moar funny pictures
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"Doubt is not a pleasant condition, but certainty is absurd." - Voltaire (story of my life)
"I steal from every movie ever made." - Quentin Tarantino (I KNEW IT!!! THAT BASTARD, LOL)
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The good things in life do not create happiness. The good things in life arise from happiness.
If you wish to be happy, then be happy. It really is as simple as that.
There's no need to wait until you acquire this or achieve that. If you constantly place conditions on happiness, you'll prevent yourself from experiencing it.
Go ahead and be happy now, today, this very moment. Be happy for no reason at all, and you'll find that you're more effective, more productive, more creative and more fulfilled.
Indeed, happiness is a powerful state of mind that is available to you when you allow it to be. The best reason to be happy is because you can.
Being genuinely happy is a powerful way to express your confidence and your expectation that positive things will happen. And when you confidently expect the best, that's precisely what you get.
GOD BLESS MY FRIENDS AKA FAMILY WHO SHARED THESE WORDS OF ENCOURAGEMENT WITH ME: CHRIS, DAVE, NICK, HELENE AND SOPHIA!
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Kanye needs to read those words... especially after shit like this:
www.allhiphop.com
Dr. Jan Adams, the plastic surgeon who operated on rapper Kanye West’s mother Dr. Donda West before she tragically died, walked off CNN’s "Larry King Live" last night during an interview.
According to Dr. Adams, West’s family asked him to not appear on the show and threatened to have him decertified by The Medical Board of California.
"I had come here to talk about things in the press that aren't accurate about me,” Dr. Adams told Larry King during the truncated interview. "They asked me not to go on. And I've said from the very beginning, I don't have a side in this…I am going to apologize to you, because I think I'm taking up your airtime, but I will not be on the show and I will not discuss any of that."
Dr. Adams then removed his earpiece and walked off the set, telling King that he would only answer questions if West’s family permitted him to do so.
"When they're comfortable, then I'll be comfortable. If they're never comfortable, then I'll never be comfortable," Adams said.
Dr. Donda West died on November 10 in a Los Angeles hospital after a breast reduction, tummy tuck and liposuction.
Dr. Jan Adams told the Los Angeles Times that he believed he knew “exactly” what caused Dr. West’s death, but would not elaborate until an official cause of death is released.
"I believe I know exactly what happened to her, but I will not comment on it until I see the final report,” Dr. Adams told The Los Angeles Times.
The coroner has said early indications suggest West, 58, died from surgical complications.
An official cause of death won't be determined for weeks, pending the results of toxicology and other tests.
Adams said he prescribed West Vicodin after the surgery and that she could have died from a heart attack, pulmonary embolism or an accidental overdose from the painkillers.
Meanwhile, Dr. West was laid to rest in a private ceremony yesterday (November 20) in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Over 1,000 people, including Jay-Z and Beyonce, Anita Baker, John Legend, attended the ceremony at the True Vine Ministry church, where two horse-drawn carriages carried her body to the cemetery.
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Ghostface speaking the ghost spell aka Gospel
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HERE'S THE JOE BUDDEN LINE THAT CAUSED IT ALL, AT THE END OF THE VIDEOCLIP:
RAP IS OUTTA CONTROL
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Busta Rhymes proves my point with part 2 of his Studio Bidness:
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www.hiphopgame.com
Hip Hop Game speaks to Joey Buddens about DRAMA:
You just had the Mood Muzik 3 listening party this past weekend. How did that go for you?
It was the first of two listening parties. It went rather well. People enjoyed what they heard and the turnout was great.
Did you get the response you wanted from the people who came?
They looked like they enjoyed themselves. I’m not worried about it.
On Rap City, you said, “With the chicks I hit and run like Saigon.” By now you know that Saigon took that line personally, as he has physically threatened you. What do you think will happen next?
Well, I don’t really plan on fights. Where I come from, they’re not planned. Those are just things that happen over the course of life. I don’t really give two shits about this. If he wants to approach me, that’s fine with me. If he wants to talk about this civilly, that’s fine with me also. If he wants to handle this on wax, that’s fine with me also.
