Message Board
January 2011
CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT
On 3/2/10, a lawsuit seeking class action status was filed on behalf of pet owners against Hartz, Sergeant's, and Summit VetPharm (maker of Vectra and Vectra 3D, which are sold by Banfield Pet Hospital's under the name FirstShield and FirstShield Trio).
On 8/25/10, a lawsuit seeking class action status was filed on behalf of pet owners against Central Garden and Pet - the parent company of Farnam (maker of Adams and Bio Spot flea and tick products) and Wellmark International (maker of Zodiac flea and tick products).
The lawsuits seek injunctive relief in the form of a recall of the offending products, a refund of the purchase price, for compensatory damages, punitive damages and other relief.
For additional information concerning this lawsuit, click here.
If your pet was harmed by a flea and tick product made by one of the above mentioned companies, and you would like to participate in this class action,
please contact:
Jacqueline Mottek
Positive Legal Group
415.302.5371 (cell)
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(Below is a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent to the EPA on 1/4/11)
Please send all records, including correspondence to/from registrant, regarding a
proposed flea and tick spot-on product for dogs from Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc., which contains 55% etofenprox and 2.2% pyriproxyfen (Nylar), and has been assigned
the following EPA Registration number:
2517-RGG
The requested records concern the public health and safety of pet pesticide products,
which are of significance to the public.
The EPA shares the public's concerns over pet pesticide products, and has already made available to the public its evaluation of pet spot-on incidents that were reported in 2008.
BioSpotVictims.org intends to post the requested records on its website to further public understanding of this issue.
BioSpotVictims.org is a non-profit educational organization which has no commercial
interest in the requested records.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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(Below is a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent to the EPA on 1/6/11)
Please send all records, including companion animal safety and efficacy studies, regarding
a new flea control spot-on product for cats from Elanco Companion Animal Health , which contains the active ingredient spinetoram, and has been assigned the following EPA Registration number:
72642-9
The requested records concern the public health and safety of pet pesticide products,
which are of significance to the public.
The EPA shares the public's concerns over pet pesticide products, and has already made available to the public its evaluation of pet spot-on incidents that were reported in 2008.
BioSpotVictims.org intends to post the requested records on its website to further public understanding of this issue.
BioSpotVictims.org is a non-profit educational organization which has no commercial
interest in the requested records.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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(Below is email that I sent to Kimberly Nesci at the EPA on 1/10/11)
Dear Kimberly,
I recently learned that the EPA has registered several new spot-on products for dogs from Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc. Here is a photo of one of them - Sergeant's Evolve 11 Flea and Tick Squeeze-On for Dogs:
In the upper left corner of the label, it states:
"gentle protection for small breed dogs." Also, please note that the front label does NOT include a "do not use on cats" icon.
Could you please explain why the EPA approved the "gentle protection" claim and did not require Sergeant's to provide the cat warning icon on the label? What qualifies that product as being gentle protection for small breed dogs? Isn't that statement an implied safety claim?
On the back of the packaging, it states:
"Over dosing your animal can result in serious illness and even death....DO NOT USE ON CATS....Cats or dogs that actively engage in close physical contact with treated dogs may
be at risk of serious harmful effects."
Why isn't that warning required to be prominently displayed inside of a yellow box, instead of buried within the Directions of Use?
Here is a photo of another new spot-on product from Sergeant's:
In the upper left corner of the label, it states:
"New Formula with Vitamin E"
Is that meant to imply a health benefit to pets? If so, it gives a false or misleading impression to the purchaser and is prohibited by FIFRA.
Both of these new spot-on products from Sergeant's were conditionally registered by the
EPA. Please urge Sergeant's to remove the false or misleading claims before granting them unconditional registration.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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(Below is a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent to the EPA on 1/13/11)
Please send the most recent risk assessment for etofenprox, which includes an exposure assessment for toddlers in contact with treated pets, and which was recently evaluated by
the Etofenprox Registration Review Team.
The requested records concern the public health and safety of pet pesticide products,
which are of significance to the public.
The EPA shares the public's concerns over pet pesticide products, and has already made available to the public its evaluation of pet spot-on incidents that were reported in 2008.
BioSpotVictims.org intends to post the requested records on its website to further public understanding of this issue.
BioSpotVictims.org is a non-profit educational organization which has no commercial
interest in the requested records.
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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First of all, I would like to join this class action lawsuit against
Biospot. How do I do so?
