Pet Health - Toxins in the Food part 2

Well, a little more research today found out some interesting news. I received an email from Nutro Products who basically stated that they are unaware of any FDA investigation and that the FDA and the Center for Veterinary Medicine (the division responsible for regulating pet food) have also confirmed that there is no current or ongong investigation of Nutro Products.

Hmmm...why would the ConsumerAffairs.com article say that there was? I did a little Internet sleuthing and found out the the ConsumerAffairs people may not be the upstanding consumer protection heroes we would expect. It seems that the owner of ConsumerAffairs.com is being sued for defamation and this won't be the first time he has experienced this activity. He even proudly states that "we get sued with regularity" although he won't divulge the number.

It seems, according to Law.com that this website and its owner act as a sort of pipeline to funnel potential class action lawsuits to attorneys. The website then also acts as a recruiter to find more people to participate in the lawsuits. Just for kicks, I clicked on the "Complaint" button at ConsumerAffairs.com...the form you fill out is interesting in that it asks for your name and contact information and then asks for the name of the "perpetrator". Not for the business name or the product name...the PERPETRATOR!! In my opinion, that is some pretty strong language for someone who should be objective.

Here's my thought...did the owner of this consumer site feed Nutro food and have an issue and decide that he wanted to "get" the evil pet food company? Or, did a close friend or relative have a pet get sick and they all decided that Nutro had some nice deep pockets?

Again, I don't know all the particulars of the "500" complaints (see yesterday's post) ConsumerAffairs has received, but I am very suspicious that we have seen very few examples of blood work or necropsies done on the poor pets who died. The only consistent data is the ethylene glycol (antifreeze) present in the blood of the Italian Greyhounds who died.

So...I would say that ConsumerAffairs should probably focus on gathering more concrete data before continuing to try and place blame.

Some good news today...they may have a lead in what caused the deaths of the 21 polo ponies. I will be following that story as well and will hopefully have additional information for you soon.