Texas lab finds pain medicine in pet food

[RamboLiberal]

Source: Pittsburgh Tribune Review

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating a Texas laboratory's finding of acetaminophen in dog and cat food, an agency spokesman said Monday.

"We're very interested in being able to test these samples ourselves to determine the levels of those contaminants," said FDA spokesman Doug Arbesfeld. "What's significant is these things are there. They don't belong there."

The pain medication is the fifth contaminant found in pet foods during the past 2 1/2 months and can be toxic or lethal to pets, especially cats. It is not known if any animals became sick with acetaminophen poisoning, or died from it.

"We were looking for cyanuric acid and melamine, and the acetaminophen just popped up," Donna Coneley, lab operations manager for ExperTox Inc. in Deer Park, Texas, told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review yesterday. "It definitely was a surprise to find that in several samples."



Read more: http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/s_510984.html

---

What the hell else they going to find!

[UpInArms]

1. I guess whatever is just lying around

should be put in animal/people food - maybe that's why corporations can do anything -
it just doesn't matter anymore.

:(

[Lisa]

56. I guess they aren't kidding about any old mess being "a dog's breakfast"

My mom uses that term to describe a random, untidy assortment of stuff.

[El Supremo]

2. Menu Foods Pet Pride for cats

That's what a Google search turned up.

WHAT ARE THE OTHER BRANDS?????

[cui bono]

25. try here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2870698&mesg_id=2870879

[napi21]

3. Acetaminophen is dangerous for dogs & cats!

Just as it is unwise for one person to share prescription medicine with another, it can also be dangerous to give pain medication intended for humans to animals. In general giving a dog ibuprofen, or other pain medication like acetaminophen, is not considered wise. The most dangerous of these is acetaminophen, since this can damage the liver of a cat or dog and be almost instantly fatal.



http://www.wisegeek.com/can-i-give-ibuprofen-to-my-dog-for-pain.htm

Where is this crap contamination coming from???? So what Pet Food did THIS affect?

Yes,k I'm still making my own dog food! I said it before and I'll say it again...I CAN'T TRUST ANYOF THEM!

[Bitwit1234]

4. There is no way I would buy something made in China

I don't like foreign foods anyway. I usually check the label and if it is not canned or produced in the US I don't buy the food. I live in the midwest and they don't have East Coast Oysters so I don't buy the big icky ones from the Pacific NW> I saw oyster stew canned on the shelf and though I might try it til I saw it was CANNED IN CHINA...So forget that.

[emilyg]

8. agree

I'm getting that way. Refuse to buy if not made in U.S.

[arikara]

22. The problem is how do you know?

You have to be so careful. They can mix the ingredients in the US or Canada, but they buy the separate ingredients, eg. wheat gluten from China. I'm not buying anything thats prepared anymore, and am even going to make our toothpaste etc.

You can't even be sure with things like dried staples. I went to buy some split peas the other day for soup, the only brand available was Golden something or other, and on the bag it simply said Packed in Burnaby. I had a feeling that they came over on the boat from China so went to the health food store and bought organic ones that said they were produced in Canada.

One of my friends was going to buy some lovely looking apples that were labeled Europe's Best, she looked on the bottom of the package and it said produced in China.

[kath]

37. Even if it is "made" in the US, there is absolutely no way of knowing where the INGREDIENTS come

from.

Ain't "global free trade" a wonderful thing?

[tblue]

33. Did y'all hear that China's former top drug regulator has been sentenced to death?

/snip
The quality and safety of China's food products has come under scrutiny around the world since tainted pet food caused deaths of cats and dogs in the United States and toxins in toothpaste exported from China led to recalls in Latin America.

At home, China's citizens are treated to a near-daily diet of stories of mass food poisonings or tainted products, and the government is starting to take action.

In the most dramatic of a series of measures, from announcing a system of food recalls to blacklisting producers who break the rules, a court sentenced to death the former head of the national food and drug agency for taking bribes in exchange for drug approvals.

