Memorial Pet March Planned, Answers Demanded

"Our pets are our companions, our soul mates, and our hedge against emotional turmoil…when the FDA protects our pets, the FDA protects the health of millions of Americans as well".


Sen. Robert Byrd (D-W.Va),the white-haired senior statesman of the U.S. Senate, a pet owner himself, appeared at the Senate hearing Thursday on the pet food recall in the nation's history to emphasize how important pets are to everyone. "There is a unique special relationship between pets and their owners", Sen. Byrd told the Senate Agriculture Appropriations Committee. "I'm talking because I know". Byrd told the committee and those in attendance about his shih-tzu Trouble, named by his late wife Irma. Byrd calls his pet Baby.

"She sleeps on my bed. She goes with me to the Senate. She stays in my office", he said.

Sen. Byrd's Baby is more than a dog, she's his family, just like millions of cats and dogs are to their owners.

A nationwide march has been planned in response to the pet food recall tragedy that the Pet Connection says has unofficially claimed the lives of over 4,100 cats and dogs and been responsible for the illness of 12,000 more. At least six companies have recalled wet and pouched cat and dog food, led by Menu Foods of Canada which has recalled over 100 brands after failing to make public the contamination problem for three weeks after they first learned of it.

According to Pets Need a Voice Too, or PNV2, a nationwide march in memory of the animals which have died will be held April 28. While other cities are expected to join in the coming days, so far marches will be held in Boston, Mass; Reno, Nev.; Kitchener, Canada; Ottawa, Canada; Jacksonville, Ore.; Uniontown, Pa.; Portland, Maine; San Diego, Ca.; Orange County, Ca., and Austin, Texas.

"We are marching in memory of our pets….as pet owners, dog lovers, cat lovers and average citizens", the group's website states. : www.pnv2.com

Pet owners throughout North America continue to be apprehensive about what is safe to feed their pets, especially after the U.S. Food and Drug Administration announced late last week that some of the known contaminated pet food is still on store shelves. If you know individuals with a cat or dog, especially individuals who may not have access to a computer or the Internet, you are encouraged to ask them if they've heard of the pet food recall and help them learn if they are feeding their pets food that is safe for them.

Pet owners who decide to make your pet's food should be aware that there are some "people" food that are toxic to cats and dogs. Cats should not be fed onions, garlic and related root vegetables. Onions contain a substance (N-propyl disulphide) which destroys red blood cells in the cat, causing a form of anemia called Heinz body anemia. Garlic contains a similar substance in a lesser amount.

Tomatoes and green (raw) potatoes are also toxic. These foods are members of the Solanaceae family of plants, which includes the Deadly Nightshade, and contain a bitter, poisonous alkaloid called Glycoalkaloid Solanine, which can cause violent lower gastrointestinal symptoms. The Feline Future web site offers a rare description of a cat which was close to death from ingesting just one cherry tomato.

It's becoming more widely known that chocolate is very toxic to both cats and dogs. Theobromine is the offending substance. Grapes and raisins should also be avoided. These foods toxicity has mainly been found in dogs, in quantities of varying amounts. The ASPCA advises: "As there are still many unknowns with the toxic potential of grapes and raisins, the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center advises not giving grapes or raisins to pets in any amount."

Although milk is not toxic to cats, it may have adverse effects. Simply put, adult cats fed a nutritious diet don't need milk, and many cats are lactose-intolerant which means that the lactose in milk and milk products produces stomach upset, cramps, and gassiness. If your cat loves milk, and begs for it, a small amount of cream may be okay, two or three times a week. (The more fat in the milk, the less lactose.) For other information see http://www.catanddogtreats.com/#homemade At Thursday's Senate hearing, Sen. Dick Durbin (D-Il) said he called the hearing because he knows what pets mean to family. Over 60 million households own pets, he said, and "we owe them loving care in return".

He said there are many unknowns in the pet food recall including the number of deaths in that FDA is still only officially saying that 16 pets have died, the source of the contamination, why a batch of Chinese wheat gluten was contaminated and why the recall proceeded so slowly.

