PET FOOD RECALL REDUX:

To say the least Molly has been following the continuing news around the Menu Foods recall closely. The latest statement by the American FDA (Food and Drug Administration) has perhaps muddied the waters rather than clarified them. This statement has implicated the chemical melamine as the causative agent. For another explanation of what melamine is see the Wisegeek site. Molly's trouble from reading the sources above, and their original sources, is that melamine simply doesn't appear to be that toxic of a chemical. The Wikipedia site (I must admit not the be all and end all of accuracy) says that melamine is not known to be toxic to humans but that large amounts may lead to kidney stones and reproductive failure. The FDA report posted today (and also in their televised press release) plainly states that they are not certain that melamine is the causative agent. The situation has begun to resemble an "argument between laboratories" (something that Molly has been familiar with in the past) as the Cornell University Amimal Health Diagnostic Center has issued a press release more or less defending their original findings of aminopterin as the agent implicated. Molly has already reported on these sources in previous blogs her.

MEANWHILE, the Pet Connection site has upgraded their data base of suspicious deaths to 2,600 entries, up from what Molly previously reported two days ago. Also the Hill's Corporation has announced the first recall of a dry product, their Feline DM Formulation. To her great relief Molly sells none of the above product. To her great relief Molly sells none of this product, but she has gone to the extent of phoning clients who purchase the Royal Canin product from her to advise them to withhold feeding their pets same until the situation is clarified. She has also sent an email to the Royal Canin corporation requesting further clarification of their recent press release stating that their foods are NOT affected by the recall. What Molly wishes to see clarified to HER satisfaction is NOT that they "don't use the same supplier" but that they DON'T import ANY wheat gluten from China. At all, at all at all !!!!!! Molly's own cats eat the Royal Canin Urinary SO diet dry with no ill effects, but she cannot in good conscience sell diabetic foods to clients until the matter of the Hills recall is clarified.

As a side note Molly has found that Royal Canin and VMD/Medi-Cal are actually the same thing, being owned by the same corporate entities. THIS was news to me, a paranoiac about corporate control. Without the concentration of ownership and "outsourcing" in our wonderful "global economy" this sort of thing would be far more localized than what this item has become. One more item in the argument against "globalization", and in favour of the sort of local economy that sensible anarchists advocate. But that is politics...

For now Molly will continue to report news as it develops on this matter and hopefully clarify things for readers. She urges you to consult the original sources mentioned above and in previous posts on this blog for up-to-the-date news rather than depend upon the mass media.

Molly