Petition to Require Pet Food Companies to be Held Accountable for Damages
WE, THE UNDERSIGNED:
Request that the U.S. Congress enact legislation to require pet food manufacturers and the companies that market those pet food brands to be held financially liable for any medical costs related to or contributing to the illness and/or death of a pet that can be reasonably attributed to the food consumed by the pet. And that all pet foods include the name of the manufacturer, not just the brand under which it is sold.
This petition is in response to the thousands of pet parents and owners who have suffered under the Menu Foods recall and their slow response that started on March 16th, 2007.
Sign after the jump.
Or read about all the latest news surrounding the recall.
In creating this petition, our motive is three-fold:
- First, we want to ease the pain and suffering of those who have lost their pets due to mistakes and negligence of pet food makers. The loss or illness of a pet can be emotionally devastating. On top of it, the financial burden of uninsured veterinary treatment can be a double-whammy, leading pet parents and their families to significant financial damage — often affecting other family members such as kids and the elderly. This legislation will create a venue for settling these cases fairly and out of court, eliminating the need for a lengthy court case, which companies rely on in order to reduce the likelihood of payout.
- Second, create a financial motive for pet food makers and marketers to set higher standards for pet food. We want to let them know that consumers are interested in higher-grade pet food. And that the longer a company waits in issuing warnings or recalls related to their product, the larger the potential financial damage. This new law would hold the manufacturers (often smaller, less financially sound organizations) and also the larger corporations that market the branded foods — who ultimately control what goes in them.
- Third, a clear public disclosure of who actually makes the food. Since the financial liability falls to the brand as well as the manufacturer, the name of the company that actually produced the food should be obvious to the consumer. How much clearer would this recall have been if the food was labeled “Made by Menu Foods”?
Once the final tally of the pet deaths is complete, the petition will be delivered to the head of the congressional committee that controls FDA funding (Dave Obey, D-WI, chairman of House Appropriations Committee).
IMPORTANT!
For your petition to be valid, we require:
- An accurate email address
- Your First and Last name (In the comment field)
- Your Zip code (In the comment field)
Your email will not appear below and will be kept securely by us. Your email will be used ONLY in the purposes of carrying out the petition. It will not be used for spam, sold or marketed to any other company. We hate spam as much as you do. Only your name, Zip code, and any comment you make will appear.
This petition is sponsored by itchmo.com. Please feel free to start your own email campaign to this page. The short link to use is http://www.itchmo.com/petition
March 24th, 2007 at 9:31 pm
83706 Brian Bothwell
March 24th, 2007 at 9:32 pm
35648 Polly O’Connor
March 24th, 2007 at 9:34 pm
44224 Kristen LaMoreaux
March 24th, 2007 at 9:55 pm
always about the money isn’t?
Money first, life second at best.
You large companies are simply disgusting.
March 24th, 2007 at 9:56 pm
33707
eve roberts
This is not going to keep them from fighting tooth and nail to avoid paying up???
They have the most money and staffs of lawyers - all to just prove US wrong. Their goal is to make the public look like a bunch of liars and would be theives. No matter how glaringly obvious the crime is AND no matter how many times they admit their crime and publish it -
Their DEEP POCKETS will line other DEEP POCKETS. They figure it will soon be forgotten and swept out to sea, never to be heard about again.
And, I hate to admit it, but that is the norm. It is just forgotten.
I WILL NEVER FORGET MY PET - NOR - FORGIVE THEM.
I will forever wish them all the hell of the world and a horrible death.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:05 pm
julia velez
14605
I would just like to send all my prayers to all that lost a loving pet from this nightmare. I lost my fluffy who was a 9 year old poodle mix, who i loved so much and miss her awful.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:08 pm
Aimee Zapara-Sullivan
zip code 95242
March 24th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Theresa Gorman 07642
March 24th, 2007 at 11:13 pm
54915
Jo Helms
March 24th, 2007 at 11:14 pm
Pet food manufacturers need to be responsible for making sure that the products they make are safe and wholesome. There needs to be controls just as in human food.
March 24th, 2007 at 11:19 pm
98121, Layla Loveless
March 24th, 2007 at 11:21 pm
Angie Bonner
31098
March 24th, 2007 at 11:56 pm
Karin Wyman
M1B 2V3
I hope production of Menu Foods has been stopped until the cause of this poisonous substance has been discovered.
Was the equipment cleaned? Sterilized?
March 24th, 2007 at 11:57 pm
We supported their company, they need to support us. We will remember
March 25th, 2007 at 12:25 am
Eva Keleti, 80209
March 25th, 2007 at 12:28 am
93021 Marie Bokker
March 25th, 2007 at 12:48 am
Peter Prestia
92688
March 25th, 2007 at 12:56 am
40854 Julie Nelson in memory of B and K
March 25th, 2007 at 12:57 am
Keith Nelson 40854 in memory of B&K
March 25th, 2007 at 2:13 am
Oh, please. There was great cause for worry and now there is time reflect and there is legitimate basis for some upset, but this blanket “blame the company” like it’s some nameless, faceless corporate veil devoid of heart and soul is now getting ridiculously riddled with “attack mode” borne of upset, yes, but just Step Back for a sec. E.g.: A Marj Wiener writes, “March 21st, 2007 at 6:57 pm - The horrible little secret has now been exposed — pet owners have been paying the marketing costs of brand-name pet food retailers — all of whom are merely selling the same product. Now that that product is tainted, they are all exposed for the charlatans they are. Consumers should be protected from such marketing fraud. Our pets are frequently child-surrogates or childrens’ companions. They are certainly family members. Shame on these awful pet companies.”
