EPA: More pets injured by flea and tick products

WASHINGTON -- Products intended to treat cats and dogs for fleas and ticks kill hundreds of pets each year and injure tens of thousands, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.

EPA: More pets injured by flea and tick products - Business Wire - SunHerald.com

3 years

It has been three years since my beautiful sweet Whiskers left for the Rainbow Bridge. Kristie Keith at Pet Connection Blog ask Pet food recall: Three years out and where are we now?

Sadly we still have to fear for our pets safety.

There have been no systemic changes that would prevent contaminated food ingredients from entering this country undetected once again.

2007 Pet food recall victims remembered

One family hasn't forgotten the pets like Whiskers who died due to the 2007 Pet food recall read more @ Petsit USA..

Vindication is a lovely tribute to all the pets who were taken from their families far too soon.

Pet Food Politics by Marion Nestle

Even if you don't have pets you should read this book, after all we all eat.

Some notes I made:
Clark Sheep Studies in 1945 showed melamine was toxic. Melamine ranged from .2% to 20% during the 2007 petfood recall and was combined with cyanuric acid making it lethal.

2004 - Pets died in Asia.

ChemNutra bought wheat gluten from Xuzhou Anying which advertised using melamine to add protein.

February 20th/22nd cats with kidney failure brought to Menu Foods attention. March 6th Menu foods admits problem with wheat gluten.

Chilling "If there's no accident, there won't be any regulation. If you add melamine in small quantities, it won't hurt the animals..............................pets are not like pigs or chickens .......................they don't need to grow as fast." ~ Chinese Informant.

Xuzhou Anying hid the shipping of tainted wheat gluten from Chinese inspectors by using Suzhous Textiles to export it.

Did American Nutrition deviate from the formula provided by Diamond and Sierra Pet Foods?

Melamine tainted pet food feed to pigs and chickens consumed by humans. Ditto fish.

FDA's response seemed to protect the petfood companies not the pets.  The number of pet deaths under reported. The FDA really doesn't seem to care how many of our pets were MURDERED!!!!

Movement in America for people to start eating locally produced foods. Avoid all products from China.

The American Public wants COOL the food industry doesn't. Many Americans say they would pay more for food produced in America and would avoid food from China.

USDA has more power and money the the FDA but is responsible for less of the food supply. Due to staff shortages the FDA does NOT have the capacity to ensure the safety of food for the nation.

CVM only has TWO people working on petfood issues.

The mad cow crisis in Europe: 5 million cows destroyed, 150 people dead and 89 cats dead but government officials seemed more concerned with the health of the meat processing industry than the health of the British public.

FDA didn't have the funds to ensure that the disease didn't spread to the USA.

Americans no longer trust the government to keep food safe.

Canadian courts recognized the emotional damage to pet owners who lost pets due to the petfood recall.

Bloggers fueling the Good Petfood Movement
Petconnection
Itchmo

The depressingly long recall list.

I no longer trust the government to keep the food I or my pets eat safe. I will try to grow more of my own food, eat more food that is produced locally and try to buy products that are products of the USA. I will also continue to research what foods are safe, as this can change from hour to hour.

Recall of anesthetic drug used on pets

This is outrageous Vets, pet owners out of the loop on recall of anesthetic drug.

Nevada couple gets probation and $25,000 fine

So you can murder thousands of pets and basically just pay a fine, Nevada couple gets probation and $25,000 fine. Apparently there will be NO JUSTICE for Whiskers and the thousands of other pets who were POISONED.

ChemNutra owners to be sentenced today

Read Pet food recall: ChemNutra owners to be sentenced today By Christie Keith to see how the people responsible for the death of Whiskers and many other cats & dogs are basically getting a slap on the wrist.

4 arrested in China's melamine scandal

This time they are poisoning powdered MILK. 4 arrested in China's melamine scandal - World Wire - SunHerald.com

Pet Owners Not Thrilled

A monetary settlement, Carol said, can never erase the pain and suffering her cats -- and her family -- experienced because of the tainted food.

No amount of money can make up for the loss of Whiskers, I still miss him so much. I also worry that the pet food I currently feed Socks, Scylla & Charybdis may not be safe, apparently I am not the only one.

Martin and others said pet food makers and the government must now -- in the wake of the massive recall and settlement -- ensure the food that consumers feed their pets is safe. But they are not convinced that's happened.

"I really don't think the food on the shelves now is any safer than what we saw prior to the massive recall," Martin said. "How many of these pet food companies are testing for contamination in the raw materials they are purchasing? It is my understanding that some are now testing for melamine in the grains, but this is just one toxin that might be in the raw material. Are they testing the vitamin/mineral premixes, many which are coming from China or other countries with questionable practices?"

Pet Food Catastrophe

Read Anatomy Of A Pet Food Catastrophe at Chemical & Engineering News, to better understand what went wrong with our pet food supply.

Work continues to make the pet food and livestock feed supply safer in the U.S. On May 13, FDA will host a meeting to discuss the development of ingredient, processing, and labeling standards for pet food. And the agency will hold a meeting on May 14 to present changes made to its Animal Feed Safety System project since last year. Changes include efforts to rank feed hazards according to the risks they pose to animal and public health and a risk-based method for prioritizing inspections of feed-production venues.

As a step toward preventing replays of this pet food adulteration saga, the U.S. State Department has approved an FDA plan to place staff in China (C&EN, March 24, page 28). The Chinese government must also approve the plan, which is designed to improve the safety of products shipped to the U.S. FDA also hopes to establish a collaborative relationship with authorities in India.

I pray that when all is said and done the food I feed my pets will be safe for them to eat. HT: Pet Food CSI: Deconstructing the recall by Christie Keith at Pet Connection Blog