The Advantages of Microchipping

No bigger than a grain of rice, the glass-coated microchip transmits data to a computer when scanned. Though widely regarded as a boon for owners of pets and livestock and a part of many everyday items, microchip implants in humans have raised some protest about privacy rights. However, its advocates point out that the tiny device can provide medical and safety benefits for people.

Commercial Uses

• In the 1970s, the earliest commercially used microchips appeared in the form of ear tags attached to cattle. The chips enabled ranchers to track the animals' eating and reproductive habits. By the 1990s, microchips transitioned from the farm to the city. Today, the tiny transmitters deliver multiple advantages. Microchips are integrated into speed passes, which let customers pay for gasoline and other items with the swipe of a card. Embedded in tires, chips confirm the tires' maximum inflation pressure to help mitigate driving problems. Microchips in luggage provide an extra measure of security should the bags become lost in transit.

Animals

• Animal owners routinely apply a microchip to millions of dogs, cats and horses. Chips embedded in house pets can relay owner information that can bring a lost pet home more quickly. In 2010, the American Veterinary Medical Association cited research showing that among lost dogs, the dogs with a microchip were returned to their owner 52.2 percent of the time, compared to 21.9 percent for unchipped ones. For cats, the return rate was 38.5 percent for chipped versus just 1.8 percent for unchipped. Chips in racehorses track the animal's body temperature, a vital statistic for horses in training or racing.

Humans

• Humans may receive a microchip implant just under the skin via a syringe. Skin tissue forms around the chip to keep it in place. The procedure leaves no scar and results in no soreness. Microchips have been touted as advantages for people whose age or physical conditions may put their whereabouts at risk -- such as children, adults with dementia or Alzheimer's disease or people prone to sudden unconsciousness. Some employers advocate chips for workers in highly sensitive environments, where security is at a premium.

Opposing Views

• For as long as microchips have been available to implant in humans, people have spoken up against the technology. "Chipping, these critics said, might start with Alzheimer's patients," writes Todd Lewan in a 2007 Associated Press article, "but would eventually be suggested for convicts, then parolees, then sex offenders, ... until one day, a majority of Americans, falling into one category or another, would find themselves electronically tagged." In February 2010, the Virginia House of Delegates heard arguments that chipping humans was tantamount to the biblical mark of the beast. "There's a prophecy in the Bible that says you'll have to receive a mark," U.S. Rep. Mark L. Cole stated. "Some people think these computer chips might be that mark."