microsoft implant
© Image by Heather Callaghan
Pharmaceutical companies and government agencies are furiously researching bio-electronic medicine or tiny implantable devices that interact with the body's natural electrical signals. Led by GlaxoSmithKline and DARPA, researchers wish to move far beyond heart pacemakers and employ devices the size of a grain of rice to interface with the peripheral nervous system to treat a host of diseases including epilepsy, Parkinson's, rheumatoid arthritis, obesity and more without the side effects of drugs or the pain of surgery. Other researchers propose microchipping drugs to track compliance and give real time feedback on the inner workings of the body.

This cutting edge science sounds promising and could technically work in some cases but is it too good to be true? Medical research is riddled with false promises, dashed hopes and epic failures. Considering DARPA's creepy experiments and the fact that Big Pharma has the opposite of the Midas Touch, do we really want to go down this road and give big business the power to control our bodies from the inside?

Stay tuned for Zoya's Pet Health Segment at the end of the show where the topic will be the pros and cons of microchipping your pet.

Running Time: 01:21:28

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