You said on Peter Rosenberg’s show that Saigon crossed the line with his blog entry. Did his entry bother you?
No. There’s nothing that Saigon could say about me that would bother me at all. I could get in a verbal war with him and say some things to try to hurt his feelings and try to discredit him but that is something that I would rather not do. He’s an artist that I have a lot of respect for and a lot of love for. When I made the line, I wasn’t trying to diss him and it’s unfortunate that he took it that way. And however he wants to handle it from this point on, we can handle it that way.
Looking at your punchline, can you see how Saigon can take that as a disrespectful line?
Well, I’m open-minded and I like to play the devil’s advocate so I can always see how something can be interpreted, but the reality of it is that the line is a punchline. I know when you do punchlines, you take an event that’s known by a good amount of people and make a punchline out of it. Everyone knows what happened with him and Mobb Deep. It was widely spoken about. There’s video of it all over the internet and everybody saw what happened. From that sense and looking at it from my angle, it was a good line. I was talking about jumpoffs and the line was appropriate. But anything that I say, I’m more than happy to be held accountable for. So if he wants to attempt to smack “earth, wind and fire” out of me, then so be it. But realistically, is that going to happen? Honestly, you’re talking about a guy who used to box versus somebody who sucker-punched somebody who probably weighs a buck-50, being generous. He’s 5 foot-whatever and you couldn’t knock him out. Now you want to knock out somebody who’s 6 feet and 198 points. That doesn’t sound very realistic to me. How about you?
Do you still train?
No. That’s something I used to do. But boxing is like riding a bike. The techniques, you never forget.
Do you think you guys will trade diss records?
Honestly, I would like for it to not go there. Like I said, it’s not a line I said with any kind of ill will or malice and he’s an MC that I have respect for. But if it comes down to an actual battle, he will get it the same way everybody else will get it.
And about that whole thing, I read what he said. I read what he said. It’s almost like he tried to push my buttons. I met Saigon and I know he’s a lot smarter than what that blog portrayed. I wouldn’t even run around saying anything like that, especially when Jay is already on record saying that had it been about artists, he would have never done the record, but Saigon ran around all happy because he did the song. When it’s time for the album to come out, Saigon will learn the hard way. I’ll probably sell more of Mood Muzik than Saigon will sell of his album, and that’s realistically speaking. Don’t get it fucked up. I have all the love and respect in the world for Saigon as an artist, but once you try to discredit me, you should at least try to get the facts straight.
Would a Saigon and Joe Budden battle be good?
No. Not at all. I don’t think Saigon is one of the most lyrical guys in the world. I’m a fan of his work because of what he’s bringing to the table and the type of music that he makes. It’s just difficult to battle Joe Budden because I don’t really have anything in my closet that would be surprising to a Joe Budden fan. There’s no rabbit in the hat that you could pull out. It would really be a waste of time. I’m sure the fans would be interested in a battle. But for me? Nah. I’m going to be sitting there like, ‘He can rap. I knew that part already. Now let me show him why I’m better.’ And that will be that.
You and Saigon are two of the biggest fan-favorites on HipHopGame. How do you think the HipHopGame community would react to a Saigon and Joe Budden battle?
I don’t know. I don’t really know. I could see how we are both fan-favorites. How the fans will react, I have no idea. I don’t think it would be anything worthwhile. I think it would be over in a matter of one round.
Ransom has said a lot of personal things about you, especially in his third diss record to you “The End of Joe.” What did you think of that record?
I thought it was horrible. I thought it was corny. I thought he was committing suicide and I thought he was just looking for attention. That’s why I said I was done responding. I don’t really care what he has to say at this point. He killed himself. I didn’t even bother to listen to it at first. I just read the comments on HipHopGame. 286 out of the 300 said, “You’re killing yourself. You lost. The battle’s over. Retreat.”
Ransom called you gay for three minutes straight. What did you think of that?
I don’t blame him. I blame his engineer and I blame his entourage for that. When you’re trying to discredit somebody and battle somebody, repeating yourself for five minutes at the end of the record doesn’t really get the job done, especially when you’re calling somebody gay. When you’re doing that you sound like Wendy Williams.