I have a long-haired Ragdoll cat, just under two years old, by the name
of Professor Loki Chaos. On Monday I discovered some fleas on him
for the first time, so I jumped up, ran off to my local Petco, and landed
on a bottle of Bio Spot Flea & Tick Spray for Cats. I read the labels
very carefully, ensuring that I wasn't buying something that would harm
Professor. This product seemed rather harmless based on its warnings,
comparing it to everything else I found on the shelves, so I went ahead,
made the purchase, and applied it as soon as I got home, following the
instructions exactly.
I was excited at first to see the product in action. The fleas were
dying, with the survivors crawling to his head, where I was able to
easily pick them off and toss them in the toilet. So yes, it killed the
fleas. But not without severe consequences.
I dried Professor off as best as I could, but Bio Spot appears to be
oil-based, and wiping only did so much. But he's a cat. And cats are
clean creatures... and they clean themselves with their tongues, so
immediately after I let him go, he started in on his belly. 30 seconds
later he was walking around like he was drunk, chomping his jaws,
and crying. I noticed the drooling next. It was unlike anything I've seen.
It was coming out very fast, and it was accompanied with foam. He
looked at me and drooled, and tripped out for the next 30 minutes.
When he came to, he took one lick of his paw, and began drooling
immediately. Then he began to shake, crying out again, running away
to hide. I started to panic, thinking he was running away to die, because
I know how cats are, so I frantically tore my place apart looking for him.
When I finally found him, he was wedged behind a dresser in my closet,
zoning out, drooling, and shaking. I had enough, so I put him in the bath
to wash off that toxic substance, but it only made things worse. Yes, I
used a LOT of water, and I used a mild soap just like the label said to
do in an emergency, but now he's wet, and cats don't like being wet,
so he began licking... and drooling, and seizing, and suffering.
I took him to the vet as soon as I could, and I brought the bottle of
Bio Spot in with me. The vet took one look at it, and said, "I can't
believe they're still selling this stuff." He then went on to compare it
to spraying Raid on an animal. I started crying immediately. I could not
believe that I could do this to my wonderful little guy. The only things
that could be done at this point were more baths and Valium to help with
the shaking, but I wasn't about to put more drugs into his body. Who
knows what kind of damage he's already suffered to his liver and kidneys,
and God help me, his brain? After three more baths and another long
night, Professor appears to be through the worst, but if I hadn't taken
action, he could be dead by now, so thank God I didn't just sit it out.
To all of you out there who are panicking, trying to figure out how to
help your pet going through the same or worse, I cannot recommend
enough bathing your pet at least 3 or 4 times in Dawn dish soap. It was
recommended by the vet as being very gentle, but also great about
getting your animals clean. Be VERY thorough with the cleanings,
making sure you get every corner of their body, and rinse very well.
My poor little guy sat in my lap after his fourth bath, shaking, holding
up his arms so I could dry his belly and the rest of his body. Normally he
hates this kind of treatment, but I think he knew that I was helping him
get rid of that poison, so he took my help like a champ. If you can get
a cone to put around his head to keep him from licking, that might be
useful too, at least until you've bathed him a few times. Try to keep
them from licking themselves... that's the key, but that's also not an
easy task with a cat.
Bio Spot... I will find a way to dismantle your company through the
legal system, and make you pay for your irresponsible dealings. And
any store that carries this product better reconsider. The reactions
he went through reminded me of the reactions my father had going
through Chemotherapy. But these are fleas, not cancer, and the pet
should not be pushed to the edge of death just to get rid of these
parasites. It's a cruel product, and there is NO WAY you are getting
away with this. I've written a letter to Petco, and will be continuing
my crusade to rid the world of Bio Spot once and for all.
Luke 1/19/11
Thank you for taking the time to write, and for all of the excellent
advice. I am very sorry to hear about your cat's experience with
Bio Spot Flea & Tick Spray.
Please contact the manufacturer (Farnam) and let them know what
happened. Their phone number is 1-800-234-2269. I would ask
them to reimburse your vet expenses.
Also, please contact the National Pesticide Information Center
and let them know what happened (they maintain a database of
adverse incidents from pesticide products for the EPA). Their
phone number is 1-800-858-7378.
Several lawsuits have been filed against the makers of Bio Spot
and other flea and tick products. Here is an article about it:
If Farnam refuses to help you, please contact:
Jacqueline Mottek
Positive Legal Group
415.302.5371 (cell)
I hope that your cat Professor will be back to normal soon.
Your swift actions undoubtedly saved his life.
James TerBush
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(Below is a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent to the EPA on 1/20/11)
Please send all correspondence sent to or received from Deborah A. Chadbourne, L.L.C.,
on behalf of Sergeant's Pet Care Products, Inc., in regards to Propoxur Pet Collars.
