent of state health authorities. The SEU is conducting the survey for its foreign clients such as Unilever Research Medicine, UK, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and Intertab CRS Ltd.
Gulf News learnt that chip-embedded bath soap bars and mugs were distributed last week to households with children between the age of six and 11 in low income communities.
SEU representative Suja Mathew clarified that the survey was being conducted to study the hygiene habits of children in the sampled areas as well as find out the effects of the soap on their skin.
A police officer investigating the case said the SEU had conducted a similar survey at Chengalchoola and Anchuthengu, a small island off Attingal near Thiruvananthapuram, but no complaints were filed before the police.
Questionnaire
Before distributing the soap and mugs, the SEU asked the survey participants to answer a questionnaire and gave instructions on how to use the toiletries.
Only a few survey participants came across the chip as they had to return the soap after four days of use.
The use of the chip was discovered when the device came out of the soap in some cases.
Families who participated in the survey were given Rs400 (Dh27.81) as an incentive.
"Two women and a foreigner came to the area to convince us about the use of soap and mugs. They told us they just needed to test skin problems of our children and how the use of the soap could reduce it. We were not aware that it was a survey for multinational companies. We feel we were made [into] guinea pigs for them,'' said Safarullah, a resident who informed the police of the survey.
Public health activists frowned upon the way in which the survey was conducted.
"It was not a mere survey to collect details orally. A chemical [soap] was used as part of the survey. Then the competent agencies' consent should have been sought," Anoop Ravi, a public health activist, said.
