As a dog breeder who has occasionally been obligated to use them, I’ve always hated these things.
When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients’ medical records almost instantly. The FDA found “reasonable assurance” the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005’s top “innovative technologies.”
But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had “induced” malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.
“The transponders were the cause of the tumors,” said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.
[…]
Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous “sarcomas” _ malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
_ A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent _ a result the researchers described as “surprising.”
_ A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors’ cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, “These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence” of cancer.
_ In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors “are clearly due to the implanted microchips,” the authors wrote.
In the handful of dogs I’ve had them in (it’s usually mandatory for export), two migrated and one formed a substancial cyst over the chip. Two years ago I was shown a dog who had endured a foreign body reaction, her body scarred by long running rivers of infection that ran from the chip implantation site down her back and ribcage. They had been treating it for months.
Now, cancerous tumours. I can’t say I’m surprised.
“Thompson, until recently a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination:
Says it all,coming from WaPo.
“Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven’t reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done”
Maybe you better look into a different vet Kate.
Somebody forgot to tell this French Bulldog.
http://www.vetpathology.org/cgi/content/full/43/4/545
You know, I posted this only a half hour ago, and am already the #5 Google hit for “microchips cancer”.
Well, yes. But this is based on only a small number of studies, and if Google is any indication there has not been much research at all on this topic.
On a cautionary note, your readers may also recall some years ago how there was a big foofaraw about silicone breast implants causing chronic fatigue and all kinds of other ailments. On closer examination, however, this turned out to be a lot of smoke and not much fire (not much comfort to Dow Corning corp, which had to go into bankruptcy protection). And then there was the case of electric power lines causing cancer, which now looks like maybe not. And the MMR vaccine, which apparently caused autism, until it turned out it didn’t.
So maybe a little circumspection might be in order before jumping the gun; or is this already “settled science?”
A foreign body causing cancer? What are the odds of that?
It’d be interesting to know if the cancer is being caused by carcinogenic properties of the materials in these transponders/ID tags or if it stems from an immune response to a foreign body being implanted (or if its from the TEM radiated by the transponder though I thought most of them were passive devices).
One would think the evidence is…well…self-evident.
From Kate’s link in comments;
For close to 100 years, investigators have observed that irritation, inflammation, and/or wounds are promoters of tumor development.12 Virtually anything that causes a local inflammatory reaction may potentially be responsible for neoplastic initiation.23 Sarcomas developing at sites of subcutaneous administration of long-acting drugs and at sites with deep nonabsorbable sutures, as well as ocular posttraumatic sarcomas are clinical examples that support these findings.3–5,8
After having to put our old Taffy to sleep asleep February ( see earlier SDA comments ) we went to local Animal Control to look for another puppy… and one of the new requirements was having any we got “chipped.”
Did not really care for it, but since there was no other way, we agreed.
Wonder if the Vet could remove the bloody thing, privately?
…the next generation of RFID’s might be organic, and thereby not apt to be rejected as fast.
Chips on humans? Hmm, where did I read that somewhere.
One step closer to our grand New World Order.
“Everything, causes cancer
There’s no cure, there’s no answer…”
Dang, now I’ve got that song in my head.
Then I gather you won’t be accepting a personal chip when big brother requires it so he can track your movements, purchases and communications?….you’d make a poor Brit 😉
Now take that chip…we know what’s best for you.
The reality is that we track packages from UPS and FedEx every time we order from Amazon.com. And, yet, we’ve got a government that says we don’t know what to do and how to keep up with people.
If necessary, we ought to outsource this whole issue to FedEx and UPS. They seem to have a better way of keeping up with packages than our government does with people.
So says Republican presidential candidate Mike Huckabee.
The good news is, if there is medical crisis caused by implanting microchips in humans (in order to solve the crisis of illegal immigration, which is exacerbated by the crisis of the soaring cost of corn, which is caused by the promotion of ethanol as the solution to the alleged crisis of global warming), the crisis can then be used to expand government health care to an even greater degree. I mean, good news for government parasites. It sucks for the rest of you.
This is why I cringe when someone promotes a politician or a party as “real leaders” – because “leadership” always means aggressively expanding government. Ditherers and tightlipped sourpusses are a better alternative for everyone except government tit-hangers and tub-thumpers.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/05051/459069.stm
Off topic but I thought this was too good not to share. Heard the man on Adler Online this is also being worked on for de-salainization, seawater actually burns with a flame.
Interesting. I’ll have to look at the literature to see how solid the science behind this is. I happen to think that RFID chips are a great idea and have been thinking of getting one implanted in myself as soon as I figure out a way of sterilizing the RFID chips that I have.
