AP Report Links RFID Chips To Animal Tumors
US - A newly released AP report that reveals a possible link between implanted electronic microchips and malignant tumors in lab rats and mice is raising concerns among some livestock owners.
13 September 2007
1 minute read
The reason for their concern is that one of the cornerstones of USDA's National Animal Identification System is the proposed use of electronic chips in animals.
Phase one of NAIS is registering livestock premises; phase two is the electronic identification of animals, also known as chipping.
The RFID chips, generally placed in an animal's ear, would be used to track the movement of the animal.
The goal of NAIS is to prevent and/or contain contagious animal diseases such as mad cow and foot-and-mouth disease.
While USDA had originally called for NAIS to be mandatory, the intense controversy it raised across the nation led the agency to change NAIS to a voluntary system - indefinitely.
On Sept. 11, Shae Dodson, spokesperson for R-CALF USA, an organization made up of cattle owners, said the organization's board members hadn't discussed the AP report yet - primarily because the report was so new. But she has circulated the report to the organization's animal identification committee.
"It certainly did get us interested," she said about some of the findings in the report. "It looks like we'll have another battle on our hands."