Zheng Xiaoyu may have been made a scapegoat in China's efforts to show the rest of the world it is serious about cleaning up its food and drug industry, but if the judgment was unusually harsh, residents were feeling little pity.

/snip

http://tinyurl.com/28kl2t

[candice]

46. Check your Trader Joe vegetables...and our high-quality peanuts are

being forced out due to cheap Chinese imports. They are funneled through Canada, so the "organic" peanut butter has a manufactured in Canada label, but the peanuts are from China. Rotten peanuts can have afloxins, which is really bad for our health. When I asked about the origin of some "wheat ingredients" in Trader Joe products, the customer service rep told me that if people don't want to eat vegetables from China they won't buy them. I had no idea I was feeding my pet parrot endame beans from China. Checked and tossed them in the compost. Should have bagged them in something more secure so they wouldn't compromise our organic garden.

[NYC]

52. I was misled by the Canadian organic peanut butter.

Maybe you are the person who alerted me. I'm sorry I've forgotten who told me, but I appreciated being told.

I'll be writing to Yum in Canada to ask where their peanuts come from. I suspect it is China. My "menu" grows smaller every day.

Well, that took me a while to find:

http://www.vicrossano.com/

[e-mail]

The letter has been sent, asking where the peanuts are grown, and where they are processed. I suspect I will be disappointed by the answer.

[NYC]

59. Yum peanuts are grown in the US, and Montreal is where

they turn it into peanut butter.

I received an email from them today. Their almond butter is also U.S. & Montreal.

I haven't eaten their almond butter, but I suppose I'll be adding it to my menu.

The U.S. peanuts come from Georgia and/or New Mexico.

[NYC]

60. Some of our peanuts are going to Montreal.

I received a reply from Yum.

They get the peanuts from Georgia and New Mexico. They make the peanut butter in Montreal.

Safe, organic peanut butter. I'm happy.


She said the almonds for the almond butter they make in Montreal come from California. I'll try that next.

[RedEarth]

76. Do you ever take a Multi Vitamin or a Vitamin C tablet.... if so,... read this article.....

than we're aware of........

China-made drugs under scrutiny
By Tim Johnson - McClatchy Beijing Bureau
Last Updated 5:06 am PDT Friday, June 1, 2007

SHIJIAZHUANG, China -- If you pop a vitamin C tablet into your mouth, it's a good bet it came from China. Indeed, many of the world's vitamins are now made in China.

In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business.

Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and primary amino acids. According to an industry group, China makes 70 percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12 and E.

In the wake of a pet food scandal, in which adulterated wheat flour from China led to the deaths of thousands of pets in North America, and other instances of food and toothpaste tampering, China's vitamin producers are reaching out to reassure U.S. consumers that their vitamins are safe. ...

"The industry in China is bifurcated between top-notch companies that are highly skilled and do all the right things, and the second- and third-tier producers, some of which are just sloppy bucket shops," said Peter Kovacs, a food industry consultant based in Incline Village, Nev.

Foreign brokers agree that the low end of China's market has severe problems. "Sometimes you enter a factory, and you say, 'I can't believe they produce food here.' It's dirty and the machines are old," said Jan Willem Roben of Vision Ingredients in Shanghai, a broker of food additives for export.

Since U.S. laws don't require food and drug sellers to label products with the country of origin of ingredients, it's impossible for consumers to know where food or supplements come from, not to mention what factory produced them. ...

http://www.sacbee.com/111/story/201677.html

[truthisfreedom]

5. The people in charge of putting this crap in our pet food should be forced to live the last of their

days eating it in a prison cell.

[seafan]

6. This is very serious. And it is most likely deliberate adulteration of pet food.

Texas lab finds pain medicine acetaminophen in pet food

PITTSBURGH TRIBUNE-REVIEW

By Karen Roebuck
June 5, 2007

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is investigating a Texas laboratory's finding of acetaminophen in dog and cat food, an agency spokesman said Monday.

.....

The pain medication is the fifth contaminant found in pet foods during the past 2 1/2 months and can be toxic or lethal to pets, especially cats. It is not known if any animals became sick with acetaminophen poisoning, or died from it.

.....

