Pet Food: A slightly different report UK Guardian

[rumpel]

Reports from sites


Rat Poison Found in Tainted Pet Food


Friday March 23, 2007 11:46 PM

AP Photo LA104, NYJF102, NYALT101

By MARK JOHNSON

Associated Press Writer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Rat poison was found in pet food blamed for the deaths of at least 17 cats and dogs, but scientists said Friday they still don't know how it got there and predicted more animal deaths would be linked to it.

snip

The substance in the food was identified as aminopterin, a cancer drug that once was used to induce abortions in the United States and is still used to kill rats in some other countries, state Agriculture Commissioner Patrick Hooker said.

The federal government prohibits using aminopterin for killing rodents in the U.S. State officials would not speculate on how the poison got into the pet food, but said no criminal investigations had been launched.

snip

Bob Rosenberg, senior vice president of government affairs for the National Pest Management Association, said it would be unusual for the wheat to be tainted.

``It would make no sense to spray a crop itself with rodenticide,'' Rosenberg said, adding that grain shippers typically put bait stations around the perimeter of their storage facilities.

snip

Aminopterin is no longer marketed as a cancer drug, but is still used in research, said Andre Rosowsky, a chemist with the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Boston.

Rosowsky speculated that the substance would not show up in pet food ``unless somebody put it there.''

Paul Henderson, chief executive of Ontario, Canada-based Menu Foods, said the company does not believe the food was tampered with because the recalled food came from two different plants, one in Kansas, one in New Jersey. Menu continues to produce food at the two plants.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/worldlatest/story/0,,-6504030,00.html

and

The Kansas City Star has compiled an information sheet about the Menu Foods recall that includes this interesting tidbit (as far as I can tell, this information is exclusive to the Star):

Menu Foods, according to one veterinary toxicologist, was working on some experimental products when it did some testing and found that the food sickened or killed some animals. The company reportedly traced the problem back several weeks to when it started using a new wheat component. The company immediately stopped using that new wheat source, which it used in high concentration in the experimental food. To be safe it recalled every other brand that might contain the new wheat gluten, even in tiny quantities.

http://catmanager.wordpress.com/2007/03/21/how-did-it-happen/

http://www.kansascity.com/mld/kansascity/news/consumer_news/16942954.htm

and:

What other suspect ingredients are there? This story is far from over.

Interestingly, some vets are expressing skepticism over the toxin and it’s link to acute renal failure:

“With the information that we have, none of us feel that this product fits the lesions we are seeing, but there may be information we don’t know yet,” said Lawrence McGill, a veterinary pathologist in Salt Lake City. “The feeling is that there are more questions than answers with this product.”


Also, amazingly, Menu Foods stock has jumped up 25% on this news.

http://www.itchmo.com/

I want the TRUTH - FDA better not protect the corporations

[robinlynne]

1. Their stock went up? Maybe their lawyers realized that animals legally in this country

are only property. People will get the price it costs for an animal in the lawsuits.

[rumpel]

2. unfortunately true

they probably already calculated a possible total payout and figured it would not make a dent in the overall bottom line..

[Nikki Stone1]

3. Kick for truth

...

[GregD]

4. NPMA...

I used to be work for that crowd, and I was shocked a week ago when I heard them running an ad on AAR that sounded like a PSA. It was the first time I ever heard them make their presence known outside of industry or governmental circles.

I'm not going to say anything about Bob Rosenberg, as I worked with him briefly and he did nothing to demonstrate any reason for me to not trust him. Others in the group, however, did everything to prove themselves untrustworthy. Particularly the one who was referred to internally as PITA. What Bob says does make sense, generally speaking. But why the sudden PSA-like promotional ads on AAR? Makes me wonder why... I'd take whatever they say with a massive grain of salt, or at least dig a bit deeper on this one.