To Microchip or Not to Microchip

Radio Commentary, WMVV 90.7 New Life FM, September 3, 2010
By Sue Ella Deadwyler

Good morning, Jim. In the last five years, four bills have been introduced in Georgia to prohibit mandatory microchip implants in humans. Although other states passed laws requiring personal consent, all four bills were killed in Georgia, leaving the population vulnerable if the governor orders mandatory implants during a declared emergency, during a real or imagined threat.

No one was concerned when trash barrels were microchipped, so waste disposal businesses could tell which barrels were theirs. No one was disturbed when wildlife was tagged to track migration routes. Cattle owners were the only ones affected when herds had to be tagged and pet owners welcomed microchips so they could locate Fido and Fluffy, if they strayed.

Medical facilities offer patients microchip implants so health records will be instantly available and no one seems to be concerned … as long as microchips are offered and not forced upon patients. But desensitizing is becoming more frequent. We’re hearing that prisoners should be microchipped, Alzheimer’s patients should be microchipped, soldiers should be microchipped and workers may be forced to be microchipped or lose their jobs.

A school district in Rhode Island announced a pilot program to monitor 80 students with RFID chips in their school bags. The chips would uniquely identify the student and would be read by an electronic reader installed in a school bus that’s been fitted with a GPS device. Naïve parents may be persuaded that’s the way to go. But, if someone else uses a similar device to hijack that information, students and their families could be in unnecessary danger.

Georgia needs a law against forced microchip implants. So, while you’re talking to candidates for the General Assembly, ask whether they would do us all a favor and vote FOR a bill to prohibit mandatory microchip implants. Implants may be a blessing for dogs that get lost, but microchips can place individuals in greater harm than being lost. For Georgia Insight I’m Sue Ella Deadwyler, your Capitol correspondent.