The contaminants were found in foods that are not among the more than 150 brands recalled since March 16, Coneley said. The highest level of acetaminophen was found in a dog food sample submitted by a manufacturer, she said. Coneley declined to identify the company but said its officials were given the results "well over a month ago."

That company should have -- but did not -- notify the FDA, which first learned of the acetaminophen findings after pet owners posted lab reports on the Internet, Arbesfeld said.

.....

At least five dog and cat food samples submitted by worried pet owners and pet food manufacturers contained varying levels of the pain reliever, she said. Only the food, not individual ingredients, were tested.

The medication was found most often with cyanuric acid, a chemical used in pool chlorination, Coneley said. Varying levels of melamine, a chemical used to make plastics, also were found among the hundreds of samples ExperTox tested, she said.

.....

[Shallah Kali]

21. A company not reporting toxins in their product should be a criminal offence. Jail time & big fines

also if their negligence leads to death they should be charged with something like negligent manslaughter. corporations right to make profits should stop being more important than consumers lives and wellbeing!

[kestrel91316]

67. Of course it's deliberate. Either somebody is trying to hurt the

companies in question (a competitor??) or there is profit to be made by substituting a cheap toxin for a real ingredient (like with the wheat "gluten").

[ourvoicescount]

7. So what exactly IS safe for the pets then? wtf...

[HuskiesHowls]

11. I'm ready to turn my 3 Siberians loose in the field next door

went through that field today, helping look for a lost child, and the one I had with me flushed two pheasants, did cardio-vascular checks on a couple rabbits, and turned up I don't know how many snakes. I'm ready to let them fend for themselves, since that way at least I know there's nothing bad in the raw ingredients!!

[Lorien]

19. Look for foods with USDA human grade ingredients

they can usually be found in specialty or health food stores. There is a huge difference between "pet grade" (feed grade) and "human grade" ingredients. Here's more info:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=243&topic_id=4388&mesg_id=4388

[cui bono]

26. here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2870698&mesg_id=2870879

[partylessinOhio]

9. This is horrific. Where are our protections against this? It seems there

are none. We are paying elected officials and government agencies and they are screwing us instead of doing their jobs.

It's all about making money in any mannner at any cost.

[SOS]

66. It's awful, but there are no protections

Dr. Belfield was a USDA inspector for years. Check out his article on the commercial pet "food" industry:

http://www.belfield.com/article3.html

[LeighAnn]

10. Puppy Uppers and Doggie Downers

Anybody remember that???

[uppityperson]

13. SNL from wayyy back

chihuahua and doberman, great ad.

[Kat 333]

12. This is so fucked up ...

Thank you for posting.

[candice]

14. "As long as people are not sick or dying, it’s O.K.” READ THIS ARTICLE!!!

New York Times

When Fakery Turns Fatal



By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: June 5, 2007

From the "Amherst Times" -- It's getting to the point that when you see anything with a "Made in China" label you should turn and run. Do not purchase it, do not use it, do not have it near anyone or anything you care about. China seems to think nothing of substituting cheap toxic chemicals for pharmaceutical-grade materials in many and varied products. The officials turn a blind eye to what's happening and we are paying for it in more ways than financially.

WUDI, China — They might be called China’s renegade businessmen, small entrepreneurs who are experts at counterfeiting and willing to go to extraordinary lengths to make a profit. But just how far out of the Chinese mainstream are they?

Equipment at the fake-feed factory, now closed.

Here in Wudi in eastern China, a few companies tried to save money by slipping the industrial chemical melamine into pet food ingredients as a cheap protein enhancer, helping incite one of the largest pet food recalls ever.

In Taixing, a city far to the south, a small business cheated the system by substituting a cheap toxic chemical for pharmaceutical-grade syrup, leading to a mass poisoning in Panama. And in the eastern province of Anhui, a group of entrepreneurs concocted a fake baby-milk formula that eventually killed dozens of rural children.

