Acetaminophen in pet food… NOT??? — and what you can do

The ASPCA’s email news to supporters today, along with their website, reduces concern about acetaminophen in pet food:

PET FOOD RECALL UPDATE: FDA RULES OUT ACETAMINOPHEN AS FOOD CONTAMINANT

Last week’s news coverage included reports that a laboratory in Deer Park, TX, found varying levels of acetaminophen—which can be extremely toxic to dogs and cats—in some brands of cat and dog food not included on the Menu Foods recall list. As we waited for the U.S. Food & Drug Administration (FDA) to release findings from this new investigation, we urged pet parents to stay abreast of developing news and keep a close eye on their pets.

On Tuesday, June 12, the FDA ruled out acetaminophen as a pet food contaminant. “The FDA found no trace of the medication in five samples of one type of cat and two dog foods it tested in the past week,” FDA spokesman Mike Herndon told the media.

Adds Dr. Steven Hansen, a board-certified toxicologist and Senior Vice President with the ASPCA, who manages the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center, “My bottom line is I’m pretty confident in the FDA’s findings. Acetaminophen is not hard to find.”

The ASPCA continues to urge pet parents to stay alert to breaking news by visiting the ASPCA Pet Food Recall Center regularly for the latest information available.

On Wednesday, June 13, I wrote:

I can’t stand it. The latest offense in the Pet Food Recall Wars is a Texas lab that found acetaminophen in several samples of varied pet food products. As a common painkiller, this is one of many substances the ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center cautions pet parents to be extremely careful to avoid giving their pets, especially cats. More links from Dr. Janet Tobiassen on About.com…

Today, June 15, I’ll add:

Well, maybe that’s good news that the FDA ruled acetaminophen out as a contaminant, and maybe not. Likewise for word that Dr. Hansen from the ASPCA feels confident about that finding.

But I’m still rapidly losing confidence in our regulatory system overall — who is twisting whose arm here? Yet we — and our pets — continue to eat. Even if we switch to home-prepared meals for our pets, there’s still no guarantee fresh produce, even organic, is free of dangerous pesticide/chemical residues. And now the USDA is proposing to allow close to 40 non-organic ingredients in foods that carry the distinctive official seal for organic food. In his universally appropriate novel 1984, published in 1949, George Orwell coined a word for such deception: “newspeak.”

This whole acetaminophen episode reminds me of a pair of classic crisis communication case studies any good public relations student or practitioner can expound on at length: the Tylenol recall during the early 1980s, and the syringe-in-a-can scare with Diet Pepsi about a decade later. A few major differences between then and now:

1. Biggest problem to overcome now: The FDA acted with much greater authority and credibility in earlier years.
2. The earlier cases were strictly domestic.
3. The current case links all sectors of the food/drug supply and safety chain, both human and animal.

So what are we doing about it?  Doesn’t anybody believe in “truth in labeling” — and enforcing it — anymore?

Here’s one place to take action — the American Humane Association’s petition (among several worthy organizations) to pass the Human and Pet Food Safety Act (H.R. 2108) introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro. The counterpart bill in the Senate, introduced by Sen. Dick Durbin, already passed unanimously.

There’s no excuse for this legislation to get bogged down. Let’s not let that happen!

Soothing summer, soon…

This lovely poem by Barbara Lundquist appeared on one of the listservs I subscribe to. I find it stunningly charming… hope you do too.

Let us go then

Let us go then, to a place where there are rays of golden happiness
That shine down upon tender, dewy skin,
Covered in light mahogany and coffee spots of darkened pigmentation.
Where worn kakis [sic] with tattered ends and faded tees are painted
With great skill with lush emerald stains
And round cheeks are scarlet red
except for the delicate shavings of dead skin.
A place where a tranquil river welcomes all who wish to plunge
into its sparkling depths
The crisp and invigorating flow, filled with life and nourishment.

Here the sun is overhead for hours, constantly heating the air,
Filling the woods with a worldly light.
With the melody of birds calling for a mate
and the water rushing over smoothed stones
Creating a natural symphony of endless beauty.

The mythical beasts of fairy tales come to life, reborn in many forms
Resurrected by the sounds of the symphony.

There’s the frog prince croaking for a fair maiden not to change him back
As he will lose his dreams, the hope that keeps him alive
And the lady of the lake living in the form of a graceful carp,
Sings a silent sonata of peace.

Now the magic of this place takes hold and time halts
Bowing to the majesty this moment.

