No info to offer on the pet ins,I've never done more then just look into it.
As far as the microchip goes,I vote no.On one of the birdboards I belong to someone just posted this:
  Â
http://www.louisville-pets.com/microchip_cancer_study.html   Implanted Microchips Cause Cancer
   By Jane Williams GFN contributing writer---
   (For Publication in the January 2007 "American Family Voice")
   At the National ID Expo in Kansas City, Arkansas Animal Producer's
   Association President Michael Steenbergen asked, "What safety studies
   have been conducted on the chips that are inserted into animals?" His
   question was met with total silence. Did these manufacturers not know,
   or were they unwilling to admit that research has confirmed that
   implanted microchips cause cancer?
   Melvin T. Massey, DVM (Doctor of Veterinary Medicine)
   from Brownsboro,Texas, brought this to the attention of the American
   Horse Council when he wrote, "I am a retired Equine Veterinarian and
   still breed a few horses. Because of migration-infection s-increased
   risk of sarcoids I will not want to have microchips in my horses."
   The Institute of Experimental Pathology at Hannover Medical School
   in Germany reported , "An experiment using 4279 CBA/J mice of two
   generations was carried out to investigate the influence of parental
   preconceptual exposure to X-ray radiation or to chemical carcinogens.
   Microchips were implanted subcutaneously in the dorsolateral back for
   unique identification of each animal. The animals were kept for lifespan
   under standard laboratory conditions. In 36 mice a circumscribed
   neoplasm occurred in the area of the implanted microchip.
   Macroscopicall
y, firm, pale white nodules up to 25 mm in diameter with
   the microchip in its center were found. Macroscopicall
y, soft tissue
   tumors such as fibrosarcoma and malignant fibrous histiocytoma were
   detected."
   Ecole Nationale Veterinaire of Unite d'Anatomie Pathologique in Nantes,
   France, reported, "Fifty-two subcutaneous tumors associated with
   microchip were collected from three carcinigenicit
y B6C3F1 micestudies.
   Two of these 52 tumors were adenocarcinoma of the mammary gland located
   on the dorsal region forming around the chip. All the other 50 were
   mesenchymal in ori! gin and were difficult to classify on morphological
   grounds with
   haematoxylin-
   eosin."
   Marta Vascellari of Instituto Zooprofilattic
o Sperimentale delle Venezie
   at Viale dell'Universita in Legnaro, Italy reported examining a
   9-year-old male French Bulldog for a subcutaneous mass located at the
   site of a microchip implant. "The mass was confirmed as a high-grade
   infiltrative fibrosarcoma,
   with multifocal necrosis and peripheral lymphoid aggregates."
   The Toxicology Department of Bayer Corporation in Stillwell, Kansas
   reported, "Tumors surrounding implanted microchip animal identification
   devices were noted in two separate chronic toxicity/oncogenici ty
   studies using F344 rats. The tumors occurred at a low incidence rate
   (approximately 1%), but did result in the early sacrifice of most
   affected animals, due to tumor size and occasional metastases. No
   sex-related trends were noted.
   All tumors occurred during the second year of the studies, were located
   in the subcutaneous dorsal thoracic area (the site of microchip
   implantation) and contained embedded microchip devices. All were
   mesenchymal in origin and consisted of the following types, listed on
   order of frequency: malignant schwannoma, fibrosarcoma, anaplastic
   sarcoma, and histiocytic sarcoma.
   The following diagnostic techniques were employed: light microscopy,
   scanning electron microscopy, and immunohistoche
mistry. The mechanism of
   carcinogenicit
y appeared to be that of foreign body induced
   tumorigenesis. "
   Additional studies related to cancer tumors at the site of microchip
   implants have been conduced in China; however, at this time these
   studies are not available in English. At this time, no long term studies
   are available covering more than two years. It only seems logical to
   conclude that if carcinogenic tumors occur within one percent of animals
   implanted within two years of the implant that the percentage would
   increase with the passage of time. Additional studies need to be
   conducted, but don't hold ! your bre ath for the manufacturers of
   microchips to conduct such research and be leery of any such "research"
   they may conduct. Even the limited research available clearly indicates
   that implantation of microchips within an animal is gambling with the
   animal's well being.
   For additional Information:
  Â
www.vetpatholo gy.org   also
   National Library of Medicine and National Institutes of Health,
or just google for "sarcomas associated with implanted microchips".