For the rest of the article, see:

http://parentunderground.wordpress.com/

[candice]

16. Most of the world's vitamins and supplements are Made in China...

The cheap price has closed down companies in the West and the profits have decamped to China. Rep. Waxman laments the amount of lead found in the few vitamins that have been checked. Solution--Eat whole foods grown near you without pesticides if at all possible--check out your local farmer's markets; grow your own if you can. Whole food is much cheaper than processed food.

See the following articles:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/22/AR2007042201163.html

http://www.fortwayne.com/mld/newssentinel/news/editorial/17306227.htm?template=contentModules/printstory.jsp

[Rosa Luxemburg]

17. Congress should force companies to make goods in the USA

so much for their big profits!

[cui bono]

23. And whole food retains more vitamins so you don't need to take so many

supplements. Raw food is healthiest since cooking causes nutrients to leach. Veggies and stuff. I don't like too much raw food except salads though. I like my veggies cooked.

[cui bono]

28. And don't buy dinnerware/cookware or mugs made there either.

Could have lead. I just saw some mugs that were marked with warnings. Why are they being sold here then???

[candice]

44. Because China is a market for U.S./international corporations...

...lead poisoning is a long-term drain, but by then the profits will have been squandered.

[cui bono]

45. Yeah, it was kind of a rhetorical question. =)

Though I wish it weren't. I wish someone would actually care about the general public's welfare.

[candice]

49. Not as long as the Congress has to run TV ads to be re-elected...

...then they have to serve corporations, increasingly international entities. We have government of, by, and for the corporation until elections do not have to be funded by corporations to pay for TV ads, and lobbyists can't buy crooked legislators.

[cui bono]

50. ? Was this meant to be in response to me?

[Rene]

65. I wonder about the dyes/chems in their textiles...their towels, sheets, blankets.

[closeupready]

40. I treat such products like I treat stuff with transfats -

they go back on the shelf.

[MLFerrell]

15. Damn...

I was hoping that maybe the contaminant was Oxycodone. If that had been the case, I'd have been stocking up on (and consuming) voluminous quantities of pet food!

Flippancy aside, all this contamination of pet food makes me have some serious qualms about foodstuffs intended for human consumption.

[tchunter]

18. my first thoughts when i saw the headline was the same as yours...

I mean i kinda always imagined Rush eating dog food but that would have sealed the deal.

does anyone know the names of the tainted brands, if i killed my room mates cat, i'm sure he wouldn't be too happy

[cui bono]

27. check here...

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=102&topic_id=2870698&mesg_id=2870879

[closeupready]

41. It SHOULD give us all qualms.

n/t

[Shallah Kali]

20. Tell Congress if you haven't already to make Country of Origin Labeling mandatory!

http://tinyurl.com/24lv2w

or

http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/fwwatch/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=6119

[tbyg52]

36. It sure needs to be

I'm looking at my vitamins. The One-a-Day says "made in the USA," but the others just say "manufactured for." I'm not buying any more that don't say "made in the USA."

[Shallah Kali]

48. Growing China produces most of world's vitamins - article (70% penicillin, 50% asprin, & more meds)

China has cornered the global market for vitamins, and it is assuring a jittery world market that its tablets are safe.
http://www.miamiherald.com/103/story/128699.html

In less than a decade, China has captured 90 percent of the U.S. market for vitamin C, driving almost everyone else out of business. Chinese pharmaceutical companies also have taken over much of the world market in the production of antibiotics, analgesics, enzymes and primary amino acids.

According to an industry group, China makes 70 percent of the world's penicillin, 50 percent of its aspirin and 35 percent of its acetaminophen (often sold under the brand name Tylenol), as well as the bulk of vitamins A, B12, C and E.

Issues of food and drug safety are rippling across China today. The former chief of the state Food and Drug Administration, Zheng Xiaoyu, was given the death sentence Tuesday for taking $832,000 in bribes to let unsafe drugs on the market. And a survey earlier this year said more than three-fifths of Chinese worry about whether the food they eat is contaminated or adulterated.

snip

'Sometimes you enter a factory, and you say, `I can't believe they produce food here.' It's dirty and the machines are old,'' said Jan Willem Roben of Vision Ingredients in Shanghai, a broker of food additives for export.