That’s like when you’re in elementary school and kids tell mother jokes. Ransom knows that I’m not gay. That’s something so childish that I won’t even dignify that. Ransom knows the caliber of females that I keep around. He used to ask me for advice about how I did it. On the second diss record, I had a girlfriend that everyone was trying to fuck. Then on the third record, I’m a faggot or I’m bisexual. You’re confusing me, Ransom.
Do you think you’ll ever be friends with Ransom again?
I don’t hold it against him personally. I see it as a business move on his part. Nobody gave two shits about him so I don’t look at it as he’s personally attacking Joe Budden. I look at it like he was looking for attention. I don’t hold it against him but I would never work with him again in my entire life. But I don’t hold it against him.
Ransom says that he stopped Game from beating you up. Is that true?
Why would that be true? Let me tell you something. I’ve been in Jersey City since 1991. Everything I’m saying now, I said in my diss record. I’ve been here since 1991 and I just heard of you in 2003. Out of all the things he glorifies and the things he’s so proud of and all the people’s dicks that he sucks…I did the stick-ups and the shootouts and the robbing and stealing and all the tough guy shit and it didn’t land me anywhere but in institutions. And I’m lucky that it didn’t make me reach my demise. Do I really need this guy to protect me from something? I think the fans can read into that shit. He said he was protecting me. Okay, great. Eventually I had to walk outside of the studio. He’s telling it like he’s the boss and they do what he says. Come on. You don’t have that clout or respect in fucking Jersey City.
When I interviewed Royce Da 5’9”, he said you chose to party somewhere else during the night of the AllHipHop battle. What did you think of that statement?
I don’t mind it. I don’t mind that statement coming from Royce. Everybody’s entitled to their own opinion and I’m not the type of rapper to get emotional at what another rapper is saying. I talked to Royce on the phone and we’re going to do some work together in the future. I’m looking forward to that. My brother getting shot was a family situation that interfered with what I planned to do with AllHipHop. I have no problems with Royce. That situation actually got me in communication with Royce, which I never was before, so I’m actually grateful for it.
Where do you stand with Mistah F.A.B. today?
He can make as many diss records as he wants to make. From my perspective, he’s the worst rapper in the fucking universe. For me to actually bother sending a shot at him or to send some bars at him, it would be a waste of time. I would literally have to be bored as fuck one day to do that. I would say he’s the worst rapper in the world. It’s not competition. He hasn’t said anything stimulating at all. I’m done with him.
Why does it seem like you’re in the center of so much controversy today?
Well, as far as rappers go, I think when I was released from my label, Ransom got it misconstrued that we were the same type of artist. We’re not. I’m Grammy-nominated and he’s in his seventh year of searching for a deal. I’m coming and he’s not. As far as Mistah F.A.B., I’m sure he would like to continue his hype that he got off the AllHipHop battle and he would like to keep that going. As far as Saigon, he got his emotions all in a bunch and he took something the wrong way. That whole thing got blown out of proportion. And as far as this other guy, Sacario, it’s like as soon as I say someone’s name, they’re ready to jump and prove themselves. The thing with rappers is that they’re very emotional, very self-centered and very emotional. At the very mention of their name, they’re ready to do something. I’m more than ready to be accountable for anything that comes out of my mouth.
Do you consider yourself the typical rapper or a part of the rap game?
I’m not like that at all. Saigon, Mistah F.A.B, Ransom, Sacario…all of these guys are mentioning my name in a negative light. I don’t harbor any bad feelings towards any of them. All I can do is pray for them. I’m not so sensitive and I’m not so emotional. There are other things in my life that I have going on that I have feelings about and that I get emotional about. As far as rappers, I’m not concerned with any of that. That doesn’t compare to other things going on in my life.
Is all this controversy good promotion for Mood Muzik 3?
You can look at it that way. I didn’t plan on any of this, I can tell you that. When I was planning the Mood Muzik release date, I was trying to figure out how I could keep my buzz alive from October to December. Everybody is helping me keep my name out there without me having to do too much. I appreciate it.
