Possible ID Chip Health Hazard

[BustopherJones]

This story is worth noting: Potential RFID Chip Hazard

[Mojo]

I am seeing my vet this week, and I will ask him if he knows anything about this. It certainly is very troubling that several studies have demonstrated a surprisingly high percentage (1-10%, depending on the study) of laboratory mice/rats that grew sarcomas around the capsule of the chip while the implantable chips were still being tested, which would certainly seem to indicate a direct connection between microchips and sarcomas Nevertheless, mice/rats are not dogs/cats, so perhaps there really is little connection. I have tried running searches on PubMed to verify the research mentioned in the article, but I have not turned up much; however, considering the vast number of dogs that have been implanted with microchips (millions) compared to the number of dogs that have presented with malignant sarcomas of the neck (according to the article, only two), the link between microchips and sarcomas in dogs does not seem to be very convincing. Hopefully, even those two cases were merely coincidental (i.e., dogs who happened to develop neck sarcomas who also happened to be microchipped, rather than the chip being the causative agent). Even if a definitive link between microchips and sarcomas is eventually established, I think that microchips, like many technological/biomedical advances, will end up involving a risk vs. benefit scenario....is it worth NOT microchipping your dogs in order to avoid the potential, albeit apparently miniscule, risk of sarcomatous malignancy? So far, neither of my dogs has anything remotely resembling a lump/mass in the neck area, but I will be sure to examine this area regularly from now on!! Thanks for the link. If my vet tells me anything of value, I'll be sure to pass the info along here.