4/25/07: Pet Food Saga Hall Of Shame
VIEW PAST KINSHIP CIRCLE UPDATES HERE: http://www.kinshipcircle.org/updates/default.html

IN THIS ALERT:
1.   Latest Death Toll
2.   Pet Food Saga Hall Of Shame - Timeline
3.   Feeling Powerless? 2 Ways YOU Can Take Action
4.   (Duh) Pet Food Recall Expands To Human Foods
5.   Recently In The News
6.   Product Recall Lists And Info
7.   Bookmark Links With Continually Updated Info
8.   To Make Reports And Follow Government News
8.   Goodbye Precious Babies

KINSHIP CIRCLE RESOURCES
•   4/14/07: PET FOOD RECALL: News, Updates, Action
•   4/2/07: TOXIC FOOD - Essential Recall Updates
•   Demand Action Against Menu Foods:

1. Latest Death Toll
Update 4/24/07: 4,474 pets (2,288 cats and 2186 dogs) have been reported as deceased to our PetConnection database. Total number of affected pets reported: 13,801.

PET FOOD RECALL PHOTO GALLERY: www.flickr.com/groups/petfoodrecall/

2. Pet Food Saga Hall Of Shame - Timeline

4/23/07: BEIJING — China gives US regulators permission to enter the country to investigate whether Chinese suppliers exported contaminated pet food ingredients to the United States this year, leading to one of the largest pet food recalls in American history...
www.boston.com/business/globe/articles/2007/04/24/china_to_allow_us_pet_food_inquiry/

Late April, 2007: Wheat gluten and rice protein concentrate imported from two suppliers in China are contaminated with melamine. Originally, Chinese officials cooperate with the FDA investigation. As of this week, US officials learn the Chinese government is blocking requests from the FDA to send personnel to China to inspect the facilities suspected of producing the contaminated products... vetmedicine.about.com/b/a/257164.htm

4/23/07: Senators Richard Durbin (D-Ill.) and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) send letter to FDA Commissioner asking him to identify companies that received contaminated rice protein shipments from China and to request the FDA identify and inspect all suspect pet food ingredients imported to the U.S.

4/21/07: Melamine-tainted corn gluten, imported from China, has been confirmed in South African pet food.

4/21/07: FDA identifies a second Chinese company that exported animal feed tainted with melamine to American pet food and animal feed suppliers. The company, Binzhou Futian Biological Technology, declines to comment. Earlier this month, regulators said another Chinese company, the Anying Biologic Technology Development Co. in Xuzhou, sold wheat gluten contaminated with melamine to suppliers of American pet food.

4/19/07: FDA expands recall to pet food makers, Royal Canin US and C.J. Foods. Identify affected products: www.royalcanin.us/, www.extrudedpetfood.com/index.php?pagename=Recall_Information

4/19/07: Blue Buffalo, of Wilton, Conn. announces recall of 5,044 bags of Spa Select Kitten dry food, made with rice protein concentrate contaminated by melamine. Identify affected products: www.bluebuff.com/

4/19/07: Wilbur-Ellis Company's San Francisco Feed Division voluntarily recalls products shipped to pet-food manufacturers -- due to risk that rice protein concentrate may have been contaminated by melamine, an industrial chemical used to make plastics and fertilizers that can lead to illness or fatalities in animals. Wilbur-Ellis obtained rice protein from a single source in China and shipped to a total of five U.S. pet-food manufacturers located in Utah , N.Y., Kansas and two in Missouri.
www.nationalpetfoundation.com/dog-food-recall.html/wilbur-ellis.html
webprod.wecon.com/WECOWeb/WECO/newsevents.htm

4/19/07: FDA announces its investigation of a theory that imported ingredients used in recalled pet food may have been intentionally spiked with melamine to boost protein content.

4/17/07: Menu Foods adds Natural Life Vegetarian can/pouch foods to recall list. Identity affected products: www.nlpp.com/

4/16/07: Natural Balance, of Pacoima, Calif. announces recall of Venison and Brown Rice dog treats and Venison and Green Pea dry cat food, after the company confirms evidence of melamine in the food. That chemical is believed to have contaminated rice protein concentrate, an imported Chinese ingredient. Identify affected products: www.naturalbalanceinc.com/

4/12/07: FDA issues press release warning consumers retail stores may have recalled food on shelves. U.S. Senate begins hearings to investigate the food recall and the government's role in regulation of pet food.

4/10/07: Menu Foods adds 36 more cat food products to recall list.

