Originally posted by 12.21.12
Not to mention that these chips are alkaline based aren't they? So trying to remove one counld be a fatal mistake, unless done properly.
nah, they're small passive electronic devices containing some read only memory and an antenna. Most of the time, they're in sticker form, for
tracking inventory and preventing theft. For implantation in animals, they're usually encased in some kind of non bioactive substance, like plastic,
ceramic, or maybe glass,
RFID chips can be made VERY small, down to less than half a millimeter to a side (and even smaller, nowadays, but that's out of my department) , but
those require near contact to be read, because of their near microscopic antenna. The very small RFID chips are more for embedding in money, credit
and gift cards, IDs, etc. I haven't seen one personally, but they're certainly available. They don't tend to be the kind put in living things,
though.
It should be perfectly harmless to remove, unless there is some kind of purposely installed tamper-proofing system, which I don't think is very
likely at all.
Hell, apparently Kodak developed edible RFID tags, for medical purposes, they track how quickly things pass through your intestinal tract. Now of
course, all kinds of things that you can eat just fine would kill you if you were to put them in your bloodstream instead, but RFID chips tend to be
made of relatively benign substances, and are rather small. Damaging the covering would allow copper and silicon into your blood, which are slightly
toxic, but there shouldn't be *that* much of either in an RFID chip. Not enough to be deadly.