April 5, 2007
AFP
An Oregon state health official reportedly said tainted pet food is believed the cause of at least 38 pet deaths and 70 afflicted in the state.
Emilio DeBess, Oregon's state public health veterinarian, said he had tallied altogether 106 cases of poisoning believed arising from pet food, far more than federal health authorities had reported in the three-week old scandal.
DeBess said the stricken animals included 69 cats and 37 dogs, and that he was not surprised by the toll, the Oregonian newspaper reported.
"We expected that it would get to 100. And I think we're going to see more cases," he told the newspaper.
Last week the US Federal Drug Administration scientists identified melamine, a substance used in fertilizer in Asia and also an ingredient in producing some plastics, in wheat gluten in Canadian pet food blamed for killing a handful of cats and dogs across North America, US officials and experts said Friday.
Canadian-based petfoods maker Menu Foods has recalled dozens of products, and several other US petfood producers also began pulling their products off store shelves.
On Saturday Hill's Pet Nutrition, which sells special cat diet foods through veterinarians, recalled one of its products which was believed to contain the tainted wheat gluten.
Investigations have so far pointed the finger at Chinese suppliers of wheat gluten to pet food makers.
On March 30 the FDA ordered its field personnel to detain wheat gluten imported from China's Xuzhou Anying Biologic Technology Development Co because it contained melamine.
But China's General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine denied that the country had exported contaminated pet food ingredients, according to the official People's Daily newspaper Tuesday.
"The poisoning of US pets has nothing to do with China," the report said.
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=070405162245.4wa72i9r&show_article=1&catnum=1