To reduce the cost of processing this request, please send the records to me via email
(PDF file attachments).
Thank you for your consideration.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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(Below is email that was sent to Bob Sasser, CEO of Dollar Tree Stores, on 1/20/11)
Dear Mr. Sasser,
I wanted to touch base with you regarding your sales of Bansect flea & tick
collars in your Dollar Tree Stores across the nation. As you might be aware,
the EPA last year released information regarding Spot On pet products used
to treat for fleas and ticks on companion animals due to an alarming
increase of adverse reactions reported. In 2007 over 27,000 adverse
reactions were reported to the EPA. In 2008, that number increased by 53% to
over 44,000. The best estimates currently for 2009 from the EPA show over
39,000 incidences reported to the EPA. Most of these incidences are reported
by the manufacturers to the EPA, as required by law. Often these reports
are incomplete and so were not included in the 2009 release of the EPA's
investigation statistics. Also, the EPA was unable to include a ratio of
adverse reactions vs. product sold because manufacturers (or registrants, as
they are known to the EPA) concluded that releasing sales numbers would be
equal to releasing a trade secret.
Not included in this evaluation by the EPA were other pet products designed
to treat for fleas and ticks such as powders, collars, shampoos, foggers and
sprays. Attention is now turning to these products, primarily due to the
efforts of the National Resources Defense Council (NRDC). They were
incredibly concerned about the use of flea collars on companion animals,
particularly those containing propuxor and tetrachlorvinphos in their active
ingredients. These are both considered neurotoxins to mammals and known to
be carcinogentic. These collars and their active ingredient chemicals pose
risk of damaging the brain and nervous system of humans, especially
toddlers, as well as the pets that they are used on.
You can read the NRDC press release from April 23, 2009
Here is an excerpt:
...tested the fur of dogs and cats wearing flea collars to measure the
invisible pesticide residues left on the pets from these collars. This
analysis, which was the first study of propoxur residues on pet’s fur, found
that propoxur levels are so high in some products that they pose a cancer
risk in children that is up to 1,000 times higher than the EPA’s acceptable
levels, and up to 500 times higher for adults. The study also showed that
after three days, 100 percent of the pets wearing collars containing
propoxur and 50 percent of the pets wearing collars with TCVP posed a
significant neurological risk to toddlers. Testing also revealed that unsafe
levels of pesticide residue remain on a dog’s or cat’s fur two weeks after a
collar is put on an animal. Families with multiple pets that wear flea
collars have even greater exposure risks.
The NRDC submitted a petition to the EPA demanding the removal of flea
collars containing propoxur due to their severe health risks for pets, but
especially the risks to toddlers and adult humans. Since winning a lawsuit
agianst 18 retailers for carrying these products without a label warning of
their carcinogenic properties, the NRDC has stepped up their efforts to
remove flea collars containing propoxur from the market due to the potential
for extreme harm.
The Bansect flea collars that you sell in your Dollar Tree stores across the
nation contain propoxur as an active ingredient. They are not only a danger
to pets, but also to the human families, especially children, who live with
the pets wearing these collars.
It has recently come to my attention that Sergeant's, the makers of Bansect
flea and tick products, have stated that they *do not* make any flea and
tick products for cats containing a different pesticide - permethrin.
Permethrin is a synthetic pyrethroid and is highly toxic to cats. I wish to
let you know that this statement is completely untrue by Sergeants. For
example, Sergeant's Gold flea & tick spray for cats contains permethrin, as
does, according to the Sergeant's website, a product called Skip Flea
Shampoo. Please see the attached screen shot and info from Drugs.com for
these references. I have also included the Drugs.com references for the
Bansect collars for both cats and dogs, showing they contain propoxur, the
chemical specifically mentioned by the NRDC in their study.
I don't want you to walk away with this feeling Sergeant's is the only
company who makes these products or that I am picking on Sergeant's
specifically. Most manufacturers continue to sell and market products they
know to be harmful instead of looking for safer alternatives already on the
market. Pesticides in use for many years often have fallen through the EPA
cracks when it comes to review as the system is bogged down with far too
much work and far too much ability to postpone or avoid reviews and
complete, relevant scientific studies. Most people are not aware that
studies submitted by registrants to the EPA for chemicals and pesticides do
not need to be peer reviewed. According the the NRDC regarding the findings
of the carcinogenic properties of propuxor, including the EPA's own studies,
the products still remain on the market.
Mr. Sasser, I admire what you have built with your company and respect that
you are in business to make money. However, I ask that you re-assess whether
or not Dollar Tree will continue to carry harmful pet products that kill and
injure tens of thousands of cats and dogs each year and put their human
owners, especially children, at risk.
