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CNN transcript - pet food recall a commercial fraud?



 
 
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  #1  
Old April 7th 07, 03:08 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
buglady
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Posts: 863
Default CNN transcript - pet food recall a commercial fraud?

I only have rabbit ears so can't watch CNN, can't play video, so I'm
grateful CNN provides transcripts and thanks to petconnection for posting
the links. Last night they did another segment on the pet food recall.
Keep in mind we still don't know if melamine is a marker for some yet
undiscovered chemical or if melamine is actually the culprit.
Scroll waaaaaay down past all the "important" stuff on the attorney general
scandal:
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIP...06/acd.01.html
JOHNS: Dan Watts is a chemist with the New Jersey Institute of Technology.
He says melamine is rich in nitrogen. Protein is rich in nitrogen. High
levels of nitrogen would make wheat gluten appear to have lots of protein.
But the chemical wouldn't actually raise the protein levels at all.

So, basically, the theory FDA is investigating is that someone could have
been trying to run a scam, with no reason to believe any pets would get sick
as a result of it.

WATTS: And not necessarily setting out to do anything that was going to be
harmful, perhaps setting out to do something that was a commercial fraud.
[..]
Banfield says it has seen a 30 percent increase in the number of cats
diagnosed with acute or chronic kidney failure, compared with a normal
period. But the hospital group says it's difficult to extrapolate from that
how many pets have been sickened or killed.

The FDA says it has received more than 12,000 calls from pet owners about
tainted food, but it doesn't break out how many have actually been affected.

DR. KAREN FAUNT, BANFIELD, THE PET HOSPITAL: We will never know the total
number of pets that were affected by this. There's just no way.

JOHNS: Like the FDA, Banfield says it is starting to see fewer reports, so
the worst for pet owners might be over. But the FDA is just beginning to get
to the bottom of why pets all over the country got sick or died from eating
contaminated food.
_________

And one more thing. I ran across something called VNN yesterday -
Veterinary News Network. I was really irked by this statement which is at
the end of their FAQ for pet food recall - link at top of this page:
www.myvnn.com
Do not be tempted to make home cooked meals for your pets. It would be
practically impossible for the average pet owner to make a balanced diet
that would be safe for their pets in the long term.

..........Excuse me? So it was that home prepared diet that killed my 20.5
yr old cat? Well, that wasn't the only statement that irritated me, but I
won't get into the rest of it. So who is VNN? Sounds a lot like VIN
doesn't it.
http://www.myvnn.com/press.php?press=7
VNN is a FREE service for veterinarians used to help them get involved with
their local news media to provide much needed expert medical advice to the
public. VNN specializes in producing and distributing complete news packages
for its national network of veterinarians. By providing content that is
medically accurate and reliable, veterinarians can deliver these stories to
their local media through, print, TV, radio, Internet blogs and other
appropriate outlets.
News media coverage, not advertising, is often viewed as the most credible
source of marketing to the general public because it’s not commercial.
{..}
The VNN project was made possible by an educational grant from the Western
Veterinary Conference (WVC) and is currently funded by Merial. WVC is also
the host conference for VNN’s annual meeting and awards banquet. The support
that WVC and Merial contribute to VNN ensures that veterinarians do not have
to pay to join VNN and access its resources, materials and services.

..........OK, so in the pet food call FAQ they dis blogs, yet plan to use
them to disseminate news. News - not commercials. Totally unbiased
information from a news service funded by Merial? Oh please. If anything,
this is NOT the time to try to scam the public.......some more. And for the
record I'm disappointed in the WVC for giving this guy the reins.
Disseminating info about pet care is good, salting it with hidden
agendas.......sucks. That goes for you too AVMA.

Even more astounding......gee I should copy this page, because I can't
imagine that it won't disappear soon. Apparently a news release to their
members:
http://taxi_image.advanstar.com/6D65...-wvc3-web.html
Participants who stray from the VNN-approved message will not be network
supported, Humphries says.
"Should a veterinarian become rogue, they will not be sent any more
information and their password will be deleted," he says.

Michigan Vet Assn is a member.
http://www.michvma.org/documents/MI%...une%202006.pdf

Wonder if they went *rogue* when they reported pet deaths at over 16? (See
Pet Food FAQ again for their statement on # of deaths. Wonder if it wasn't
VNN that held the lid down on "official" reporting of pet deaths from the
vet community.)
http://www.mlive.com/news/grpress/in...603110281570.x
ml&coll=6

Click on VNN information link on Pet food call. I can't imagine why PA VMA
put this up - it's a raw press release to the members of VNN:
http://www.pavma.org/Pet_Food_Recall...od_Recall.html
.........can't even get his facts straight as he says the Royal Canin recall
was due to aflatoxin
.........why does he say when 7 of OUR test animals died? Is he a media rep
for the pet food companies also?

If you look at Humphries bio, he's been a talking head for some industry
organizations, many pharmaceutical. He also was a past member of the Pet
Food Trust:
http://www.petcaretrust.org/i4a/page...fm?pageid=3291
Incorporated in Washington, D.C. in 1990, The Pet Care Trust is a
non-profit, charitable, public foundation.
...........which has pet food industry associations. One of them is the
World Wide Pet Industry Association (WWPIA), which had this to say about
recall:
http://www.wwpia.org/i4a/pages/Index.cfm?pageID=742

.......So Jim Humphries gets paid by commercial interests, and flogs his own
video production company. Pretty sweet deal.

..........Quite frankly, when a vet gets on TV now I'll be wondering if he's
a paid VNN reporter. Surely they pay them? It's always disappointing to
find out, in the end, that it's all about the money, but hey, what else is
new?

.....hmmm, wondering if these media hacks read Usenet?

buglady
take out the dog before replying





  #2  
Old April 7th 07, 07:07 PM posted to rec.pets.dogs.health
buglady
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 863
Default CNN transcript - pet food recall a commercial fraud?


"buglady" wrote in message
k.net...
So who is VNN? Sounds a lot like VIN
doesn't it.
http://www.myvnn.com/press.php?press=7


........Okay, clarification. VIN is not associated with VNN, and hope people
didn't assume it was. As a matter of fact the owner of VIN, Paul Prion,
would probably be considered a *rogue* as he dared to say the # of deaths
might be in the thousands. If there wasn't a VIN though, one might
pronounce VNN as vin, hence these two might be aurally confused.

Michigan Vet Assn is a member.
http://www.michvma.org/documents/MI%...une%202006.pdf


..Well, not quite, the AVMA supports VNN, the above has a blurb about one of
their seminars and in this 2005 newsletter, MVMA suggests members may want
to consider signing up:
http://www.michvma.org/documents/MI%...une%202005.pdf

buglady
take out the dog before replying



 




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