How to Check for RFID Chips Implants

RFID implants are small enough to hide themselves in an animal's body, but are more easily found in humans.

Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) implants help animal shelters and veterinarians identify lost pets, cattle farmers to track animals, and naturalists to track fish migration. Unless a person has volunteered to receive an implant, then you will not find an implant in a human being. A few hospitals, resorts and casinos offer voluntary RFID implanting for patient tracking and contactless payment. Still, you can check for an implant if you feel you've been drugged and received one against your will. The implants range in size from an uncooked grain of rice to an elongated allergy capsule.

Instructions

1. Take a dog or cat to a shelter or to a veterinarian for a scan. The two readily-available implants (AVID and HomeAgain) must be identified with hand-held scanners, which only shelters and veterinarians will have. The chip will be between the animal's shoulder blades, but is too small to feel through the fur and flesh.

2. Gut a fish, cutting along the belly and rectum. The implant used to track schools of fish are routinely inserted in the animal's rectum.

3. Look on a person's arm, at the bottom of the deltoid muscle, or, the inside of the arm, near the armpit.

4. Find a pock mark (like an acne scar), which indicates that the fairly large RFID chip has been implanted.

5. Feel near the scar for the implant. Human flesh is thinner than animal flesh, and should reveal the chip.

6. Take the individual to a hospital for an X-ray, if in doubt. The small, foreign object with its copper antenna will be readily identifiable on an X-ray.

Tips & Warnings

• The American Medical Association has recommended a policy of "informed consent," even in cases of patient tracking, and in tracking Alzheimer's patients (which is in the pilot stage of testing as of January 2010).

• The State of California signed into law a ban on involuntary implantation of RFID, which is a preemptive measure. No penal institution, hospital or other US organization implants RFID without the knowledge of users.

References

• RFID Gazette: Top 15 Weirdest Uses of RFID
• Canis Major: Microchips
• RFID Journal: AMA Issues Ethics Code for RFID Chip Implants