Food and drug inspectors that work for the government are usually also part of the companies that make the food and drugs.

you might want to double check one-a-day's accuracy in labeling. There is no vitamin c factory left in the USA so while one-a-day may be manufactured in the USA it isn't of 100% US ingredients. Consider clothing labels where they have to say where it is made and where the materials were made as well. For example a label may say "assembled in the USA from dominican republic components'.

[yy4me]

39. I agree, and no more of the phrase: "Distributed by XX". We

as consumers have NO way to tell where it is made. At the grocery yesterday, I found many canned and bottled products labeled with this very generic phrase, "distributed by". No country of origin. I now check everything. Made in China or anywhere else is that region of the world, I will not buy. It now takes twice as long to shop but better thAt than eating some of the god-awful things that are coming to our attention.

I know there is no sure-fire way to avoid all of this stuff from China but every little bit of a drop in sales will eventually get someone's attention. Maybe even someone in Washington will notice.

[closeupready]

42. Excellent.

n/t

[cui bono]

24. MENU FOODS RECALL INFORMATION:

http://www.menufoods.com/recall/index.html

But I believe this latest finding of pain killers is not included in these links. Especially since some of the companies are apparently not reporting the findings. :eyes:

[kimpossible]

29. Once again, the pet bloggers fill in for the FDA

The best place to get real information is at:

http://petfoodtracker.blogspot.com/

[PinkyisBlue]

30. Oh, there are my misplaced eyeglasses in my cat's food; how did they end up there?

The Boston Sunday Globe had a good editorial about the FDA this past Sunday. The FDA's budget has been declining for a decade. The number of food scientist's at FDA's food headquarters office has dropped from 1,000 to 800 in just the past three years. With 13 million food imports this year, the FDA is able to inspect only about 1 %. "The system is so weak that many FDA professionals fear the word is out in the international community you can send virtually anything, of any quality, regardless of risk, to the United States, because noone's looking." And domestically, with over 200,000 food processing facilities to inspect within the United States, the FDA is only able to inspect each one every 10 to 15 years.

What's equally scary is that the pharmaceutical industry is increasingly funding the FDA's drug review program, through "user fees". Talk about the fox guarding the chicken coop.

To read article, google: The overwhelmed FDA (by William Hubbard).

[NYC]

31. Link to The Overwhelmed FDA:

http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2007/06/03/the_overwhelmed_fda/

[PinkyisBlue]

32. Thank you for the link.

[DemBones DemBones]

35. Oh, my God. That is worth reading. And scary.

"With the exception of FDA's drug review program, which is funded increasingly by industry "user fees," FDA's budget has been declining for a decade. Just as our schools cannot educate our children without teachers and fires cannot be extinguished without a fire department, our food supply cannot be inspected and monitored without the highly skilled scientists at the FDA.""

"What's the evidence that FDA is experiencing a budget crisis? The FDA is located in Montgomery County, Md. , a suburb of the nation's capital; the suburb's school board has a bigger budget than the FDA; the county's budget is twice that size. Ten years ago, Congress appropriated funds to support 9,100 scientists, but today there are 1,000 fewer, at a time in which the demands on the agency have grown and grown. The number of scientists at FDA's food headquarters office has dropped from 1,000 to 800 in just the past three years."

"The story of the inspection force is even more troubling. After the 9/11 attacks, Tommy Thompson, then Health and Human Services secretary, demanded that the food inspection force at the nation's ports be improved, and 600 more inspectors were rapidly put in place to examine the burgeoning imports of food. Today, they are all gone, the victims of year-by-year budget cuts that cripple the agency's ability to do even rudimentary screening of our food."

"So where are we today? There are 13 million food imports this year, with FDA able to inspect only about 1 percent. The system is so weak that many FDA professionals fear the word is out in the international community you can send virtually anything, of any quality, regardless of risk, to the United States, because no one's looking. Continued..."

[candice]

47. Drowning government in a bathtub won't save the rich...if our food is

poisoned.