4/5/07: Menu Foods expands recall list — more than 100 products.

3/26/07: FDA finds chemical melamine, used in plastics and fertilizers, in tainted food.

3/24/07: Menu Foods expands recall list — more than 90 products.

3/23/07: New York State Department of Agriculture and Cornell University find aminopterin, a rat poison also used to fight cancer, in several Menu Foods samples.

3/16/07: Menu Foods announces initial recall of several brands of pet food after deaths of 16 animals.

Note the month-long gap here, between Menu Food's discovery of toxic foods and its public recall. Kinship Circle

2/20/07: Menu Foods notifies Food and Drug Administration that it received reports of sick animals that ingested its products.

3. Feeling Powerless? 2 Ways YOU Can Take Action

1. Clean Up The Pet Food Supply - Be a voice in Senator Dick Durbin's letter campaign to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach
For more than 100 million Americans, a cat or dog is part of the family. That's why the recent pet food contamination crisis, a tragedy that has led to the illness or deaths of thousands of pets across the country, has hit so close to home.

Recently, I spearheaded a Senate Committee hearing to find out what went wrong -- why contaminated pet food made its way into the food supply, and how we can make sure it never happens again. So far, we've learned that the response of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has been wholly inadequate.

That is why I hope that you will forward an email to FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach -- tell him that it's time for the FDA to improve the safety of our pet food supply now!

SEND YOUR ONLINE LETTER FROM SENATOR DURBIN'S WEBSITE:
ga3.org/campaign/petfoodsafety?qp_source=petfood%5fgoogle

2. My Pet Counts! Postcard Blitz
www.petconnection.com/

We are calling on all pet owners, parents, guardians who have lost a pet due to contaminated pet food to join us in a post card blitz to demonstrate the full scope of this pet food recall disaster.

WHO: Anyone who has lost a pet due to contaminated pet food.

WHAT: Post cards may have a picture of your pet, or can be blank. Purchase cards or design your own. Each set of postcards represents one pet. If you have lost multiple pets, send multiple cards to each address. Only one set of postcards per dead pet , please. Postcards ONLY, this is to ensure the mail is delivered with no security delay.

WHERE: No need to leave home. Mail your postcards from your own mailbox.

WHEN: All postcards should be mailed on Saturday, April 28, 2007. This coincides with the national march organized by KOPS (Keep Our Pets Safe). If all postcards are mailed on the same day, the impact will be all he greater when received at the other end.

WHY: By sticking to the "only 16 confirmed deaths" wording this disaster is being grossly minimized. The word must get out!

HOW: Mail a postcard to each of the addresses provided.The message should be very short, easy to read, no anger, profanity, or rudeness of any kind. Let them see your grief. Tug at their heartstrings. Use your pet's name. Use the words "My Pet Counts!"

POST CARD MAILING LIST:
Marcia K. Larkins, D.V.M
FDA Center for Veterinary Medicine
Ombudsman
7519 Standish Place HFV-7; Rockville, MD 20855

Senator Richard Durbin
309 Hart Senate Office Building; Washington, DC 20510

Your own Senator:
addresses at tinyurl.com/b1lm

The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW; Washington, DC 20500

Anderson Cooper
c/o CNN
One CNN Center; Atlanta, Georgia 30303-2762

4. (Duh) Pet Food Recall Expands To Human Foods
SOURCE: Pet Food Recall Extended to Human Foods
http://vetmedicine.about.com/od/nutritioninformation/a/PetFoodRecall2.htm?nl=1

The distinction between the pet foods and human foods being recalled is starting to blur. News of contaminated pork reaching human dinner tables was released last week from a hog farm in California. The hogs were fed food salvaged from pet food manufacturers before the recall. Now the FDA has issued warnings for pork in 6 states as well as chicken meat...

8. To Make Reports And Follow Government News

Report your pet's illness or death to the PetConnection.com database, a self-reporting veterinarian-sponsored website: www.petconnection.com/recall/

Report your pet's illness or death to the FDA for your pet to be counted: www.fda.gov/opacom/backgrounders/complain.html

FDA posts new information on pet food recall and its regulation of pet foods: www.fda.gov/cvm/petfoods.htm#newsreleases

FDA Enforcement Report Index: www.fda.gov/opacom/ Enforce.html

9. Goodbye Precious Babies
SOURCE: www.flickr.com/photos/lisacat/445640800/in/pool-petfoodrecall/

PET FOOD RECALL PHOTO GALLERY: www.flickr.com/groups/petfoodrecall/

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