Having played around with RFID for the last year or so, I’m not worried about getting tracked by implanted chips since to read a chip in tissue would require very high RF levels for the excitation signal and very sensitive recievers to track someone even a few feet away. The person who got me into this area has a chip implanted in his hand and he has to hold it right against the chip reader for it to pick up the chip. I can see replacing numerous keys with a chip implanted in my hand which I’m much less likely to lose than the keys. An RFID enabled firearms locking device would make it possible to legally store a pistol for self defence in ones home in Canada. (Many people I know don’t bother with legal considerations and just keep a loaded gun in easy reach; fine if you’re in the country and coyotes are eating your chickens but harder to justify in the city).
I am suspicious about the high rate of cancers supposedly caused by RFID chips. There are millions of people walking around with various metallic and non-metallic implants (including myself) and as long as the material doesn’t stimulate imflammation, it is fine. Tattoos aren’t associated with increased risk of cancer and these represent a far more reactive foreign body that is introduced into the skin. Why RFID chips would be unique in their propensity to cause cancers seems a bit far-fetched to me.
The only reason I haven’t implanted my cat with an RFID chip is because of the sterilization problem that I still haven’t solved. Open source RFID chips that are read by the Phidgets chip reader that I have come in non-sterile form. Veterinary RFID chips come in a nice, sterile, large bore syringe for easy insertion but use a proprietary RFID chip. Having an RFID chipped cat makes for a much easier selective cat door than having to write far more code to use a digital camera to match the profile of a cat putting its head through the door with that of the desired animal. Similarly, one could have an RFID reader on a an outside feeder that would dispense food only for a chipped cat that rubbed against the feeder. RFID makes for some very simple solutions to pet identification problems. My medical opinion is that the increased cancer risk reported is likely a statistical artifact but now I have to look at the original studies to make sure.
Interesting. I’ll have to look at the literature to see how solid the science behind this is. I happen to think that RFID chips are a great idea and have been thinking of getting one implanted in myself as soon as I figure out a way of sterilizing the RFID chips that I have.
Having played around with RFID for the last year or so, I’m not worried about getting tracked by implanted chips since to read a chip in tissue would require very high RF levels for the excitation signal and very sensitive recievers to track someone even a few feet away. The person who got me into this area has a chip implanted in his hand and he has to hold it right against the chip reader for it to pick up the chip. I can see replacing numerous keys with a chip implanted in my hand which I’m much less likely to lose than the keys. An RFID enabled firearms locking device would make it possible to legally store a pistol for self defence in ones home in Canada. (Many people I know don’t bother with legal considerations and just keep a loaded gun in easy reach; fine if you’re in the country and coyotes are eating your chickens but harder to justify in the city).
I am suspicious about the high rate of cancers supposedly caused by RFID chips. There are millions of people walking around with various metallic and non-metallic implants (including myself) and as long as the material doesn’t stimulate imflammation, it is fine. Tattoos aren’t associated with increased risk of cancer and these represent a far more reactive foreign body that is introduced into the skin. Why RFID chips would be unique in their propensity to cause cancers seems a bit far-fetched to me.
The only reason I haven’t implanted my cat with an RFID chip is because of the sterilization problem that I still haven’t solved. Open source RFID chips that are read by the Phidgets chip reader that I have come in non-sterile form. Veterinary RFID chips come in a nice, sterile, large bore syringe for easy insertion but use a proprietary RFID chip. Having an RFID chipped cat makes for a much easier selective cat door than having to write far more code to use a digital camera to match the profile of a cat putting its head through the door with that of the desired animal. Similarly, one could have an RFID reader on a an outside feeder that would dispense food only for a chipped cat that rubbed against the feeder. RFID makes for some very simple solutions to pet identification problems. My medical opinion is that the increased cancer risk reported is likely a statistical artifact but now I have to look at the original studies to make sure.
Loki, clearly you’ve never seen a bad wound infection or osteo-myelitis. (That’s when the bone goes rotten.) Looking it up on the web isn’t really the same as being there, the smell is missing for one thing.
Repeat after me: foreign objects in the hand are a Really Bad Idea.
Trust your Uncle Phantom. Get an earing. Its safer.
Phantom, I’ve seen some pretty horrendous wound infections during my residency days which is why I won’t implant an RFID chip in someone until I have a virtually foolproof means of sterilizing the devices. I was going to use myself as the first test subject figuring that if the devices are sterilized to my satisfaction I can implant them in other people without any concern.
There is a niche market for implantable RFID chips (check on YouTube for movies of people having them implanted) and for people who are constantly losing keys they can result in a dramatic improvement in the quality of their lives. As long as these people stay away from power tools, the chip should always be with them.
Until the issue of RFID chip induced cancers is resolved I’m not implanting one in myself and definately not in anyone else as this is not a medically necessary procedure and thus the standard of care required is quite high. One thing I wish I’d thought of earlier was brought up by another patient of mine who suggested putting the RFID chip in a ring and wearing the ring. I’ve never worn a ring and don’t like the potential for tearing surgical gloves that a ring might represeny, but an externally mounted RFID chip may be the best way to go for now (or attached to my watch which is always with me).