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PETA Suggests Vitamin D to Blame for Animal Deaths

Group Demands FDA Head Resign for Ignoring Complaints about Dry Animal Food

By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com

April 3, 2007

• FDA Confirms Probe of NUTRO Pet Food Deaths, Illnesses • Evidence Destroyed in Menu Foods Case May Hamper Other Lawsuits • Pet Food Class Action Preemptively Thrown Out • More Pet Foods Added to Salmonella Recall • Lawsuits On the Trail of Nutro, Canidae Pet Foods • FDA Halts Illegally Medicated Animal Feed • Pet Owners Warned about Chicken Jerky Products • Mars Extends Pet Food Recall; More Salmonella Found • Mars Recalls Cat Food Sold at Wal-Mart due to Salmonella • Hartz Recalls Rawhide Chips After Possible Salmonella Contamination • Pet Owners Eligible For $24 Million in Landmark Melamine Settlement • Internet Rumor Claims Cocoa Mulch Causes Dog Deaths • Mars Recalls More Pet Food; Possible Salmonella Contamination • Mars Petcare Recalls Some Pedigree Dog Food • Expert Finds Unexplained Pet Deaths 'Not Consistent' • Illness, Death Dog Nutro Pet Food • Feds Raid PETCO Warehouse in Illinois • Pet Owners Not Thrilled with Poison Food Settlement • CDC Links 2006 Salmonella Outbreak to Dog Food • FDA Orders Illinois Pet Food Maker to Clean Up Its Act • String of Illnesses Afflicts NUTRO-Fed Pets --- • More about Pet Food Recalls ...

The animal rights group, People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), says that excessive amounts of vitamin D in pet food might be the cause of the growing number of kidney problems and deaths in cats and dogs across the country.

PETA also called for the Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration to immediately resign for his "complete failure" in handling the Menu Foods recall of 60 million containers of wet dog and cat food.

PETA Vice President Bruce Friedrich -- citing laboratory evidence -- today urged the FDA to refocus its investigation beyond wheat gluten and consider other possible contaminants in the pet food.

In his letter to Dr. Stephen Sundlof, director of the FDA's Center for Veterinarian Medicine, Friedrich said: "Wheat gluten is used almost exclusively in wet foods. However, the mounting number of complaints of illness and death in cats and dogs who had eaten only dry food strongly suggests that there is a second source of the poisoning, another toxic ingredient.

"Evidence from reputable laboratories indicates that an as yet unnamed ingredient may be to blame, perhaps a form of vitamin D."

Friedrich cited the following examples to illustrate his contention:

• A manufacturing error last year in the production of Royal Canin pet food resulted in excessive amounts of vitamin D3 in the food. This caused hypercalcemia, an abnormally high level of calcium in the blood that caused animals' kidneys to malfunction;

• Research in endocrinology at Cleveland Clinic has confirmed that high levels of vitamin D3 in animals' blood causes kidney malfunction;

• Symptoms associated with excessive vitamin D3 appear identical to the symptoms now being reported in dogs and cats. This has led "us to believe that this vitamin may be implicated in this new horror," Friedrich writes.

Friedrich asked Sundlof to let him know if the FDA is testing a wide sample of implicated cat and dog foods -- both wet and dry -- for vitamin D3 levels.

He also implored Sundlof to "please tell the public what other measures you are taking to get to the bottom of this crisis."

Wheat Gluten

FDA officials said last week the wheat gluten in the recalled pet foods is contaminated with melamine, a chemical commonly used in plastics.

But the New York Department of Agriculture and an agricultural laboratory in Canada dispute that finding. They say the pet food is contaminated with a rat poison called Aminopterin.

The New York lab has 42 scientists and support staff and a $3.5 million annual budget. It tests about 20,000 samples of food annually. It has some of the latest high-tech equipment, some of it purchased with Homeland Security funds as a safeguard against bioterrorism.

The director of the New York lab, Daniel Rice, told USA Today that all of pieces of the poisoning puzzle have not yet been found.

"I guess we don't think this is a closed case yet," he said.

PETA Demands Resignation

In other news, PETA has called for the commissioner of the FDA to resign in the wake of the agency's handling of Menu Food's massive recall. It issued a timeline that it said documented the agency's failings.

"The FDA is feeding the public a line, and the American people's faith in the government is dying along with dogs and cats," Friedrich says. "The agency's failure to pinpoint the cause of death for animals who have eaten only dry food is cause for the commissioner to resign or be fired."

In an April 2, 2007 letter, PETA's president Ingrid Newkirk, outlined four specific reasons for FDA Commissioner Andrew von Eschenbach to resign:

• The FDA's failure to recommend a recall of Menu Foods' products -- or tell the public the pet foods might be harming or killing their animals -- before the company announced its recall on March 16, 2007. PETA says Menu Foods knew "its food was sickening animals as early as February 20, 2007, and killed more animals in a crude feeding test at the end of the month."