What’s your focus now that Mood Muzik 3 is done?
After Mood Muzik 3 is out, I’m still shopping. I’m still shopping and I’m going to sit back and see what the right situation is. I’ll probably put two albums out in the course of the year. It’s all about the situation I get. I’m just waiting for the right situation. In the meantime, everything will be fine. I want to follow up Mood Muzik 3 with one of the best albums of the decade. That’s what I want to do.
Since you’ve been a free agent, have you received a lot of attention from other labels?
Yeah. I’ve been getting a great, great, great response. Everybody is enjoying the music and everybody is just as excited about it as I am.
Do you have any idea where you want to go next?
It’s still too early to say. It’s really too early to talk about it. I have a good idea of where I would like to go.
What do you want to say to everybody?
Thanks for taking the time out and hopefully you’ll enjoy Mood Muzik 3 as much as I enjoyed making it.
Shout out to Ransom. Shout out to Saigon. Shout out to Mistah F.A.B. Shout out to Sacario. Shout out to every other rapper that has my name in their mouth for no reason.
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Can't be mad at a man who wants to be with his daughter:
Eminem is refusing to embark on any future U.S tour in fear of upsetting his young daughter.
"I've toured more than him because he has Hailey and he likes to physically be at the house," 50 Cent told MTVUK, speaking of Eminem.
"A lot of people don't know the reason behind him touring less - but Hailey would put boxes in front of the door thinking this would stop him going.
"He (Eminem) would fly back on a private plane after the show so he could drive her to school in the morning so for him the tour was exhausting."
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T.I. Challenges Evidence in Weapons Case
By HARRY R. WEBER –
ATLANTA (AP) — T.I. says evidence collected against him and statements he made to authorities in a federal weapons case were illegally obtained.
Attorneys for the 27-year-old rapper, whose real name is Clifford Harris, filed motions Monday in U.S. District Court seeking to suppress evidence seized from his vehicle and statements he made on the day of his Oct. 13 arrest.
The attorneys allege the vehicle was searched without a warrant, consent or probable cause. They also allege that Harris' detention might not have been proper, statements he made to authorities may not have been voluntary, and agents may have failed to honor his rights.
The motions didn't elaborate on the basis for the legal challenges, but said more details would be filed later.
There was no immediate ruling by a judge. A spokesman for federal prosecutors, Patrick Crosby, said in an e-mail to The Associated Press that his office would respond in court.
Authorities say Harris tried to buy unregistered machine guns and silencers in midtown Atlanta about an hour before a scheduled performance at the BET Hip-Hop Awards. They say he already had three guns in his car, including one that was loaded.
Harris faces up to 10 years in prison and a $250,000 fine on each weapons charge.
He is free on bond, but is under house arrest. A pretrial conference was scheduled Wednesday.
The rapper had asked to host a Thanksgiving Day gathering at the home where he's staying, but the plan was scrapped after the government opposed it. His bond conditions require court approval of visitors.
A charity event he is sponsoring to give turkey dinners to the needy will go on Thursday, but Harris won't be there, according to one of his record labels.
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I'm laughing and loving it: El-P and Cage get drunk and speak my mind:
For real. I try to be Mr. Positivity At All Times, but with fuckory as fucked as Spank Rock, I just can't keep up the charade. Fuck all hipster douches with pedophile mustaches who wear fluorescent kitchy ironic t-shirts and hate everything in the universe cause they know how it ends already. Your time upon this earth is severely limited, muahahahahaha!
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peace to Tara Muldoon! Babygrande should sign her up...
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Article on the Kanye clip I posted:
Kanye West had an emotional meltdown while doing a concert on Saturday, after dedicating a song to his mother.
One week after the death of his mother, West got back on stage for a concert in Paris. According to People magazine, the singer broke down in front of his fans. Toward the end of the show, West sang the song, Hey Mama, and introduced it by expressing, "this song is for my mother...." West was not able to say anymore.
