How safe are Microchips for Alzheimer’s Patients?

Back in May, Mary Emma wrote about a West Palm Beach Alzheimer’s Care Center’s plans to place microchips into patients. They were taking part in a two year clinical project trialling VeriChip Corporation’s VeriMed system.

The whole idea of implanting a microchip into a patient was the topic of hot debate and protest.

Now a Time magazine article is asking the question ‘Are Microchip Tags Safe?’ Apparently there are indications that the microchips may cause cancer in laboratory animals. Three studies, published between 1996 and 2006, claim to have “…found that lab mice and rates injected with microchips sometims developed subcutaneous sarcomas – malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.”

So it looks like the issue of microchips in humans now has become not only an ethical issue but also a health one…

Further reading:

Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors (Washington Post)

Tissue Reactions to Microchip Implantation in Laboratory Animals and Pets (VeriChip Corporation)