[DemBones DemBones]

34. It sure as hell would be nice if they'd tell us WHAT KIND of dog food

had acetaminophen in it.

[tiredofthisstuff]

38. 24 Hour Pain Relief.

[Lone_Star_Dem]

43. Acetaminophen is highly toxic to cats

Also to dogs, but they have a slightly higher threshold of tolerance before it's lethal.

I'm curious to hear it explained how acetaminophen got into the food in the first place. I have a feeling this one is going to a dilly of story.

[NYC]

53. Don has a theory.

http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/

...Chemicals such as acetaminophen don't come from the factory in neat little pills. It is shipped in bulk and has to be packaged for further distribution. While you would not want acetaminophen to be present in food intended for cats and dogs, it would not be a major concern if it was present in cyanuric acid intended to be mixed with 10,000 gallons of swimming pool water. In our corner cutting, modern industrial world, while some care to clean packaging equipment before processing acetaminophen would be in order, getting fussy about cleaning the equipment for a subsequent cyanuric acid run just means lost productivity and a higher cost of doing business...


...This site(14) describes some of what goes into handling and packaging materials shipped in bulk, and lists both acetaminophen and cyanuric acid as being substances they handle. I wish to stress at this point that this company, to the best of my knowledge, has absolutely no connection to the pet food recall whatsoever. I include the reference solely to illustrate that a wide variety of substances are handled at any given packaging plant...

[kestrel91316]

68. I can just about guarantee you the manufacturer didn't put it there

deliberately - though the Hill's Haters would probably like you to believe otherwise........

[MetaTrope]

51. So has any story said where they think this acetaminophen is coming from?

Soylent Green springs to mind...

[AlienGirl]

54. Rendered fats and proteins, maybe?

Until very recently it was standard operating procedure to send all "junk" carcasses to the rendering plant, where they would be turned into pet and farm-animal food. This included, among other junk carcasses, euthanized former pets. I think I read somewhere that they are no longer allowed to put dead pets in USA-made pet food, but I don't recall where, and of course that would not have applied to rendered animal products manufactured elsewhere.

Tucker

[Shallah Kali]

55. There is no law against pets in pet food

There has been outcry when it becomes common knowledge at times so animal shelters and the like promise to no longer give remains to rendering plants but to my knowledge there is still no law against it. Here is a video of an interview with the head of AAFCO which sets what little standards pet food has saying who knows if it is Fluffy in the pet food:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n4nZKP-h-Bk

[MetaTrope]

57. And that sort of makes the leap in thought that people are feeding their pets acetaminophen

...unless that's what killed them in the first place?

[AlienGirl]

58. Are there any commonly-kept pets that *are* given acetominophen for pain?

If so, it makes sense that sick or wounded animals in pain who are given painkillers and then die might wind up in the rendering plant.

(What was the bird pain medicine they gave us that time? I forget, it may have been Celebrex or Vioxx--anyway, it turned out to be bad for humans but great as an avian analgesic.)

Tucker

[kestrel91316]

70. NO. Why would dead pets have ANY acetaminophen in them?

We NEVER use it in cats (it's poisonous, for pete's sake), and there are much safer and more effective pain meds for dogs.

[Up2Late]

62. I wouldn't doubt some are doing that, I had a friend that I think did that when she was...

...mistakenly slowly poisoning her cat (Lead Poisoning) by using a Lead Cristal goblet for the cats drinking water. The Vet couldn't figure out why the cat was losing all it's fur and looking very sick, so my friend was getting desperate and was trying anything she could think of to help it feel better.

I noticed the fancy drinking glass she was using for her cat's water and said something. When she began putting the water in a normal glass, the cat got better.

[Auntie Bush]

64. S T O P !!!! You are making me sick!

My dog only gets people food from now on. Sometimes I add a small hand full of Wellness, which is good healthy food. He almost died till I started feeding him our leftover food. I even cook extra for him.

Now he's gaining back some weight...but his kidneys were damaged.
Damn them!

[kestrel91316]

69. How would that account for acetaminophen in quantities in pet food

sufficient to harm pets? Especially since acetaminophen is toxic to cats and not used much if at all in dogs, and so its level in pet remains is going to be virtually undetectable............this theory is nonsense due to the dilutional factor if nothing else.

