Pet Deaths Spur Call for Better FDA Screening

The following is a response to the article published in the Washington Post on Tuesday May, 1, 2007. The title of the article was Pet Death Spurs Call for Better FDA Screening. The hyperlink to this article is:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/30/AR2007043001865_pf.html

I am not sure how long that link will be active, so if you would like to see what I am referencing, please see that website at your earliest convenience.

The basic premise to this article was the recent state of pets in our country that are being infected by tampered imported pet food. It spoke of the need for the FDA to increase regulations on imported foods and the need for legislature to be passed to make this a reality.

My first problem, not necessarily with this article itself but with the topic at hand, why is our country (United States) relying so heavily on imported pet foods? Do we not have the capability ourselves to make pet food in our country which would ultimately ensure the safety of our pets? To me, it doesn't seem as if the production of pet food is all that complicated and we could cut out the middle man if we merely produced these products ourselves.

Another concern I had with this topic is the lack of concern foreign countries show about what they put into our food. To quote the article, "Before melamine there was urea, Chinese traders said - another nitrogen-rich chemical that was used to give false high scores on tests of protein content but was abandoned after it made animals ill." To me, personally, that seems insane. How do we let people trick us into believing what we give our animals is healthy when they know it makes our pets ill? I feel as if the FDA is somehow to blame because it is their job to inspect foods to make sure they are safe for consumption.

I understand it is very difficult to inspect every single product that is imported in our county but that is their job! The FDA was created to ensure this doesn't happen and they clearly have not been doing this.

The main point of this article was to stress the need for new regulations from congress to pass stricter FDA screening measures. I cannot stress enough how important this is. I have a pet of my own at home and if he ever got sick as a result of FDA faulty screening, I would see no other choice but to hold the FDA responsible. These new measures must be administered as quickly as possible and this is not a matter which should be taken lightly.

Please read the article at the link above and leave your comments about it along with my response posted here. I hope I am not the only one who is as concerned with this problem at the moment and any feedback would be greatly appreciated.