Post by Brooke on Jun 22, 2004 20:59:53 GMT -5
Pet chip supplier sues over switch
Banfield vet chain adopts ID method not yet in wide use
By NEVILL ESCHEN
Issue date: Tue, Jun 22, 2004
The Tribune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A tiny piece of identification technology holds out the hope that a lost pet can be reunited with its owner. But the microchip that boosts the chances of a heartwarming outcome is at the center of a nationwide storm.
Banfield, the Pet Hospital, a Portland-based international chain of more than 380 veterinary clinics, is being sued over its decision to change the type of microchip it implants in animals.
One of its former suppliers of pet microchips, American Veterinary Identification Devices, filed suit in May alleging false advertising and unfair business practices. AVID accuses Banfield of failing to tell its customers that there might not be scanners that can read the new, higher frequency chip. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled in July in U.S. District Court in Southern California.
“Pet owners must be adequately informed in advance of getting microchips in their pet (that) there’s not a base of scanners that are going to find it,” says Dan Knox, AVID’s director of companion animal operations.
Banfield’s client advocate director, Karen Johnson, calls the lawsuit “ridiculous,” and claims the switch is a sound decision that will do a better job helping owners find lost animals.
Johnson says this is the time to make the change in chips. Though they’ve been on the market for about a decade, microchips are found in only about 5 percent of pets, and only about half of shelters nationwide have the equipment needed to check for them.
The chips, about the size of a grain of rice, are injected under the skin between a dog’s or cat’s shoulder blades and in the breasts of birds. They contain an identification number unique to each pet.
The two microchips in dispute operate on different frequencies. Veterinarians and pet shelter staff, who often are asked to scan for the chips, can find that their devices for reading the chips are incompatible and don’t work. Reading the different chips can require additional scanners.
A matter of kilohertz
AVID’s chip is 125 kHz, which is the most common radio frequency implanted in pets in the United States. Most scanners in the United States read the 125 kHz chip. Pet hospital Banfield and the Oregon Humane Society, on the other hand, have switched to 134.2 kHz chips, the type most used around the world and preferred by the International Organization for Standardization, known as ISO.
Banfield’s Johnson says that when pet hospital personnel implant the chips, they tell owners of the tradeoffs, then send a letter and a postcard reiterating the information.
She says Banfield recognizes the shortage of ISO scanners and suspended implanting the ISO chips a few weeks before the lawsuit was filed. The chain is addressing the shortage by donating 700 ISO scanners to animal shelters within 25 miles of its veterinary hospitals nationwide.
Knox of AVID maintains the chances are slim that a lost animal with the ISO chip will be lucky enough to be found near a Banfield clinic — and, therefore, a scanner that can read the chip.
Because AVID encrypts its chips, a process that limits the number of scanners that can read them, they face similar issues. Knox says encryption prevents codes from being duplicated, but Banfield claims AVID’s reasons have to do with protecting market share.
Oregon Humane Society Executive Director Sharon Harmon agrees.
“This is a dispute over market share. It’s not about pets being euthanized,” she says.
Humane society targeted
ISO backers include the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, though the ASPCA says the switch shouldn’t happen before all shelters and veterinary clinics have ISO chips and scanners.
Banfield is the second Portland-based animal-care operation AVID has targeted in the microchip dispute. Last August, AVID filed a complaint with the Oregon Justice Department when the Oregon Humane Society was planning to stop implanting AVID chips and go to the ISO microchip. The agency declined to pursue the case.
The Multnomah County Animal Shelter continues to implant the 125 kHz chip, the one that’s most common in the United States.
Supervisor John Rowton says the scanners, with their varying capacities, are the key issue.
“I have to scan each animal twice. I don’t have enough confidence in the ISO scanner to rely on it solely,” Rowton says.
www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=24908
Banfield vet chain adopts ID method not yet in wide use
By NEVILL ESCHEN
Issue date: Tue, Jun 22, 2004
The Tribune
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A tiny piece of identification technology holds out the hope that a lost pet can be reunited with its owner. But the microchip that boosts the chances of a heartwarming outcome is at the center of a nationwide storm.
Banfield, the Pet Hospital, a Portland-based international chain of more than 380 veterinary clinics, is being sued over its decision to change the type of microchip it implants in animals.
One of its former suppliers of pet microchips, American Veterinary Identification Devices, filed suit in May alleging false advertising and unfair business practices. AVID accuses Banfield of failing to tell its customers that there might not be scanners that can read the new, higher frequency chip. A hearing on a preliminary injunction is scheduled in July in U.S. District Court in Southern California.
“Pet owners must be adequately informed in advance of getting microchips in their pet (that) there’s not a base of scanners that are going to find it,” says Dan Knox, AVID’s director of companion animal operations.
Banfield’s client advocate director, Karen Johnson, calls the lawsuit “ridiculous,” and claims the switch is a sound decision that will do a better job helping owners find lost animals.
Johnson says this is the time to make the change in chips. Though they’ve been on the market for about a decade, microchips are found in only about 5 percent of pets, and only about half of shelters nationwide have the equipment needed to check for them.
The chips, about the size of a grain of rice, are injected under the skin between a dog’s or cat’s shoulder blades and in the breasts of birds. They contain an identification number unique to each pet.
The two microchips in dispute operate on different frequencies. Veterinarians and pet shelter staff, who often are asked to scan for the chips, can find that their devices for reading the chips are incompatible and don’t work. Reading the different chips can require additional scanners.
A matter of kilohertz
AVID’s chip is 125 kHz, which is the most common radio frequency implanted in pets in the United States. Most scanners in the United States read the 125 kHz chip. Pet hospital Banfield and the Oregon Humane Society, on the other hand, have switched to 134.2 kHz chips, the type most used around the world and preferred by the International Organization for Standardization, known as ISO.
Banfield’s Johnson says that when pet hospital personnel implant the chips, they tell owners of the tradeoffs, then send a letter and a postcard reiterating the information.
She says Banfield recognizes the shortage of ISO scanners and suspended implanting the ISO chips a few weeks before the lawsuit was filed. The chain is addressing the shortage by donating 700 ISO scanners to animal shelters within 25 miles of its veterinary hospitals nationwide.
Knox of AVID maintains the chances are slim that a lost animal with the ISO chip will be lucky enough to be found near a Banfield clinic — and, therefore, a scanner that can read the chip.
Because AVID encrypts its chips, a process that limits the number of scanners that can read them, they face similar issues. Knox says encryption prevents codes from being duplicated, but Banfield claims AVID’s reasons have to do with protecting market share.
Oregon Humane Society Executive Director Sharon Harmon agrees.
“This is a dispute over market share. It’s not about pets being euthanized,” she says.
Humane society targeted
ISO backers include the American Veterinary Medical Association and the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, though the ASPCA says the switch shouldn’t happen before all shelters and veterinary clinics have ISO chips and scanners.
Banfield is the second Portland-based animal-care operation AVID has targeted in the microchip dispute. Last August, AVID filed a complaint with the Oregon Justice Department when the Oregon Humane Society was planning to stop implanting AVID chips and go to the ISO microchip. The agency declined to pursue the case.
The Multnomah County Animal Shelter continues to implant the 125 kHz chip, the one that’s most common in the United States.
Supervisor John Rowton says the scanners, with their varying capacities, are the key issue.
“I have to scan each animal twice. I don’t have enough confidence in the ISO scanner to rely on it solely,” Rowton says.
www.portlandtribune.com/archview.cgi?id=24908