It’s a serious problem, to be sure. But the scale of panic, and some of the specific reactions, have gone overboard. There is every reason to scrutinize the recall list closely for matches between that and what you’ve been feeding your pets, and to head of to the vet quickly if there’s a match, even in the absence of symptoms. And it’s ALWAYSa good idea to head to the vet quickly if you notice any symptoms of illness in your pets, because there are all sorts of things that can cause fast-worsening kidney failure and other life-threatening conditions. But extrapolating from the recall information to deciding that anything sold as pet food is suddenly unsafe just doesn’t make sense.
As you pointed out, the FDA doesn’t really know where the all contaminated wheat gluten went, and it also hasn’t been firmly established that the contaminant has been identified. The experts are saying that there have been studies on the effects of melamine in dogs and rats, and that it wouldn’t produce the severe kidney failure seen in a lot of these pet food-related cases (thought that it might produce it in cats, who are generally more sensitive to toxins, and for whom there is no study data re melamine toxicity). Until they’re sure what the responsible contaminant(s) is/are, there’s no reason to assume that it’s limited to things containing wheat gluten, much less limited to pet foods containing wheat gluten. What doesn’t make sense is the major panic over pet food dangers, with many people suddenly deciding to spend lots of extra time and money preparing home-cooked pet food of dubious nutritional value, while almost no one seems to be having a similar reaction re human foods. The FDA and vets have said that they haven’t seen these kidney failure reactions in any pets that weren’t fed foods on the original recall list. So why extrapolate from that, that all pet foods are dangerous, while not extrapolating that all human foods are dangerous?
What I’m afraid is not getting sufficient attention in all this, due largely to the overblown panic about anything and everything labelled “pet food”, is that this whole process — especially the FDA’s inability to quickly and clearly identify the contaminant and its source — is turning out to be a loud notice to terrorists that sneaking an unlikely contaminant into our human food supply would be a surefire way to create a huge national panic of long duration and with devastating financial effects.
"The FDA and vets have said that they haven’t seen these kidney failure reactions in any pets that weren’t fed foods on the original recall list."
The FDA has said there are 16 deaths. And you want to believe what they're saying about kidney failure reactions related to the recall? Um, if they are so drastically and INTENTIONALLY wrong about the number 16, why would you believe a word they say regarding the medical ramifications of this? And I don't think the "Vets" are saying anything. There is no national clearing house for recording statistics on pet illness, so there is no "Vets" making any statements of any kind about the overall picture in this fiasco.
"So why extrapolate from that, that all pet foods are dangerous, while not extrapolating that all human foods are dangerous?"
While I agree that it's not a logical leap to say that ALL pet foods are dangerous, the fact that people are seeing illness and death in their pets who are on other foods that aren't on the recall list IS a logical leap to say that at least SOME pet foods are dangerous. My own dog (and several others that I have now read about) had blood in her urine and she was eating a non-recalled DRY product (Iams Mini Chunks). Vets couldn't find a reason/cause for the blood, and after a few months, it went away on its own.
Regarding not making the leap to assume (extrapolate) that human food is also a problem: Again, people are Lemmings/Sheep. They aren't free-thinkers. Their "government" has told them that the human food supply is safe, so they believe it is safe. But those of us who have looked into this know that there is un-found contaminated wheat gluten out there that was, in fact, shipped to human-food manufacturers... My question for the Lemmings is this: If it took them weeks to find all the pet-food-related wheat gluten, and they still haven't found it all in the pet food chain, then how is it possible that they were able to say, with supposed certainty, within just 24 hours, that none of it made it into the human food chain?
The truth is, both people and pets would be better off if they ate home-cooked meals made from home-grown real foods, rather than commercialized, chemical-ized, adulterated, pre-packaged non-foods on the market today. "Back in the day", all adults, babies, and pets ate whatever they could grow or buy from local farmers and ranchers... real food, and well-balanced diets. But today's society ain't cut out that way so it ain't gonna happen in today's world on a massive scale. The way things are going, eventually the massive scale Lemmings and their pets are going to be eating Soylent Green.