Microchip Makers Sued

New Hampshire Free Press ^ | Kat Kanning

[citizenredstater9271]

MERCK SUED: HomeAgain® PET CHIP IMPLICATED IN CANCER

New website, ChipMeNot.com, features details on cancer case and other adverse reactions

Nashua, NH (CASPIAN) October 13, 2010

Pharmaceutical giant Merck & Co. has been served with a lawsuit over claims its HomeAgain® pet microchip induced cancer in a cat. Animal rights attorney Steven Wise seeks "reasonable compensatory damages" for a malignant tumor "likely" induced by a HomeAgain® ID chip implanted in his client's cat, Bulkin.

The complaint, "Andrea Rutherford v. Merck Sharp & Dohme Corp. and Digital Angel, Inc.,"(case # 1052CV1147) was filed last week in Cambridge (MA) District Court. The complaint named implant maker Digital Angel Corporation as a co-defendant.

"Based on the alarming number of microchip-linked cancers we're discovering, I predict this lawsuit will be just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Katherine Albrecht, a consumer advocate and expert on adverse reactions associated with implantable microchips.

Bulkin's case is featured at www.ChipMeNot.com, a new website launched by Albrecht's consumer group CASPIAN to bring attention to the plight of animals who have developed cancer and other adverse reactions from ID microchips. Albrecht documents several of these cases in "Microchip-Induced Tumors in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs: A Review of the Literature 1990–2006," a peer-reviewed academic paper she presented at a June conference of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers devoted to concerns about implantable microchips.

[citizenredstater9271]

This is scary stuff. I can only imagine what's going to happen when the gov. starts mandating everyone be chipped.

[OCC]

I predict this lawsuit will be just the tip of the iceberg," said Dr. Katherine Albrecht, a consumer advocate and expert on adverse reactions associated with implantable microchips.

The USA rules when it comes to lawyers!

[sinanju]

Did Timothy James McVeigh ever sue the Army for the microchip he claimed they implanted in his but-tocks?

Seriously, there might be something to this. I know microchips get soaked in some extremely nasty solvents when the circuit boards go through the etching process.

[bunkerhill7]

MERCK SUED: HomeAgain® PET CHIP IMPLICATED IN CANCER FOUND IN CHIPMUNKS

[ThunderSleeps]

I don't buy it. The chips are completely passive. They only radiate when scanned by a (much more powerful) scanner RF field. These are basically RFID tags embedded in a glass carrier. I'll bet these people cherry-picked their data and/or used statistics to see what they wanted to see. My dog is chipped and I never gave it a second thought.

Consider this, if by some wild stretch of reality the RFID tag field in the pet chip is responsible, we'd all be dead already from the RFID tags all around us.

[Soothesayer9]

By then there wont be any government.

[nametrader]

I hate to think about what they could add to flu shots,or childrens vaccinations.

[citizenredstater9271]

They are already adding mercury and other molecules that cause cancer and infertility. The FDA changed its definition for what constitutes “safe” vax. Thats why i’m never getting vaxed and I will never vax my kids.

[citizenredstater9271]

We can hope this lawsuit will prompt more action against gov. chipping making it impossible for the gov. to chip.

[citizenredstater9271]

So sure? http://homefirst.com/

[Razzz42]

I volunteer ‘Thundersleeps’ as the first human guinea pig for chip implant.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

Too late, there are already people that have done it.

[Sarajevo]

Believe it. I had to put down one of my furry friends due to cancer induced by thoe stinking chips.

[1010RD]

How do they determine the lifetime earnings of a cat?

[1010RD]

Re-read the story. These aren’t stinking chips, but RFID chips.

[Gorzaloon]

"Based on the alarming number of microchip-linked cancers we're discovering

Looking at the cases the site shows, and given the number of microchips implanted, this appears to be just another litigation lottery. Words like "Alarming", etc. show a PR desperation.

My pets have always been chipped, and Yes, if something happened to them, there would be hell to pay- But I know of many, many pets who were recovered and saved by the chip. I know of none who had trouble.

There are a lot of hungry people out there with motives, and all these "issues" must be viewed with skepticism.

They chose an emotionally loaded topic, targeted to an audience easily stampeded by emotion, and did it deliberately, betting that Merck is big enough to pay them off and make them Go Away.

[netmilsmom]

Shhhhh, you’re not allowed to make sense.

[Gorzaloon]

Shhhhh, you’re not allowed to make sense.

Well, look at all the TV Ads. We know what's going on!

I just saw one where there is a class action for DENTURE ADHESIVE! Yes, false teeth glue.

There is one after another as the barraters dream up one load of fiction after another.

[Right Wing Assault]

This is legal BS.

Let's look at some facts instead of flying off the handle with emotional doomsday reactions.

First, the chips are encased in a glass tube, sometimes with a plastic 'anchor' on one end. These materials are biocompatible.

The chip does not touch the critter. I does not have a battery. It does not send out radio signals. It is passive.

The only time it does anything is when a scanner signal of the right frequency is picked up by its internal antenna. Only then does the energy of the signal allow the chip to send back an identifying signal.

This is most likely a coincidence and a lawyer trying to make himself and his client a lot of money.

Here's a chart showing the 'adverse reactions' to RFID in pets. And this is with over 4 million of them in place. This is from the AVMA website.

[netmilsmom]

>>Well, look at all the TV Ads. We know what’s going on! <<

The smart people do.
If breeders chip all their pups or kits, and they have invested craploads of money into those baby cash cows, I think this is all about someone making a bit on the side.

The other question would be, how many times has this cat had to be scanned? I could possibly see cancer forming if the cat was scanned once a week. Moral to the story? Keep your cat inside.