It is just not the problem with the dead pets, we can see how it has gone into the human food chain, the pigs and the chickens.
They keep saying that only 16 pets have died, well, click on my name and see my dead pet, and my son lost his dog a week after mine, so there are only 14 more?
You laugh at Durbin and say he is grandstanding but he has been only one of the few to get the ball rolling, call it grandstanding if you will, but where are the Repuppies?
I have called my Senator numerous times, but to no avail, he is also a veterinarian, you would think he would be on this. But, no. What ever anyone can do to call attention to this problem is good, be it CNN or whoever.
I am doing this not only for my lost pet but for hundreds of others who have lost their pets or pets that have been sickened, whether they are Democratic dogs and cats or Republican dogs and cats. I see no difference.
I know that people are people and have feelings whatever they political choice is and I support anyone who does anything about it.
But, mostly I am doing this to call attention to the fact that it is in the human food chain now and how easily this was done.
It has to stop because of my grandkids, I do not want them eating the garbage that is being brought into this country.
I am sure that whether being a Dem or a Republican, we ALL have to do something, because we all have family that we love and care for.
We all have to quit this bi partisan crap and work together for a better nation.
Wake up America, there is too much apathy in this country. browardchad, may I ask? What are you doing about this problem?
Any suggestions......... God Bless America and God Bless and protect our troops, who are both Democrats and Republicans and who give me the right to go out and March today and voice my opinion.
This is the issue that will prove to be dynamite for irrational free trade.
Thus far, the argument has always been that whoever opposes free trade is a unionist, socialist, anti-capitalist luddite. But people love their pets, and losing a beloved pet to a trade policy - which is PRECISELY what has happened here - is enough to actually cause people to change their votes.
Sweetiepiezer, the implications of these recalls are enormous, not only for the pet food companies, but for the multi-national, publicly traded food conglomerates. There is, as vicompte has pointed out, billions of dollars in profits at stake in both the importation of cheap ingredients and the processing of US goods in a country which can undercut the competition by virtue of non-existent environmental regulations, cheap labor and the typical wide-spread corruption of a communist regime.
I am not ridiculing the actions of people protesting, but rather the futility of expecting Durbin, or anyone else in Congress or the Executive to actually take a tough stand on the issue. Think lobbyists, campaign contributions and the possible affect on both the stock market and the economy in general. As for CNN, they have made in clear that they consider themselves a multinational corporation with no obligation to support the goals of the US in the war on terror, or anything else, for that matter. Do you actually think any publicity they give to this issue will not be agenda-driven, or uninfluenced by their advertising revenues both here and around the world?
I can relate to the loss of your dog, since my cat of 16 years died two weeks ago of kidney failure. Whether it was related to food contamination, I don't know, since the kibble she ate was not on the recall list. I won't be trying to find out either, since I'd rather spend my energy keeping my small dog alive by not feeding her any processed dog food, cooking her food instead. I also try to the best of my ability not to buy any food product for my family that is not grown or processed in the US. That's what I'm doing, and I believe if more people would bite the bullet, spend more money for domestically-grown food and more time in the kitchen -- and believe me, it is more expensive to buy, and more time-consuming to cook from scratch -- it would have a far greater affect than any publicity campaign. I'm not optimistic, given the nature of response I've seen both here and on petconnection.com, where people are more interested in "what other brand" they can buy, along with venting their anger and frustration, than in researching how to cook for their particular pet, and thus hit the pet food industry where it actually hurts -- in the wallet.
If you read enough of the news reports, and the insane damage control statements of the FDA (such as only "16 pet deaths," and that the government, not the suppliers of the contaminated additives, will pay for the disposal of the hogs), it's painfully obvious that the industry on the whole lacks accountability, and the FDA is not about to rock any boats. To continue to support the pet food industry by buying their products only reaffirms their strangle-hold on consumers, and will change nothing.