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October 18, 2007: Consumer Affairs covers the latest lab reports on acetaminophen and melamine in Special Kitty cat food in this article. September 9, 2007 Consumer Affairs article on the new acetaminophen findings. September 5, 2007: Port Townsend Leader article on the action against the FDA in Federal District Court. Thanks Blythe. September 3, 2007: Consumer Affairs article on the FDA's Import Refusal Action related to Nutro products. Sometimes good journalism amounts to alerting the public to the fact there are questions which require answers. This is the case here. What countries have US pet food companies exported toxic pet food to? What are the unsafe or poisonous substances detected in these products? How are recalls of unsafe US products being handled in other countries? For all the recent hype about "made in China", I wonder how many pet owners in other countries lost cherished four footed family members by forgetting to check for "made in USA" on the label. August 16, 2007: Consumer Affairs did a nice job writing up information on the FDA suit. This Consumer Affairs article covers another pet owner's efforts to find the truth behind the recalls. One comment I would make on this one is I have received quite a few emails from breeders faced with unexplained genetic problems showing up. Of interest is the fact aminopterin, the first toxin discovered in pet food, has an especially nasty side effect in causing birth defects, as well as being a known kidney toxin. June 26, 2007: The Port Townsend Leader covers the lawsuit and acetaminophen story from a human interest perspective. Thanks Blythe. If there is a single aspect of this situation which continues to amaze me, it's the lack of nationwide coverage of the acetaminophen findings. With the single exception of the LA Times, independents have been the sole news sources willing to print the "acetaminophen" word. It is my understanding that to date, Menu Foods' call center has received over 500,000 complaints on pet food related illnesses and deaths, yet as hard as it may be to believe after months of melamine headlines, there is no evidence in the public domain showing melamine to be the proximate cause of those illnesses and deaths. If one were to watch investigators carefully ignoring a fingerprint covered smoking gun at a crime scene, it would be no less incredible. July 23, 2007: The Peninsula Daily News ran an article today on the suit and aceteminophen findings. A few minor corrections might be in order: a) "That substance (melamine), found in dog and cat food, prompted voluntary recalls in December after pets were reported to have died after eating the food." Note: The recall was announced in March, and covered pet food manufactured since early November. b) "Melamine... But it is also poisonous" Note: As documented in the melamine section on the home page, melamine is less toxic than common table salt. In one scientific study, it was fed to dogs for a full year at roughly 10 times the highest amount the FDA has reported it to have been found in any pet food sample, with no ill effects. Far from being poisonous, it is virtually nontoxic short of being consumed by the shovel full. c) "The pet deaths were followed by discoveries in several countries of tainted Chinese toothpaste, fish, and children's toys, sparking international concern about Chinese exports." Note: Perhaps of more interest is the fact that since the March pet food recall was announced, two pet food recalls of domestic origin have been announced, both connected to deadly bacteria in the food. d) "He said the tests found acetaminophen - a pain reliever and the active ingredient in Tylenol - in unopened cans of the Turkey Giblets and Mixed Grill" Note: There may be some confustion on this due to the way I ordered the tests. The first test I ordered was on a mixture of the two varieties, run as a single test. The purpose was to find out if there were any adulterants in either variety. That test turned up positive for acetaminophen and cyanuric acid, so I ordered additional tests be run on each variety separately. Those tests showed the "Turkey and Giblets Dinner" to be contaminated with acetaminophen, and the "Mixed Grill" to be contaminated with cyanuric acid. e) "Earl said ExperTox also found cyanuric acid and melamine when acetaminophen was discovered." Note: None of the acetaminophen positive samples contained melamine. f) ""As of now, unless some new compelling information comes forward, the acetaminophen investigation is concluded," Herndon said." Note: This statement is nearly identical to Herndon's statements as quoted in the June 13th Pittsburgh Tribune article posted later in this section. What makes this statement especially interesting is on the afternoon of the 13th, I received this message by email from ExperTox: "Mr. Thomas Savage with the FDA has contacted our lab to send samples of the pet food that we have tested positive for Acetaminophen and Cyanuric Acid. We are sending you this email to see if you will send either a fax or response to this email stating that it is okay for us to send them a portion of the samples you sent us. They will be sent as a blind sample to the FDA for testing. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this matter." I and three others received similar requests that day. All of us refused permission for the FDA to take the samples off site, but agreed to allow the FDA to test the samples in the presence of ExperTox lab personnel. The FDA refused to test the acetaminophen positive samples in the presence of witnesses and as a result has never had access to those samples. Whatever the FDA has alleged to have tested, it is certain it has not tested samples known to be positive for acetaminophen contamination. Last note: A few minor issues aside, Jeff Chew deserves credit for being one of only a few journalists in the country willing go beyond Associated Press cut and paste, to do some real investigative reporting. Once upon a time, that was the rule rather than the exception. Good job Jeff. July 15, 2007: Consumer Affairs continues to be one of the rare exceptions when it comes to treating new information as news. While I can hardly be said to be impartial in this matter, Lisa Wade McCormick, does a nice job of hitting the high points for those interested in an overview of the acetaminophen news and related lawsuit. July 1, 2007: The LA Times ran a story today on independent testing being commissioned by private parties. This is my favorite quote in the article: "FDA officials and other experts, however, don't recommend the path taken by Earl, saying that consumers don't have the means to determine whether a lab is reliable. Gosh! Us poor peasants, with our poor little peasant minds, just aren't bright enough to figure out such things, especially anything which doesn't agree with the official FDA spin. It has been my life long experience whenever someone says, "It's okay, you can trust me.", to put my hand on my wallet and back away slowly. Consumer Affairs is giving our side a fair hearing. It's nice to see someone who doesn't give the FDA mystery tests the final word on the subject. June 13, 2007: In the news today, with hundreds of pet owners across the country reporting acetaminophen poisoning like symptoms in their dead or dying pets, the FDA announces their official position is to stand down. Who didn't know that? Perhaps it would be best to disband the FDA. It would save tax payers several billion dollars a year. The savings to corporate America on lobbyists and the usuals could be passed on to consumers. And, the lack of oversight would be the same as it is now, with private citizens bearing the burden of testing the safety of products at their own expense as you see here. June 5, 2007: Pittsburgh Tribune journalist Karen Roebuck reports on acetaminophen findings. |