I believe that fleas need to be controlled, but perhaps it would be a better
business model to carry alternatives such as diatomaceous earth (which you
could re-package into smaller one-use packages) or flea traps that are
non-toxic. I would be more than happy to share ideas with you if you would
like to discuss this further. I feel that the education of pet owners is now
at a critical level, and any company that markets alternatives could use
this as a marketing advantage to their brand.
Thank you for your time.
Yours,
Claudia
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Flea and tick products with certain pesticides leave residues on fur
that can damage the brain and nervous systems of not just dogs and
cats -- but people, too. Yet stores are still selling these products!
Government safety assessments have failed to protect us.
Please tell PETCO, PetSmart, and Dollar Tree to remove pet products
with dangerous chemicals from their stores!
To send a message to PETCO and PetSmart, click here.
To contact Bob Sasser, CEO of Dollar Tree, click here.
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(Below is email that I sent to Kimberly Nesci at the EPA on 1/21/11)
Hi Kimberly,
Could you please let me know if the Registration Division of OPP requested that HED conduct a residential (including dietary and aggregate) exposure assessment to evaluate the human health risks from the use of Elanco's Assurity -- a newly registered spot-on product for cats (EPA Reg. No. 72642-9)? If so, could you please send me that document (or at least provide me with the PC Code/DP Barcode and date it was completed)?
Here is the latest human health risk assessment for spinosad/spinetoram that I could find, which is dated March 25, 2010:
It does NOT mention a pet spot-on product in its list of proposed/registered uses. However,
it DOES mention that children 1-2 years old are the most highly exposed subpopulation, and that short-term aggregate risks came very close to exceeding HED's level of concern.
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
(Below is email that I received from the EPA regarding my above request)
Hi Mr. TerBush,
Kimberly Nesci asked me to get in touch with you regarding your email
below.
Please send information requests through FOIA: http://www.epa.gov/foia/
Best,
Samantha Hulkower
Risk Manager
Insecticide Branch, Registration Division (7505P)
Office of Pesticide Programs
Potomac Yards
(703) 603-0683
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(Below is a Freedom of Information Act request that I sent to the EPA on 1/24/11)
Please let me know if the Registration Division of OPP requested that HED conduct a residential (including dietary and aggregate) exposure assessment to evaluate the human health risks from the use of Elanco's Assurity -- a newly registered spot-on product for cats (EPA Reg. No. 72642-9)? If so, please SEND ME that document. If toddler exposure to
the pet spot-on scenario was not evaluated, please provide an explanation.
Here is the latest human health risk assessment for spinosad/spinetoram that I could find, which is dated March 25, 2010:
It does NOT mention a pet spot-on product in its list of proposed/registered uses. However,
it DOES mention that children 1-2 years old are the most highly exposed subpopulation, and that short-term aggregate risks came very close to exceeding HED's level of concern.
To reduce the cost of processing this request, please send the records to me via email
(PDF file attachments).
Thank you in advance for your assistance.
Sincerely,
James TerBush
Website Administrator
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Elanco Announces Assurity for Cats – Is it safe?
Excerpts:
"Assurity for Cats is a topical product and contains spinetoram, similar to spinosad, but partially synthetic. It’s the first companion animal flea treatment to include this ingredient and, for marketing reasons, will only be sold through a vet. It contains very high amounts of benzyl alcohol."
"Benzyl alcohol is a wicked ingredient despite also being considered 'organic'. It is a solvent for inks, paints, lacquers and epoxy resins. You can even use it as a photo developer. It is
also included in many flea and tick spot on products. It poses a hidden danger, as one owner learned when his dog was treated with Advantage and his dog ended up stuck to the
bottom of his crate due to benzyl alcohol in the product."
"Benzyl alcohol is one of those chemicals that cats have a very difficult time eliminating and
so it becomes toxic to them very rapidly."
"The EPA has not given much information on spinetoram to the public yet, so without all the information it is difficult, if not impossible, to make an educated assessment of the product."
Outstanding post, Tiny Timmy! Every cat owner needs to read it.
Elanco claims that Assurity is, "Gentle on cats and kittens eight weeks of age and older." However, notably missing from their website is ANY information regarding potential adverse effects.
Why is that? Because -- unlike the FDA -- the EPA (which registered Assurity as a pesticide product) does NOT require the full disclosure of risk information for pets!
The main active ingredient in Assurity is spinetoram -- a relatively new pesticide that has received reduced risk status from the EPA because it has low mammalian toxicity. Unlike older classes of pesticides (e.g. organophosphates, synthetic pyrethroids), there is no evidence that spinetoram is toxic to the nervous system of animals or humans.
