Animal Chip Implants May Cause Cancer

It's a sad day for transhumanism and man-meets-machine advocates: Researchers have found that microchip implants, such as the VeriChip ID implants used to easily and permanently identify your pets (including mine) in case they get lost, lead to malignant cancers in up to 10 percent of the animals who receive the implants. The news originally broke over the weekend and has been spreading like wildfire today.

Strangely, the stories surfacing are the result of an unearthed medical study from the 1990s, which the AP just uncovered. 

But now the issue of implants has people buzzing especially loudly, since they were recently approved for use in human patients, with Alzheimer's and other dementia sufferers being the focus for early trials. About 2,000 such people have received the implants so far, the idea being that if they become lost, the chip will make it easier for them to be reunited with their caregivers.

Still, little has been said about the actual cause of the tumors in this study. They may in fact have little to do with the technology components of the implants but rather the glass in which they are encapsulated. About the size of a grain of rice, the VeriChip capsules are meant to be non-inflammatory to the body, but that may not be the case in all recipients of the implants. See the sidebar in this story from The Ledger for more on how the immune system could respond problematically to implants and result in cancer.

While it may be too soon to rush Spot to the vet to have his chip removed, it's an issue that's definitely worth watching more closely in the coming months, as additional studies (hopefully with more recent data) should come to light. Bottom line: I'm not having our cat's transponder taken out just yet, but I'd certainly think twice before injecting one into grandma. How about a tattoo instead?