A spectator explained, "He just cracked. He was at the end of his concert and had just started to dedicate the song and then he just lost it completely."
A journalist from the Parisian stated that after uttering the word "mother", the rapper fell apart. His band members came close to comfort him, but he could not stop crying. He stayed under the lights while the band continued playing.
After a moment and with a lot of support from the crowd, the group started the song again, but West walked off the stage. He came back 15 minutes later to finish the show with the single Stronger.
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Big up DJ Dopey and DJ Serious going on tour across Canada:
Dopey, the illest dude on MTV Canada:
PEEP WWW.HIPHOPCANADA.COM TO FIND THE TOUR DATES... SORRY, I LOST 'EM
THIS SHOULD MAKE YOU FEEL BETTER:
moar funny pictures
moar funny pictures
moar funny pictures
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From The Personal Life of Mindbender Supreme:
I dreamt of a zombie apocalypse last night. I cut off someone's head. I was in a place that was so real, I am not sure how else I can explain how real this was to my brain. I wonder what this all means... besides the fact that I'm not normal, LOL
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MICROCHIP IMPLANTS CAUSE CANCER. REASON #187,666 TO NOT GET THEM!
Chip Implants Linked to Animal Tumors
By TODD LEWAN
The Associated Press
Saturday, September 8, 2007; 2:04 PM
-- When the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved implanting microchips in humans, the manufacturer said it would save lives, letting doctors scan the tiny transponders to access patients' medical records almost instantly. The FDA found "reasonable assurance" the device was safe, and a sub-agency even called it one of 2005's top "innovative technologies."
But neither the company nor the regulators publicly mentioned this: A series of veterinary and toxicology studies, dating to the mid-1990s, stated that chip implants had "induced" malignant tumors in some lab mice and rats.
"The transponders were the cause of the tumors," said Keith Johnson, a retired toxicologic pathologist, explaining in a phone interview the findings of a 1996 study he led at the Dow Chemical Co. in Midland, Mich.
Leading cancer specialists reviewed the research for The Associated Press and, while cautioning that animal test results do not necessarily apply to humans, said the findings troubled them. Some said they would not allow family members to receive implants, and all urged further research before the glass-encased transponders are widely implanted in people.
To date, about 2,000 of the so-called radio frequency identification, or RFID, devices have been implanted in humans worldwide, according to VeriChip Corp. The company, which sees a target market of 45 million Americans for its medical monitoring chips, insists the devices are safe, as does its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, of Delray Beach, Fla.
"We stand by our implantable products which have been approved by the FDA and/or other U.S. regulatory authorities," Scott Silverman, VeriChip Corp. chairman and chief executive officer, said in a written response to AP questions.
The company was "not aware of any studies that have resulted in malignant tumors in laboratory rats, mice and certainly not dogs or cats," but he added that millions of domestic pets have been implanted with microchips, without reports of significant problems.
"In fact, for more than 15 years we have used our encapsulated glass transponders with FDA approved anti-migration caps and received no complaints regarding malignant tumors caused by our product."
The FDA also stands by its approval of the technology.
Did the agency know of the tumor findings before approving the chip implants? The FDA declined repeated AP requests to specify what studies it reviewed.
The FDA is overseen by the Department of Health and Human Services, which, at the time of VeriChip's approval, was headed by Tommy Thompson. Two weeks after the device's approval took effect on Jan. 10, 2005, Thompson left his Cabinet post, and within five months was a board member of VeriChip Corp. and Applied Digital Solutions. He was compensated in cash and stock options.
Thompson, until recently a candidate for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says he had no personal relationship with the company as the VeriChip was being evaluated, nor did he play any role in FDA's approval process of the RFID tag.
"I didn't even know VeriChip before I stepped down from the Department of Health and Human Services," he said in a telephone interview.
Also making no mention of the findings on animal tumors was a June report by the ethics committee of the American Medical Association, which touted the benefits of implantable RFID devices.
Had committee members reviewed the literature on cancer in chipped animals?
No, said Dr. Steven Stack, an AMA board member with knowledge of the committee's review.
Was the AMA aware of the studies?
No, he said.