• The FDA's refusal to recommend a recall or advise the public that dry pet food might also be contaminated -- even though the "FDA knew from numerous consumer complaints that dry food has been implicated in this tragedy."

• The FDA's refusal to name the dry pet food manufacturer that received a contaminated ingredient used in the recalled pet foods. "The FDA refused to name the company or advise consumers which foods to avoid in order to ensure that no more beloved animals would be killed by the FDA-approved food fed to them," Newkirk wrote is the letter.

• The FDA's apparent cover-up of evidence that reveals melamine is not what's causing cats and dogs to become sick and die. "At the FDA's press conference on March 30, the agency did not report the fact that the New York Department of Agriculture and a top Canadian agricultural laboratory both dispute the FDA's finding," Newkirk wrote.

She also cited a New York Times article that quoted a spokesperson for the Department of Agriculture saying: "We don't think this is the final conclusion. Melamine is not a known toxin ... we are confident we found Aminopterin, and it makes sense with the pathology."

Newkirk's letter to the FDA's commissioner also states: "Under your leadership, the FDA adopted a wait-and-see attitude while animals went into renal failure and households and children lost cherished members of their family.

"Your failure to act in a timely fashion, let along speedily, to demand a recall showed that your interests lie in the protecting the pet food industry's profit margin, not animals and those who love them."

FDA MIA

PETA Vice President Friedrich described the FDA as "MIA when it comes to protecting dogs and cats."

"The FDA has completely abdicated its responsibility of regulating the pet food industry," he told ConsumerAffairs.com today. "It has handed over pet food regulations to a non-governmental agency with no power at all-the Association of American Feed Control Officials."

PETA has also called for criminal investigations into Iams, Menu Foods, and other companies to determine if there were delays that caused more suffering and deaths of animals.

In a letter to the Prosecuting Attorney of Hamilton County, Ohio, PETA writes: "As we see it, Iams and its agents may have violated Ohio (anti-cruelty) law. Iams' manufacturer, Menu Foods, reportedly knew about the food contamination issues as early as February 20, yet a product recall was not announced until March 16 -- almost a full month later -- a month in which peoples' animal companions were sickened and may have died.

"Iams, by delaying its recall announcement, should be held fully accountable for every pertinent death, to the extent allowed by Ohio law."

Chinese Blamed

The Food and Drug Administration yesterday blocked the Chinese manufacturer suspected of producing melamine-tainted wheat gluten -- and linked to scores of kidney-related illnesses and deaths in pets across the country -- from importing the product into the United States.

In an import alert dated March 31, 2007, the FDA identified the Chinese manufacturer as Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Company -- www.xzay.com -- of Peixian, China.

"In March, 2007, the FDA became aware of the illness and death of cats and dogs associated with certain pet foods," the alert states, referring to the massive recall of 60 million containers of wet pet food produced by Menu Foods of Canada.

"Subsequently, samples of the implicated pet food were analyzed and found to contain melamine. The consumption of pet food containing melamine may be associated with acute renal failure in cats. Investigations have revealed that the source of the melamine was wheat gluten, which is an ingredient in the pet food.

The alert adds: "Appropriate screening criteria have been set for wheat gluten from China and the Netherlands, as a country through which trans-shipping of Chinese wheat gluten may occur. "

A sales manager for Xuzhou Anying told MSNBC the company was aware of the FDA's import alert. But manager Geng Ziujuan said her company had not made the contaminated wheat gluten, claiming it purchased the product from companies in neighboring provinces of China.

The sales manager also said Xuzhou Anying sold the wheat gluten to another company called Suzhou Textile Import and Export Company.

"There are many other exporters and I don't see why they would just blame us," Geng told MSNBC, adding the company was inspecting its products. It's too early, she said, to announce any results.

Massive Recall

Menu Foods' massive recall affects such national brands as Procter & Gamble's Iams and Eukanuba, Nestle SA's Purina Mighty Dog and others, including some sold at Wal-Mart and Safeway.

Other pet food companies, including Del Monte Pet Products and Hill's Pet Nutrition, are now recalling products made with the same melamine-tainted wheat gluten imported from China.

Del Monte Pet Products recalled some of its wet pet foods and pet treats sold under the Jerky Treats, Gravy Train Beef Stick and Pounce Meaty Morsel brands.

It also recalled some of its dog snacks sold under private label brands. The company said it took that action after learning from the FDA that wheat gluten supplied to Del Monte Pet Products -- from a manufacturing plant in China -- contained melamine.

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