Logistics is a huge market for RFID and so there is a greater incentive to adhere to standards.
"But with animals, the RFID market is small, and there are no standards in Europe," Heslin said.
In both Britain and Ireland, the situation has been what he calls "a free for all;" because distributors weren't licensed and cheap, non-ISO chips were sometimes brought in from abroad.
Another problem is the lack of uniformity in database provision, Heslin said.
Different information goes into different databases; some time-stamp information every time it is changed, some take only paper-based submissions, some need the registration data supplied by the pet owner, some by vets or shelters.
Chris Laurence, veterinary director for the Dogs Trust, said the UK has worked hard to address these issues. The British Small Animal Veterinary Association has a microchip advisory group that has helped develop standards and the Dog Identification Group (comprising welfare groups, vets and dog wardens, and chaired by Laurence) has worked with chip manufacturers, distributors and inserters to develop a code of practice.
Chips are now tracked from manufacturer to the organization that placed it in the animal, which means an animal should be traceable even if wrong information is on the database, Laurence said.
"The databases are also all accessible by a single point of contact, and that's taken quite a lot of time to agree," he said.
You might, of course, think that all this applies only to animals, and so isn't worth worrying about. But in Cincinnati, Ohio, a security company, Citywatcher.com, has implanted three staff with RFID chips. US hospitals are getting ready to be able to read them, implanted perhaps in Alzheimer's patients. Mason's experience was with his cat; but will people be next?
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