The doctors and staff at Murrayhill are concerned about the recent AP/AOL story which links microchip implantation to cancer (primarily in mice but also in 2 dogs). Local news programs picked up the story and people are now worried that the microchips implanted in their pets are potential worry, rather than the piece of mind they were meant to be. The article was a stance against microchipping people, and used cancer as their main reason to be against it.
The American Veterinary Medical Association and the Oregon Veterinary Medical Association were quick to respond to the article, sharing with veterinarians and the public more information on the subject. In fact, there is a concern among veterinary medical researchers that the research into microchip inducing tumors may have been flawed, because the animals used were genetically predisposed to cancer. In addition, removal of the chip is a more invasive procedure and not without potential complications. Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people."
Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven't reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP's four-month examination of research on chips and health. 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.)
HomeAgain LLC, a division of Schering-Plough, has been in the animal health microchip business since 1995, during which time they report microchipping over 10 million pets. As of 2007, HomeAgain's monitoring and investigation of any complications related to their microchip products has turned up only 4 confirmed tumors. This would indicate tumors occurring in 1 out of 2,500,000 pets microchipped. As a side note, the NOAA reports that our chances of being struck by lightning are considerably greater at 1 in 600,000.
24 Hour Pet Watch Microchip Identification informs us that each year, millions of lost and abandoned animals are taken in by animal welfare organizations across North America; Of these animals, only 14% of the dogs and 4% of the cats (estimated figures) are ever returned home. The major reason for failing to reunite a lost pet with its owner is because the pets are unidentifiable. Microchipping offers pet owners the only truly permanent method of identifying their pet and linking the animal back to the owner. If you want to improve your pet's chances of getting home in a lost pet emergency - microchipping is still your best option. Other chip manufacturers has claimed to have their chip implanted in millions of dogs, cats, horses, birds and livestock. Considering how a large number of pets have been implanted with microchips, with a relatively small number of confirmed cases of tumors associated with microchips, the AVMA advises against a rush to judgment on the technology.
Getting lost remains the #1 cause of pet death.
Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines "to see if you have a biological effect." Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence "does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations." So as with any decisions you make about your pet, we want you to be informed so you are able to make the best decisions to give your pet the longest, happiest life possible. Murrayhill still recommends microchipping as the best source of permanent identification, and all of the doctors and staff would definitely microchip their pets all over again today.
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Just The Facts:
Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" -- malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
- A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent -- a result the researchers described as "surprising."
- A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer.
- In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.
Caveats accompanied the findings. "Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided," one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted.
Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people."
Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven't reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP's
four-month examination of research on chips and health. 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.)
Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines "to see if you have a biological effect." Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary
oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence "does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations."
Meanwhile, cancer specialists agreed the animal study findings should be disclosed to anyone considering a chip implant. |