Soon the sun starts to drift from its position in the center of sky
towards the horizon
While sky begins to paint a scene of balls of cotton, rose and lilac,
And a great sphere of flame disappears into the tree covered knolls.

The lady of the night rises from her slumber and her subjects
begin the nocturnal ball.

These subjects clothed in many shades of gold and honey
shoot across the sky
While the planets draped in sapphire and ruby watch the production
thousand of years old
And those who are bound to the earth gaze with wonder
Their eyes and mind captivated by the shower of stars.

In the background the melody begins to change,
the tempo of the day winding down.
With the river still gurgling like an infant,
Content with the simple joys of staring at its tiny tendril like finger.
The chorus beings with green knights singing their sad love song
And the crackling and hissing of the bonfire in front of us,
the percussion of the camp,
Warming our small insignificant bodies.

Here we shall drink the russet elixir of the night in this magical kingdom
With its aroma permeating the essence of our souls.

Now we rest, so “Goodnight my friend” for the dawn of tomorrow
comes fast as a thief.

And soon this will be a memory of a summer long gone too.

– Barbara Lundquist

MoCo Humane takes lead against tainted pet food, and other crisis concerns

A recent short in The Examiner (May 17, 2007) credits the Montgomery County Humane Society with drafting proposed legislation that would require the FDA to tightly regulate pet food. This could be an opportunity either to dovetail with Sen. Dick Durbin’s efforts, which the Senate overwhelmingly supported, on May 2, or go for something stronger.

Notoriously, the piece that passed the Senate removed the provision that would have empowered the FDA to mandate a recall rather than just make nicey-nice, asking companies to recall contaminated products voluntarily. (Why does this not surprise me…?)

It’s time to go for something even stronger yet. Or better, revive the FDA’s Import Strategic Plan, on the drawing board since 9/11! You tell me — why haven’t we done anything for nearly six years???

A national food security plan exists, but it’s stalled — LA Times, 4/27/07

Senate approves measure to strengthen food safety
Pet food crisis far from over, ASPCA warns — ConsumerAffairs.com, 5/5/07

See also From China to Panama, a Trail of Poisoned Medicine
By Walt Bogdanich and Jake Hooker — New York Times, 5/6/07

The Examiner article also indicates MCHS is pursuing a text-message alert system with the county and Homeland Security, to alert pet owners if food contamination problems come up again.

Actually, such a system also would lend itself to communication with pet guardians (I prefer this word in a legal sense, or pet parents in an informal context) in a natural disaster. Assuming, that is, there’s no problem with the technology as crisis events unfold.

Now here’s a question (actually, there are several) for all of the shelters — and animal hospitals — in the DC Metro area:

• What do you have in the way of a communication plan to let your clients know the status of animals at your venue?
• Can you quickly and effectively get real-time reports to all of your publics, whether they are volunteers who care for homeless animals, or vet techs and other specialists on staff, or devoted pet parents whose animals may be temporarily in your care?
• What communications technology, high or low tech, do you have at your fingertips to do this?
• Does everyone on your staff know how to use this technology?

Today is the start of the hurricane season. It isn’t too soon or too frivolous to ask yourselves these questions — and develop and practice the answers.

“I…am not…a cook…”

…but I do enjoy a good dinner, whether a friend fixes it or at a restaurant. Friends who know me well know that I nuke. It isn’t that I can’t cook, it’s simply that I’m either lazy or lack motivation. However, give me a good reason, like company’s coming, and I can fix a passable chicken and rice casserole, grill, or other average dishes.

Assuming, that is, I can remember where various cooking utensils are stored in the kitchen. (One time many years ago, upon a tire blowout keeping me from getting to an international folk dance where I was supposed to perform in Richmond, VA, a friend volunteered to cheer me up by coming to my house and making spaghetti. Arriving with all the fixin’s in tow, he expected me only to pony up a couple of pots and pans. Alas, it took me about a half hour to figure out where everything was…)

Anyway, this is all by way of saying I’m getting involved in another interesting project of the Sierra Club. It’s called the True Cost of Food and is intended simply to promote sustainable food choices. Currently in the DC Metro area, folks meet at a restaurant and discuss related topics, perhaps even including a chat with the restaurant chef or owner about local sources for specialty ingredients. In the past year, the one and only Suburban Maryland location/date conflicted with something else on my calendar, prompting me to contact the organizers to find out about additional locations/dates in my area. The response was a query if I’d like to take that on myself.

(Note to self — be careful what I ask for…)

Couple of places I have in mind right off the bat. Just need to follow up with the organizers and settle on a date. This should be fun. I’ll add blurbs in the future about our experiences.