Of note...

There's been a swirl of controversy around the safety of microchips the last couple of months. The charge is that microchips can induce malignant tumors at the site where the chip is implanted. This is a big concern for those of us who have chipped our pets as a safety measure in the event they become lost.

As I've looked over the articles, there's a lot of politics around interpreting the test results and who says what is safe and why. While it still looks like that could still be the case, a new report gives me enough concern to call out the potential danger.

In a study that was released last week, up to 10% of genetically modified mice developed cancer around the site of a microchip injection. This is the highest rate to be found to date, where earlier studies range from 0.8% - 4.1% with wide differences in the number of animals included in each study (177 to 4,279). There were also studies where cancer was not found, but they are challenged for their smaller sample sizes and overall study time lines.

It seems worthwhile to get serious about this risk and grant an independent study that will move from debate to core data that can be used to make the right decisions for ourselves and our pets.

The French Bulldog pictured here is in honor of Leon, who developed cancer from his microchip implant and caused Associate Press reporter Todd Lewan to write a feature length story on the issue in September 2007. Unfortunately, the article is no longer available for free online.