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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
June 3, 2008
CASPIAN RELEASES NEW EVIDENCE OF VERICHIP LIES AND DECEPTION
Group's Latest Report Sets
Record Straight on Chip Implants, Cancer, and
more
Opponents of the VeriChip implant are launching a new offensive against
the controversial human microchip this week, amid reports that VeriChip
plans to put its chipping division on the auction block. A new report
titled "Microchip Implants: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions"
released today by CASPIAN Consumer Privacy reveals dirty laundry the
company would probably rather keep hidden as it seeks a buyer for its
beleaguered product.
The 42-page report was authored by CASPIAN director Dr. Katherine
Albrecht, a Harvard-educated privacy expert and long-time critic of the
VeriChip. The highlight of the report is an eleven-page section titled
"Cancer Cover-up" that describes a systematic pattern of lies and
deception engaged by VeriChip executives in an effort to downplay the
fact that implantable microchips cause cancer in laboratory animals.
The report reveals how news outlets like Time
Magazine, Business Week, and the RFID Journal were
used as unwitting pawns in a VeriChip scheme to spread
misinformation about the cancer studies. Since research
linking the product to cancer first surfaced last year, each of these
publications has repeated misstatements from VeriChip company
executives, in many cases printing the inaccurate statements verbatim
and unchallenged.
"These were not subjective issues, they were plainly verifiable issues
of fact," Albrecht said. "We were saddened to see the misstatements
fall through the fact-checking cracks of these
respected publications. Now that VeriChip is back in
the headlines, we felt it was time to set the record
straight."
VeriChip's media efforts have done little to salvage the company's
public image or its financial performance, both of which plummeted after
research linking the implantable microchip
to cancer was widely revealed by the Associated Press
in September 2007. The same company that once
predicted revenues in the "billions" earned just $3,000 from its
microchip implant operations in the first quarter of 2008, as patients
shun the device that many are now calling the "cancer chip."
Investors have also distanced themselves from the failing company, with
VeriChip's stock plummeting from a high of $10.62 last year to just over
$2.00 today.
VeriChip's VP of business development, Jay McKeage, acknowledged the
implant division suffers from "a substantial cash burn" and is
"not sustainable on its own." As a result, he
says, VeriChip plans to "shop
the VeriMed / Health Link [human implantable chip] business around
widely" in hopes that another company will take the unpopular product
off its hands.
However, with recent blog headlines like "VeriChip Death
Watch" making
the rounds, Albrecht has a hard time imagining who, if anyone, will want
to buy the business.
"This is a company that has engaged in a consistent pattern of making
false and misleading statements," she said. "It has lied to the
public, to the media, to its shareholders, and to regulatory agencies,"
she said, citing additional evidence from the report
indicating that VeriChip hid cancer evidence from the
FDA when the agency reviewed the implant's safety in
2004.
"We laid out all the evidence in our report," she added. "We
want to make sure no one else gets burned by VeriChip."
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ABOUT THE REPORT
CASPIAN's new report, "Microchip Implants: Answers to Frequently Asked
Questions," is a comprehensive reference guide to implantable microchips
in animals and humans. It provides thoroughly-researched,
footnoted answers to 85 of the most
commonly asked questions about the implantable
microchip, including religious, privacy, social, and health questions.
The report concludes with a list of recommendations for patients, pet
owners, and policy makers affected by the device.
The new report is available for free download on the group's
AntiChips.com website at:
http://www.antichips.com/faq/index.html
While on the website, readers are encouraged to download Dr. Albrecht's
comprehensive 52-page overview of the studies, "Microchip-Induced Tumors
in Laboratory Rodents and Dogs: A Review of the Literature 1990-2006,"
and to review scanned copies of the original documents.
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ABOUT CASPIAN
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/
You're welcome to duplicate and distribute this message to others who
may find it of interest.
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