POISONED PET FOOD: NEW NEWS AND RESOURCES:

To date the Pet Connection site has registered 4,133 suspicious deaths on the reporting site in their website. Look to this website for a developing debate on the 'Country of Origin' labelling requirement that has been proposed. For what it is worth Molly believes in a more stringent idea ie a "locally produced" label that would refer to either the classic idea of the '100 mile Diet' or a more expansive idea that all ingredients should be produced within a state or province. This would go more than a few steps forward to an ideal situation, where any problems that develop would be localized rather than continent wide. A "made in USA(or Canada)" label is worthless. Components of the food may come from all across the globe. As an anarchist Molly believes that this sort of thing should be the product of action from local groups such as Humane Societies, Farmers' Unions, etc., and that the labelling should be voluntary. The "wake-up call" from this latest scandal should be enough to shift consumer behavior to purchasing pet food that can't be damaging other than possible problems that can be corrected locally much more simply than the process of tracing components from foreign countries has proven to be. The whole 'Eat Locally' movement has become more prominent in recent years(prominent enough to be featured in Time magazine) and Molly has reported it before on this blog. Molly thinks that this would be an opportunity to both expand local self reliance, a cornerstone of a sensible anarchism, and provide an opportunity for the creation of local business and jobs that has been drained from the community by the multinationals. think about it.

Blogs in the political sector that Molly belongs to such as Shagya's Blog and Le Revue Gauche have also paid attention to this issue recently, especially concerning the corporate and state connections surrounding this event. On the (far!) conservative side of the American political spectrum Daniel Sargis has published a post on the Etherzone website (a conservative blog aggregator) that more than slightly questions the abilities and priorities of the US government.

Anyways, to keep up to date regularly on the pet food recall go to the Pet Connection website mentioned above. The Wikipedia website now has an entry about this recall by John Wambaugh. Here's a few more references that people might want to look at (in no particular order):

1) A statement from Dr. Elizabeth Hodkins, an America veterinarian, who testified before the recent Senate hearings on this matter. The reference includes some of her other writings on the subject of pet food.

2)More statements on the affair and pet foods by Dr. Jean Hofve.

3)An extensive report (49 pages) called 'Deconstructing the Regulatory Facade' by lawyer Justine S. Patrick of the Harvard Law School. Molly hopes to report more fully on this document in the future.

4) Dr. Michael W. Fox who has written many books for pet owners has weighed in on this matter. Not that Molly endorses all of his opinions, but I urge people to check his website for some rational recipes for home made diets for pets.

5)Finally there is the website of Robert J. Russell that is coming out with new insights on this matter.

Molly