He questioned the connection between e.coli spinach and contaminated pet food. Durbin said there was a broken food safety system and called for a single food safety agency which would be drive by science and not politics.

Durbin said the priorities continue to be to limit the risk to pets and remove contaminated pet food and to alert pet owners.

"It disturbs me that human food is also at risk", Durbin said. He said three areas should be explored including the timing and delay of Menu Foods in notifying the FDA of the contamination, saying that they knew on Feb. 20 but waited until March 15 before telling the FDA. He said that the products in question have never been inspected, there is a limited federal presence and suggested that the FDA needs to standardize. Durbin also says there needs to be better data and reporting.

Information on the products subject to recall can be found at http://www.avma.org/aa/menufoodsrecall/default.asp and www.petconnection.com.

After Menu Foods initially recalled about 100 brands of cat and dog food in mid-March, saying that the food was causing kidney failure in the animals which in some cases had led to death, the FDA identified the source of the tainted pet food as wheat gluten imported from China. The gluten had been contaminated with melamine, a chemical used in the production of fertilizer and plastic utensils. Duane Ekedahl, executive director of the Pet Food Institute, an organization of pet food manufacturers, told the Senate panel that "it was a foreign substance. All the regulation in the world would not really have captured that foreign substance". Veterinarian Elizabeth Hodgkins told the legislators that "the industry is highly regulated but it's not effectively regulated. She said the that loose safety regulations lull pet owners into a false sense of security. "We don't have products that are as safe as the labels suggest."

Only about 30 percent of pet food plants are inspected every three years and it has been revealed that Menu's Emporia, Kansas plant where the contaminated wheat gluten was discovered had never been inspected and product safety is reliant on self-regulation.

Durbin told Stephen Sundlof, director of the Center for Veterinary Medicine at the FDA that less than one third of pet food processing facilities have been inspected once three and a half years and that FDA's frequency of inspections at pet food facilities "leaves something to be desired".

The two biggest suppliers of wheat gluten to the United States, China and the Netherlands, are subject to full inspection of their imports but some lawmakers said there wanted to see more inspections for other aspects of pet food manufacturing.

In his testimony, Sundlof told the Senate panel that "as a pet owner and as a veterinarian, I recognize how important pets are to many Americans. I offer my sympathy to pet owners whose pets have become ill or died due to contaminated pet food.

"The recall hit very close to home for me, as I have two dogs of my own. At the time that FDA first learned of the contamination, I was feeding my dogs one of the "cuts and gravy" dog foods on the recall list", Sundlof told the panel.

"FDA is conducting a thorough investigation of the pet food contamination. During the past four weeks we have aggressively worked to identify the source and scope of the contamination, to assure the removal of all contaminated products from the supply chain and store shelves, and to keep the public informed. At this point, we believe we have identified the source, the importer, its supplier, and all of the parties directly receiving the suspect material - wheat gluten contaminated with melamine.

"In addition to responding to the pet-related dynamic of this situation, we actively investigated any potential risk to the human food supply. At this time, we have no evidence to suggest that any of the imported wheat gluten contaminated with melamine entered the human food supply. As an added precaution, however, we have asked the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to use its surveillance network to monitor for signs of human illness, such as increased renal failure, that could indicate contamination of the human food supply.

"The pet food industry is responsible for adherence to good manufacturing practices. FDA conducts risk-based inspections targeted toward products that pose the greatest risks to public health. However, inspections cannot identify every potential contaminant and are only one aspect of our work to detect and contain problem such as this. In addition, it is important for all participants in the production and distribution process to maintain the highest standards for safety to protect the American consumer, whether that consumer is human or animal. As with human food safety, FDA recognizes that we need to use strong science capable of identifying both the sources of risk and effective control measure. To that end, FDA is working to develop a risk-based Animal Feed Safety System that describes how animal feed should made, distributed, and used. The Animal Feed Safety System is designed to minimize risks to humans and animals from unsafe animal feed.