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Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" _ malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.
_ A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent _ a result the researchers described as "surprising."
_ A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer.
_ In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.
Caveats accompanied the findings. "Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided," one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted.
Still, after reviewing the research, specialists at some pre-eminent cancer institutions said the findings raised red flags.
"There's no way in the world, having read this information, that I would have one of those chips implanted in my skin, or in one of my family members," said Dr. Robert Benezra, head of the Cancer Biology Genetics Program at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York.
Before microchips are implanted on a large scale in humans, he said, testing should be done on larger animals, such as dogs or monkeys. "I mean, these are bad diseases. They are life-threatening. And given the preliminary animal data, it looks to me that there's definitely cause for concern."
Dr. George Demetri, director of the Center for Sarcoma and Bone Oncology at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, agreed. Even though the tumor incidences were "reasonably small," in his view, the research underscored "certainly real risks" in RFID implants.
In humans, sarcomas, which strike connective tissues, can range from the highly curable to "tumors that are incredibly aggressive and can kill people in three to six months," he said.
At the Jackson Laboratory in Maine, a leader in mouse genetics research and the initiation of cancer, Dr. Oded Foreman, a forensic pathologist, also reviewed the studies at the AP's request.
At first he was skeptical, suggesting that chemicals administered in some of the studies could have caused the cancers and skewed the results. But he took a different view after seeing that control mice, which received no chemicals, also developed the cancers. "That might be a little hint that something real is happening here," he said. He, too, recommended further study, using mice, dogs or non-human primates.
Dr. Cheryl London, a veterinarian oncologist at Ohio State University, noted: "It's much easier to cause cancer in mice than it is in people. So it may be that what you're seeing in mice represents an exaggerated phenomenon of what may occur in people."
Tens of thousands of dogs have been chipped, she said, and veterinary pathologists haven't reported outbreaks of related sarcomas in the area of the neck, where canine implants are often done. (Published reports detailing malignant tumors in two chipped dogs turned up in AP's four-month examination of research on chips and health. In one dog, the researchers said cancer appeared linked to the presence of the embedded chip; in the other, the cancer's cause was uncertain.)
Nonetheless, London saw a need for a 20-year study of chipped canines "to see if you have a biological effect." Dr. Chand Khanna, a veterinary oncologist at the National Cancer Institute, also backed such a study, saying current evidence "does suggest some reason to be concerned about tumor formations."
Meanwhile, the animal study findings should be disclosed to anyone considering a chip implant, the cancer specialists agreed.
To date, however, that hasn't happened.
___
The product that VeriChip Corp. won approval for use in humans is an electronic capsule the size of two grains of rice. Generally, it is implanted with a syringe into an anesthetized portion of the upper arm.
When prompted by an electromagnetic scanner, the chip transmits a unique code. With the code, hospital staff can go on the Internet and access a patient's medical profile that is maintained in a database by VeriChip Corp. for an annual fee.
VeriChip Corp., whose parent company has been marketing radio tags for animals for more than a decade, sees an initial market of diabetics and people with heart conditions or Alzheimer's disease, according to a Securities and Exchange Commission filing.
The company is spending millions to assemble a national network of hospitals equipped to scan chipped patients.
But in its SEC filings, product labels and press releases, VeriChip Corp. has not mentioned the existence of research linking embedded transponders to tumors in test animals.
When the FDA approved the device, it noted some Verichip risks: The capsules could migrate around the body, making them difficult to extract; they might interfere with defibrillators, or be incompatible with MRI scans, causing burns. While also warning that the chips could cause "adverse tissue reaction," FDA made no reference to malignant growths in animal studies.
Did the agency review literature on microchip implants and animal cancer?
Dr. Katherine Albrecht, a privacy advocate and RFID expert, asked shortly after VeriChip's approval what evidence the agency had reviewed. When FDA declined to provide information, she filed a Freedom of Information Act request. More than a year later, she received a letter stating there were no documents matching her request.
"The public relies on the FDA to evaluate all the data and make sure the devices it approves are safe," she says, "but if they're not doing that, who's covering our backs?"
