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THE RISE OF THE FOURTH REICH
which found that chip implants βinducedβ malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats. According to an Associated Press report in September 2007, Keith Johnson, who led a study in 1996 at Dow Chemical Company, said, βThe transponders were the cause of the tumors.β Several leading cancer experts contacted by the AP cautioned that while animal tests do not necessarily apply to humans, they were βtroubledβ by the findings and urged further study before the chips were implanted in people. Some stated they would not allow their family members to receive such implants. The head of the federal Department of Health and Human Services when the VeriChip was approved was Tommy Thompson, who after leaving his government post joined VeriChip Corporation as a director. He resigned from the company in early 2007 to run an unsuccessful campaign as a Republican presidential candidate. The law firm in which Thompson was partnerβAkin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld LLPβwas paid $1.2 million to represent VeriChip, according to the SEC. Uses for the chip include controlling access to nonpublic facilities such as government buildings and installations, nuclear power plants, national research laboratories, correctional institutions, and transportation hubsβ either using the chip by itself or in conjunction with existing security technologies such as retina scanners, thumbprint scanners, or face- recognition devices. Company officials envision the chip will come to be used in a wide range of consumer products, including PC and laptop computers, personal vehicles, cell phones, homes, and apartments. They said the implanted chip will help stop identity theft and aid in the war against terrorists. By early 2006, fears of the chip became reality when a Cincinnati video surveillance firm, CityWatcher.com, began to place the VeriChip in the arms of some of its employees who worked in sensitive areas. While the firm did not require employees to receive the chip to keep their jobs, some saw the company as establishing an unsettling precedent.
A NAT IONA L ID card or chip may be the least of a citizenβs worries. Today, authorities are availing themselves of technologies the Nazis of the Third Reich could only have dreamed about. Satellite surveillance and the