Radio Frequency Identification Devices -- miniscule computer chips that can be embedded in objects, allowing them to be tracked -- cause cancer when implanted in animals, reports the Associated Press.
About 2,000 people have been outfitted with RFIDs containing their medical records since 2005, when the FDA said it was safe for people to stick them under their skin. Other people -- including patrons of a Barcelona club-- have used RFIDs as subcutaneous credit cards.
But as early as 1996, studies showed that the implants caused cancer in between one and ten percent of chipped mice.
And just to make it juicier, Tommy Thompson -- then-head of the
Department of Health and Human Services -- became a board member of
RFID manufacturer VeriChip and its parent company, Applied Digital
Solutions, after leaving the government.
The big question -- aside from the apparent yearlong oxygen deprivation of Anthony Watson -- is what these findings mean for humans, in whom the devices were not tested prior to approval.
No unusual cancer reports have yet been made in people with RFID
implants, and thousands of animals have been chipped without setting off a wave of pet cancer. However, it's still very early - long-term studies need to be carried out on the first 2,000 recipients.
If you're really concerned that you'll be unable to communicate your medical information in an emergency, get a chip and wear it on a necklace or a bracelet. But until more is known about RFIDs in people, skip the chip.
Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors [Associated Press]
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Related Wired coverage: chipping kids in case they're kidnapped, the cute eader of the anti-RFID activists, the privacy dangers of hacked chips.*
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Image: Amal Graafstra*