[Up2Late]

61. This could be the TRUE culprit, not that the other stuff wasn't bad enough...

...because, taking more then the daily recommended dose of Acetaminophen causes Liver Failure, which then leads to Kidney failure if it isn't found and treated in time, sound familiar?

My Best Friend used the combo of Tylenol (and Vicodin) and Alcohol, last July, to kill himself.


<http://www.drugs.com/vicodin.html>

[kestrel91316]

71. Acetaminophen toxicity causes methemoglobinemia. It's a clinically

unmistakable syndrome. Nothing whatsoever like what happened with the acute renal failure cases in the Menu Foods recall.

Try again.

[Up2Late]

73. Yeah, nice try. Yes, it does that too, but first it destroys the Liver. Here's the info link...

<http://www.aspca.org/site/DocServer/veccs_july00.pdf?docID=132>

Management of Acetaminophen and Ibuprofen Toxicoses in Dogs and Cats]

Jill A. Richardson, DVM
ASPCA Animal Poison Control Center
Urbana, IL

SUMMARY
Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are commonly used in humans for their analgesic, anti-pyretic, and anti-inflammatory (ibuprofen) effects. Between January 1998 and March 2000, veterinarians at the ASPCA National Animal Poison Control Center (NAPCC) consulted on more than 1,050 cases of accidental exposures to acetaminophen and 1,100 cases of ibuprofen ingestion in dogs and cats. Exposures to these medications can have serious effects on the animal’s health. Fortunately, with prompt, aggressive treatment and good supportive care, most animals will recover completely.


ACETAMINOPHEN
Acetaminophen (4’-Hydroxyacetanilide N-acetyl-p-aminophenol N-(4-Hydroxyphenyl)acetamide) is a synthetic
non-opiate derivative of p-aminophenol. Acetaminophen tablets, liquid preparations, and long acting compounds are available in over 200 prescription and non-prescription formulations and are also found in combination products.1 Acetaminophen possesses analgesic and antipyretic activity similar to aspirin.1,2

Unlike aspirin, acetaminophen does not posses anti-inflammatory activity or platelet function effects.2 Acetaminophen increases the pain threshold by inhibiting central cyclooxygenase and may inhibit chemical mediators that sensitize the pain receptors.1,3 Acetaminophen also inhibits the effects of pyrogen by blocking prostaglandin synthesis.2 Acetaminophen toxicity can result from a single toxic dose or repeated cumulative dosages which lead to methemoglobinemia and hepatotoxicity.2 In dogs, acetaminophen is used therapeutically for analgesia at a dose of 10 mg/kg BID.4,5 Clinical signs of toxicity are not typically observed in dogs unless the dose exceeds 100mg/kg, at which dose heptatoxicity is possible. At 200mg/kg, methemoglobinemia is a possibility.5 There is no safe acetaminophen dose for cats.5 In cats, 10 mg/kg has produced signs of toxicity.6 Cats have less ability to metabolize acetaminophen because they are deficient in glucuronyl transferase.4

Toxicologic Mechanism
Acetaminophen is primarily eliminated through conjugation to inactive glucuronide and sulfate metabolites.1,2 Acetaminophen also undergoes minor metabolism by the P-450 mixed function oxidase to a highly reactive metabolite, N-acetyl-para-benzoquinoneimine (NAPQI), that is inactivated through glucuronidation with glutathione, in the liver.1,2,3,7 When glucuronidation and sulfation pathways become saturated and glutathione stores are depleted to less than 70% of normal values, NAPQI metabolite binds to the hepatic cell membrane and damages the lipid layer, causing hepatocyte injury and death.3,7 NAPQI also causes severe oxidative stress to red blood cells. The oxidant damage to heme ions results in methemoglobin. Ferrous iron is oxidized to ferric iron converting hemoglobin to methemoglobin, which does not carry oxygen.4,8 Oxidation of hemoglobin may also cause Heinz body formation.4

(more at link)

<http://www.aspca.org/site/DocServer/veccs_july00.pdf?docID=132>

The key word is "Also"

...When glucuronidation and sulfation pathways become saturated and glutathione stores are depleted to less than 70% of normal values, NAPQI metabolite binds to the hepatic cell membrane and damages the lipid layer, causing hepatocyte injury and death.3,7 NAPQI also causes severe oxidative stress to red blood cells....