"To date, manufacturers have voluntarily recalled more than 100 brands of dog and cat food across the nation. Manufacturers participating in the recall of pet food products include: Menu Foods, Hill's Pet Nutrition, P&G Pet Care, Nestle Purina PetCare Company, Del Monte Pet Products, and Sunshine Mills. The importer, ChemNutra, has also recalled the raw ingredient, wheat gluten. Although this is one of the largest pet food recalls in history, according to the Pet Food Institute, a trade association representing pet food manufacturers, the product recalled currently represents less than one percent of all dog and cat food on the market. This indicates that consumers have access to an ample supply of pet food to meet the needs of their pets. Nonetheless, we recognize the serious risks that the contaminated pet food represents to pets that consume this food, which is why we are devoting the resources needed to assure the success of the investigation and the pet food recall.

"To ensure the success of the pet food recall, FDA is working with the recalling firms and with our many public health partners. We are cooperating with the 50 state departments of agriculture, health authorities, veterinarians, the Association of American Feed Control Officials. FDA is also conducting recall effectiveness audits to ensure manufacturers and other recalling firms remove the recalled product from the pet food supply chain.

"FDA's investigation has been aggressive and comprehensive. As soon as FDA received word of a problem with pet foods, our first priority was to limit the risk of animal injury and death related to contamination. We worked to quickly identify the scope of the problem, to ensure that the manufacturer removed potentially-contaminated products from the market, and to inform consumers not to feed their animals the recalled products.

"FDA began a large-scale investigation. Within 24 hours of learning from Menu Foods of the problem, our investigators were on-site at the Menu Foods Emporia, Kansas plant searching for the source of contamination. FDA sent samples of wheat gluten to our Forensic Chemistry Center (FCC) in Cincinnati, and within 24 hours the FCC scientists confirmed the presence of melamine in samples taken from the pet food and wheat gluten. In addition, FDA's Office of Crisis Management activated FDA's Emergency Operations Center, which has worked seamlessly with FDA's Center for Veterinary Medicine, district offices, headquarters, labs, public affairs and office of international programs.

"More than 400 FDA employees in all 20 district offices have taken calls from consumers and veterinarians who reported illnesses potentially associated with the contaminated pet food. FDA received more than 12,000 reports during the past four weeks, which is more than twice the number of complaints that our consumer compliant coordinators typically receive in a year. Additionally, ten FDA district offices have inspected manufacturing and distribution facilities and five field laboratories have analyzed samples.

"To ensure consumers awareness of the contamination, FDA participated in six on-camera broadcast interviews, answered hundreds of inquiries from media outlets across the world and conducted five media briefings with 75 to 100 reporters. To keep consumers up to date on the recalled pet foods, FDA continues to give background phone interviews and updates to broadcast media.

"A review of records allowed FDA to identify the importer and initial distributor of the contaminated wheat gluten. Through our investigation, FDA determined the Chinese supplier, Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company. FDA has asked the Chinese government to participate in the investigation. To prevent manufacturers from using contaminated wheat gluten in pet food and to assess how widespread the melamine contamination of wheat gluten is, FDA issued an import alert regarding the supplier from China. Under FDA's import alert, we are detaining all wheat gluten imported from Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company to assure that contaminated product does not enter U.S. commerce. We also initiated an import sampling assignment. This assignment requires 100 percent sampling of import shipments of wheat gluten from China and from the Netherlands, which is known to source some of its wheat gluten from China.

"To understand how the contamination affected dogs and cats, FDA scientists, in conjunction with academia and industry, are reviewing blood and tissue samples of affected animals to understand how wheat gluten contaminated with melamine contributed to the pet illnesses. We are also working with data from Banfield Pet Hospital, (a nationwide network of veterinary hospitals), the Veterinary Information Network, Poison Control Centers, universities, and other organizations to assess the number of cats and dogs affected by the contaminated wheat gluten. This is a collaborative partnership providing FDA access to information and helping FDA deliver essential health communications about the safety of pets". 4-15-07

© 2007 North Country Gazette