However, exposure to spinetoram does produce adverse effects in laboratory animals, including multi-organ toxicity, deceased body weight and/or food consumption, and anemia.
For that reason, the EPA has established a limit on the amount of spinetoram that humans
are exposed to each day via dietary, occupational, and residential exposure scenarios.
Here are EPA human health risk assessments for Assurity:
Here are EPA companion animal safety studies for Assurity:
Both studies were initially determined to be UNACCEPTABLE due to animal deaths, but were later reclassified as acceptable. However, the EPA made the following recommendation:
"Because of the toxicity of the vehicle (deaths occurred in 1 adult and 8 kittenstreated with
the 5X vehicle), we recommend that the registrant consider a change in the vehicle for this product."
Here is Elanco's response to EPA concerns regarding Assurity:
Here is EPA's response to Elanco's reponse (above):
Here is Elanco's patent application for Assurity:
Here is the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for Assurity:
Excerpts:
"May cause eye, skin, and respiratory tract irritation. The product may be absorbed through the skin. May produce an allergic reaction. May cause nervous system effects. May cause liver effects. May cause kidney effects. May cause bone marrow effects."
"Animal studies have reported the following effects: Liver effects. Kidney effects. Bone marrow effects. Information given is based on data on the components and the toxicology
of similar products."
Here is the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for benzyl alcohol:
Here is the EPA's evaluation of adverse incidents that were associated with Advantage for Cats, which also contains benzyl alcohol:
Excerpt:
"There is a solvent [benzyl alcohol] in these products that may be toxic to cats and particularly kittens if ingested, however, the bitter taste of the imidacloprid probably discourages the cats or kittens from licking or grooming themselves and ingesting enough of the solvent to result in significant toxicity."
Here is the Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) for dipropylene glycol methyl ether (another ingredient in Assurity):
UPDATE 6/16/11: Here is the EPA's registration file for Elanco's Assurity:
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Is Elanco's Trifexis a safe bet for dogs?
Excerpt:
"On Monday, Elanco unveiled Trifexis—a monthly chewable tablet for dogs that kills fleas as well as hookworm, roundworm and whipworm. The extra parasite-killing power sets it apart from the flea tablet Comfortis, which Elanco launched in 2007."
According to Elanco's website, some dogs vomited after receiving Trifexis. Additional adverse reactions observed in the clinical studies were itching, decreased activity, diarrhea, inflammation of the skin, redness of the skin, decreased appetite and redness of the ear.
All reactions, according to Elanco, were regarded as mild.
However, here is the safety information for a similar product -- Elanco's Comfortis:
"The most common adverse reaction reported is vomiting."
"Other adverse reactions reported in decreasing order of frequency are: depression/lethargy, decreased appetite, incoordination, diarrhea, itching, trembling, excessive salivation and seizures."
"Following concomitant extra label use of ivermectin with Comfortis®, some dogs have experienced the following clinical signs: trembling/twitching, salivation /drooling, seizures, incoordination, excessive dilation of pupils, blindness and disorientation."
It is also good to consider what is known about spinosad -- the main active ingredient in Comfortis and Trifexis.
According to the EPA's human health risk assessment for spinosad, a subchronic
feeding study in dogs found that microscopic changes in multiple organs, anemia, and possible liver damage were seen with short-term repeated dosing.
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Re: Victim of Bio Spot
So I am wondering how you went about contacting the company. I gave it to my cats and my dog and 1 of my cats I had to sign over to the vet due to being unable to afford the help he needed, his twin brother had a reaction but not as bad as my other one. Now my family is at
a major loss due to having to give our family member up to get medical help because of this company's product. My cats are not just cats to us and I want to bring him home so bad but
I can't even call to see if he is ok. What can I do or say to this company???? Any help you might be able to give will be great. Thank you.
Amber 1/31/11
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I have worked at a local clinic for 11yrs and have been warning clients about OTC flea meds. We are having a meeting with a rep next week to start carrying Vectra. I have been doing some reading and I would appreciate it if you could send me any actual fact or study info you have about this product. If it is this bad I want to inform the Dr. about it and it will give me info
at hand to question the rep about. Thank you.
Debbie 1/31/11
Copyright © 2002-2011 BioSpotVictims.org All rights reserved.
DISCLAIMER: Below are messages that I have received from others whose dogs and cats experienced adverse reactions after using flea control products. I have no way of knowing if the information in these messages is factual, or if the products they used were the actual cause of the adverse reactions.
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