And what were most of the pet dying from? Liver and Kidney failure:

Following a recent melamine tainted pet food scandal, the United States is cracking down on amounts of food imports that come from China

It is being reported that the United States, plans to crack down on food imports from the country of China following contaminated pet food ingredients being imported from the country that resulted in hundreds of pets becoming sick and a number of them dying from liver failure....

(more at link) <http://www.dogflu.ca/05212007/16/u_s_cracking_down_on_chinese_imports>

The dangers of Tylenol overdose have been know for about 27 Years, since the first report on clinical trials with Rats were published in 1980 in JAMA, but every time a high profile study is published, it's met with a advertising blitz by the manufactures of Acetaminophen products to try to discredit the research and confuse the public at large, and the strategy has been very effective.

I didn't know the danger either, until I stumbled upon the July 2006 study (also published in JAMA) a few months ago, while trying to make sense of how my Best Friend could go out drinking with friends on Sunday, and be in an irreversible Coma on Thursday of that week due to total Liver and Kidney failure and be dead on Saturday after his family is told it's time to pull the plug.

This happens to more than a Thousand American families per year now, due to the efforts of Big Pharma Lobbyists, but I'm not going to let that happen again to anyone else I know, so if you do work for a Big Drug Corp., you just got another thorn in your side, and that thorn is me.

<http://www.aspca.org/site/PageServer>

[InvisibleTouch]

63. My 5-year-old mama dog...

...has stopped eating all commercial brands completely. Organic ingredients, human-grade ingredients, guaranteed US source, you name it - she won't touch it. She's very intelligent and aware, so it could be that she's picking up my worries, but it's also possible that she smells and tastes something that the rest of the pack doesn't. She's 100% back on raw/homecooked.

[kestrel91316]

72. Raw meats are 100% inappropriate due to the known, documented

risk of serious or even fatal foodborne infectious diseases in the pets eating them, and humans they have contact with.

I thought we'd been through this a thousand times already at the time of the recall.

[InvisibleTouch]

74. What we've been through a thousand times...

...is that I've told you this is what I feed with excellent results, this is what quite a lot of other breeders of my acquaintance feed with excellent results, this is what in my experience is far healthier than the contaminated commercial crap that's out there, this is what's endorsed by numerous holistic vets, and your opinion on the matter isn't going to change my mind. Feed your own pets whatever you want, feed what you're comfortable with. Advise your clients however you want (though I would hope they do their own research as well, instead of simply taking your word for it). If someone asks you for your advice/opinion, fine. I don't recall asking. You're quite simply misinformed in this regard.

[suffragette]

75. more info at these links

http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2007/06/pet_food_recall57.html

Additional info on the above story. Very interesting is that it looks like part of the reason for finally seeking out complete testing was consumer initiated.

"After our story was published, however, we heard from a consumer who paid ExperTox Inc. of Deer Park, Texas to analyze samples of pet food.

That consumer is Don Earl, who says his cat “Chuckles” went into kidney failure and died in January 2007 after eating Pet Pride “Turkey and Giblets” and “Mixed Grill” cat food.

The Port Townsend, Washington, pet owner said he had the same lots and styles of Pet Pride food tested that he fed Chuckles before she died.

And those tests detected acetaminophen in the food, ConsumerAffairs.com confirmed.

The tests also discovered the chemical cyanuric acid -- commonly used in pool chlorination -- in the food."

There is also a link in that article to a website that Don Earl has created after the loss of his cat to try to find out what's really going on with this. Ah, I just clicked on the "Chuckle's Story" link on his site with pics of his cat - dammit :cry: Too many losses, too much pain.
http://www.petfoodrecallfacts.com/