- MERCK SUED: HomeAgain® PET CHIP IMPLICATED IN CANCER
- New website, ChipMeNot.com, features details on cancer
case and other
- adverse reactions
-
- Nashua, NH -- 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 19902006," 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.
-
- Albrecht's paper and a copy of the complaint are also
posted
- at www.ChipMeNot.com. The site, co-developed with graduate
intern Lidiya
- Prorochuk, spotlights a growing number of adverse reactions
to
- microchips, including the chip-related cancer deaths
of two dogs within
- the past year. The site also features a form where pet
owners can report
- adverse microchip reactions, since there is currently
no official
- registry in the US to collect such data.
-
- "Merck and organizations that advocate pet chipping
should take this
- lawsuit seriously and start warning pet owners of the
risk of
- microchip-induced cancer," Albrecht advised. "As
Andrea Rutherford and
- other pet owners can tell you, it's not a statistic when
it's your pet."
-
- About Katherine Albrecht and CASPIAN
- Dr. Katherine Albrecht is the founder and director of
CASPIAN, an
- organization that educates consumers about the dangers
of surveillance
- and RFID microchip technology. She is also a syndicated
radio host,
- bestselling author, and the VP of Marketing for www.Startpage.com,
the
- world's most private search engine. Katherine holds a
doctorate in
- Consumer Education from Harvard University.
-
- For further information, please contact:
-
- Dr. Katherine Albrecht
- 877-865-5027
- press@chipmenot.com
-
- Lidiya Prorochuk
- 877-865-5027
- lidiya@chipmenot.com
-
-
- CASPIAN (Consumers Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion
and Numbering) is a grass-roots consumer group fighting retail surveillance
schemes since 1999 and irresponsible RFID use since 2002. With thousands
of members in all 50 U.S. states and over 30 countries worldwide, CASPIAN
seeks to educate consumers about marketing strategies that invade their
- privacy and encourage privacy-conscious shopping habits
across the retail spectrum.
-
- http://www.spychips.com/
- http://www.antichips.com/
- http://www.nocards.org/
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