*When it comes to engineering moral panics, Katherine is not just taking the cake here, but jumping up and down on it repeatedly. Whatever next? Tumor-ridden viral Lolcats, maybe.
From: [email protected]
Subject: [Caspian-press-l] Chipped Dogs Develop Fast-Growing, Lethal Tumors
Date: 25 marzo 2010 03:06:27 GMT-05:00
For a version of this press release with photos of the dogs, please see:
http://www.antichips.com/press-releases/chipped-pets.html
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 25, 2010
CHIPPED PETS DEVELOP FAST-GROWING, LETHAL TUMORS
Owners, Medical Reports Point to Link Between RFID Chips and Cancers in
Canines
Highly aggressive tumors developed around the microchip implants of two
American dogs, killing one of the pets and leaving the other terminally
ill. Their owners — and pathology and autopsy reports — have
suggested a link between the chips and the formation of the fast-growing
cancers.
In the town of Paeonian Springs, Va., a five-year-old male Bullmastiff
named Seamus died in February, nine months after developing a
"hemangio-sarcoma" — a rare, malignant form of cancer that strikes
connective tissues and can kill even humans in three to six months. The
tumor appeared last May between the dog's shoulder blades where a
microchip had been implanted; by September, a "large mass" had grown
with the potential to spread to the lungs, liver and spleen, according a
pathology report from the Blue Ridge Veterinary Clinic in Purcellville,
Va.
Originally scheduled to receive just a biopsy, Seamus underwent
emergency surgery. A foot-long incision was opened to extract the
4-pound-3-ounce tumor, and four drains were needed to remove fluid where
the tumor had developed.
When Howard Gillis, the dog's owner, picked up his pet the following
day, the attending veterinarian stunned him with this question: Did you
know your dog had been microchipped twice, and that both chips were in
or around the tumor?
"While we knew of one chip, which we had put in him at a free local
county clinic, we knew nothing of a second chip," Gillis said. "We
believe one of them was put in Seamus by the breeder from whom we bought
him when he was about nine months old."
By December, the cancer was back — and the energetic, playful
150-pound dog was huffing and puffing, struggling to walk. Seamus "was
150 pounds of heart," Gillis said in a recent interview. "He wanted to
live."
Gillis said he "got the microchip because I didn't want him stolen. I
thought I was doing right. There were never any warnings about what a
microchip could do, but I saw it first-hand. That cancer was something I
could see growing every day, and I could see it taking his life ... It
just ate him up." To keep his beloved dog from suffering further, he had
him put to sleep two months later.
In Memphis, a five-year-old Yorkshire Terrier named Scotty was diagnosed
with cancer at the Cloverleaf Animal Clinic in December. A tumor between
the dog's shoulder blades — precisely where a microchip had been
embedded — was described as malignant lymphoma. A tumor the size of a
small balloon was removed; encased in it was a microchip.
Scotty was given no more than a year to live.
But the dog's owner, Linda Hawkins, wasn't satisfied with just a
prognosis: She wanted to know whether the presence of the microchip had
anything to do with Scotty's illness. Initially, her veterinarian was
skeptical that a chip implant could trigger cancer; research has shown
that vaccine injections in dogs and cats can lead to tumors.
In a December pathology report on Scotty, Evan D. McGee wrote: "I was
previously suspicious of a prior unrelated injection site reaction"
beneath the tumor. "However, it is possible that this inflammation is
associated with other foreign debris, possibly from the microchip."
Observing the glass-encapsulated tag under a microscope, he noted it was
partially coated with a translucent material, normally used to keep
embedded microchips from moving around the body. "This coating could be
the material inciting the inflammatory response," McGee wrote.
Hawkins sent the pathology report to HomeAgain, the national pet
recovery and identification network that endorses microchipping of pets.
After having a vet review the document, the company said the chip did
not cause Scotty's tumor — then in January sent Hawkins a $300 check
to cover her clinical expenses, no questions asked.
"I find it hard to believe that a company will just give away $300 to
somebody who calls in, unless there is something bad going on," Hawkins
says.
Having spent $4,000 on medical treatment for Scotty since December,
Hawkins accepted the money. But she says it hardly covers her $900
monthly outlays for chemotherapy and does little to ease her pet's
suffering.
"Scotty is just a baby. He won't live the 15 years he's supposed to ...I
did something I thought a responsible pet owner should — microchip
your pet — and to think that it killed him ... It just breaks your
heart."
Scotty and Seamus aren't the only pets to have suffered adverse
reactions from microchips. Published reports have detailed malignant
tumors in two other chipped dogs; in one dog, the researchers said
cancer appeared linked to the presence of the embedded chip; in the
other, the cancer's cause was uncertain.
Last year, a Chihuahua bled to death in the arms of his distraught
owners in Agua Dulce, Calif., just hours after undergoing a chipping
procedure. The veterinarian who performed the chipping confirmed that
dog died from blood loss associated with the microchip.
In another case, a kitten died instantly when a microchip was
accidentally injected into its brain stem. And in another, a cat was
paralyzed when an implant entered its spinal column. The implants have
been widely reported to migrate within animals' bodies, and can cause
abscesses and infection.
In 2007, The Associated Press reported on a series of veterinary and
toxicology studies that found that microchip implants had "induced"
malignant tumors in some lab animals. Published in veterinary and
toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that
between 1 and 10 percent of lab mice and rats injected with microchips
developed malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
For more information on the link between microchips and cancer, please
read our report:
"Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs: A Review of
the Literature 1990–2006"
by Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.
http://www.antichips.com/cancer/index.html
To arrange an interview, please contact:
Katherine Albrecht, Ed.D.
Founder and Director, Antichips.com
[email protected]
877-287-5854 Ext. 1
Bio: Dr. Katherine Albrecht is a privacy expert who has writtern
extensively on the topic of implanted microchips. She is an outspoken
opponent of implantable microchips, RFID, and retail privacy invasion.
Katherine has authored pro-privacy legislation, testified before
lawmakers around the globe, written for numerous publications including
Scientific American, and granted over 2,000 media interviews. Katherine
is syndicated radio host, bestselling author, and the U.S. spokesperson
for www.Startpage.com, the world's most private search engine. Katherine
holds a doctorate in Education from Harvard University.
www.AntiChips.com // www.KatherineAlbrecht.com
=====================================================================
ABOUT CASPIAN
CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance schemes since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands of members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their
privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits across the retail spectrum.
http://www.spychips.com/
http://www.antichips.com/
http://www.nocards.org/
=====================================================================
(((And are there pictures? Oh yeah. There are pictures:)))
