Saturday, July 26, 2008

More Poison Pet Products

Ever listen to Talk Nation Radio (no, not Talk of the Nation or Radio Nation)? Of course not, it is not aired up here in the High Country. Having a program like Talk Nation Radio on the air here in the High Country might actually resemble something like public service, and we can't have that, now can we? Not when there's money to be made--at any cost.

Remember the poison dog and cat food scare from awhile back? That certainly represented a triumph of the free, deregulated market. Well, now all we have to worry about are the pesticides contained in flea and tick sprays killing our pets--not to mention the fact that those chemicals are not very good for pregnant women or kids. No worries--the free market will fix everything.

From Talk Nation Radio:

The Natural Resources Defense Council NRDC, has published a new report on the dangers of pet products that contain pesticides. They can harm and even kill pets and they are also a threat to people, particularly pregnant women and children.

Miriam Rotkin Elman, an assistant researcher with the NRDC, describes the threat. (Warnings issued about Pyrethroids and Tetrachlorvinphos both organophosphates in use in flea and tick products.) Then Richard Parsons on how he lost his pet Scottish terrier after he applied Hartz Mountain flea and tick drops to it’s back. He has now taken on the companies that sell certain flea and tick products, applying what he learned before retirement from the business world to his new task of trying to get dangerous chemicals removed from US shelves.

We discuss Hartz Mountain, Sergeants, and Sumitomo Company of America. Sumitomo’s parent company in Japan is the largest pesticide manufacturer in the country. After an E.P.A. investigation in 2001 Hartz Mountain participated in a voluntary recall on flea and tick drops for cats containing Permethrin. This chemical in various forms is deadly to cats. Hartz lost sales after thousands of pet owners reported that their cats had become sick or died. Now Permethrin, Cyphenothrin, Pyrethrin (Pyrethroids are listed with various names) has been linked to similar reactions in dogs.

Full program here.

1 comment:

Everything Natural Pet Food said...

Great information. Keep this up. There are many toxins in everything and we are killing our pets and us too.