Late last year, Albrecht unearthed at the Harvard medical library three studies noting cancerous tumors in some chipped mice and rats, plus a reference in another study to a chipped dog with a tumor. She forwarded them to the AP, which subsequently found three additional mice studies with similar findings, plus another report of a chipped dog with a tumor.
Asked if it had taken these studies into account, the FDA said VeriChip documents were being kept confidential to protect trade secrets. After AP filed a FOIA request, the FDA made available for a phone interview Anthony Watson, who was in charge of the VeriChip approval process.
"At the time we reviewed this, I don't remember seeing anything like that," he said of animal studies linking microchips to cancer. A literature search "didn't turn up anything that would be of concern."
In general, Watson said, companies are expected to provide safety-and-effectiveness data during the approval process, "even if it's adverse information."
Watson added: "The few articles from the literature that did discuss adverse tissue reactions similar to those in the articles you provided, describe the responses as foreign body reactions that are typical of other implantable devices. The balance of the data provided in the submission supported approval of the device."
Another implantable device could be a pacemaker, and indeed, tumors have in some cases attached to foreign bodies inside humans. But Dr. Neil Lipman, director of the Research Animal Resource Center at Memorial Sloan-Kettering, said it's not the same. The microchip isn't like a pacemaker that's vital to keeping someone alive, he added, "so at this stage, the payoff doesn't justify the risks."
Silverman, VeriChip Corp.'s chief executive, disagreed. "Each month pet microchips reunite over 8,000 dogs and cats with their owners," he said. "We believe the VeriMed Patient Identification System will provide similar positive benefits for at-risk patients who are unable to communicate for themselves in an emergency."
___
And what of former HHS secretary Thompson?
When asked what role, if any, he played in VeriChip's approval, Thompson replied: "I had nothing to do with it. And if you look back at my record, you will find that there has never been any improprieties whatsoever."
FDA's Watson said: "I have no recollection of him being involved in it at all." VeriChip Corp. declined comment.
Thompson vigorously campaigned for electronic medical records and healthcare technology both as governor of Wisconsin and at HHS. While in President Bush's Cabinet, he formed a "medical innovation" task force that worked to partner FDA with companies developing medical information technologies.
At a "Medical Innovation Summit" on Oct. 20, 2004, Lester Crawford, the FDA's acting commissioner, thanked the secretary for getting the agency "deeply involved in the use of new information technology to help prevent medication error." One notable example he cited: "the implantable chips and scanners of the VeriChip system our agency approved last week."
After leaving the Cabinet and joining the company board, Thompson received options on 166,667 shares of VeriChip Corp. stock, and options on an additional 100,000 shares of stock from its parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, according to SEC records. He also received $40,000 in cash in 2005 and again in 2006, the filings show.
The Project on Government Oversight called Thompson's actions "unacceptable" even though they did not violate what the independent watchdog group calls weak conflict-of-interest laws.
"A decade ago, people would be embarrassed to cash in on their government connections. But now it's like the Wild West," said the group's executive director, Danielle Brian.
Thompson is a partner at Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld LLP, a Washington law firm that was paid $1.2 million for legal services it provided the chip maker in 2005 and 2006, according to SEC filings.
He stepped down as a VeriChip Corp. director in March to seek the GOP presidential nomination, and records show that the company gave his campaign $7,400 before he bowed out of the race in August.
In a TV interview while still on the board, Thompson was explaining the benefits _ and the ease _ of being chipped when an interviewer interrupted:
"I'm sorry, sir. Did you just say you would get one implanted in your arm?"
"Absolutely," Thompson replied. "Without a doubt."
"No concerns at all?"
"No."
But to date, Thompson has yet to be chipped himself.
___
On the Web:
http://www.verichipcorp.com
http://www.antichips.com
http://www.fda.gov/cdrh/
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/09/08/AR2007090800997_pf.html
KINDA MAKES THIS LOOK PRETTY FUCKING IRRELEVANT:
Peace out, and war even more out. I'm Steppin' Out like Joe Jackson:
love,
Mindbender
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