Anyone ever been in business? and I don’t mean some “Home Office” eBay venture, I mean cold, hard store-front, vendors and suppliers to buy from, manufacturers and wholesellers to contend with, and so on? I’m a pet owner who’s so madly in love with my bay-bees it’s beyond the beyond but I tell you, you have GOT to evalute the data a bit better before posting. The fact that the foodstuffs all have wheat glutin in common (as far as I can tell from what I’ve read so far) does not mean that all of these companies and outlets are selling the “same” thing just packaged differently. Sigh - the idiocy of the American populace. Do a bit more research! And you get what you pay for, so don’t complain about varied qualities of cat and dog foods. There are TONS of publications, sites, references and research documentations about what a good / natural / workable diet is for a domesticated pet. Gather the info, consult a vet or two, and create your own. Think *any* of the ones you buy are found “in the wild”? all have gravies and fillers and when in history did a wild dog graze on corn? Get the idea. We all of us or most of us use prepared foods for our pets and which to use is a highly controversial subject unto itself.
Tainted foods or ingredients for complex-formula foods (as in, more then a few ingredients!), especially when imported, can only be watched and regulated as much as Quality Control and snap-and-pop checklisting can oversee. One cannot check every batch of every aspect/ingredient, and there has to be a degree of trust in purchasing. To have your home robbed and subsequently mistrust all people because robbers are a member of the group called the human race, is ludicrous. To even narrow it down to wrong-targetting all copys because they somehow did not know of this one person and his intentions and timing to get to your exact home, is equally ludicrous. We all do the best we can in society. These companies are anguishing and suffering enough. To write or to conscience the viewpoint, “I will forever wish them all the hell of the world and a horrible death.” is unconsciensiable. You may not get over the death of your pet (as is understandable) - but get over yourSELF. Honest errors are made. If we also want these things sorted out (including prevention for the future), we have to let these folks do the legwork, with no knee-jerk reactions, no deaths not attributable to the tainting to be “counted” (or WE suffer a disservice by the companies evaluating incorrect data thus delaying the true sort-out). If you’re wildly upset (as I would be) about the death of a pet, seek others to help console you in the right forum, see your religious leader, this type of thing (skip the useless psych crap and their drugs, you don’t “get over” things that way). If you feel outrage or righteous indignation that such tainting could occur, and be a part of a solution and not a blast of stone-throwing. HELP these guys. Find a way to help gather info, organize info. Don’t include comments such as is on this very web site…I was interested in it until I read the little jab on the page about Menu Foods taking financial responsibility: “ABC News coverage of the press conference reports that Menu Foods “would reimburse pet owners who can trace their pets’ illnesses to the company’s products.†This should never have been a question. It should have been assumed from the moment they went into the pet food business. ” The part THIS SHOULD HEVER HAVE BEEN A QUESTION. There in nothing in the article (”reporting”, supposedly, not opining) that there was a question. Give them a chance to fully, fully sort things out before offering up financial compensation. They’re of no use to anyone Out Of Business. Go for their hide and a pint of blood? They’ll be out of business in no time. If they bucked to all the passion and also erroneous data floating around, Menu Foods will be paying for any dog or cat whose died in the past few months, regardless.
If they don’t buckle, they seem heartless. Put yourself in THEIR position. Run a business sometime and have employees, brokers, buyers, liaisons, vendors and suppliers, and try to micro-manage them all. Can’t be done. You do the best you can. I daresay this company has done a fantastic job in the past providing food for our animals. Take a few deep breaths and stop the Attack mode. Then attack the true source of the tainting, whatever that may be. A bad employee or two, bad manufacturers or standards in another country or shipping line or- or - or - … and find the correct targets to take to task.
March 25th, 2007 at 2:18 am
My last posting
In : “To even narrow it down to wrong-targetting all copys because they somehow did not know…” “copy” should have been “cops”
In: “If they bucked to all the passion and also erroneous data floating around”, “bucked” should have been “buckled”
March 25th, 2007 at 2:23 am
98058
Nina Lee
March 25th, 2007 at 2:55 am
Sally Dunn
bnkys1@hotmail.com
80526
March 25th, 2007 at 3:13 am
Julie in Florida: If you want to feed your animals food thats contaminated with RAT POISON simply because you feel sorry for “business owners” and all of their “trials and tribulations”, then you need to recheck your priorities and give your animals away to a shelter where they’d be more safe. To some of us, these are OUR CHILDREN!! Do you have kids?? Imagine if a baby food company found RAT POISON in their strained peas and infants were suffering and dying a horrible death because of it. Would you still feel bad for the poor little businessmen then? The idiocy of the American populace?? WE ARE NOT IDIOTS, WE ARE ANGRY AND OUTRAGED!! Listen to yourself! You are cold and heartless. Thousands of people have lost or will lose their family members and all you do is scold them for being upset because their animals were POISONED! You are blaming the people because they didn’t research their dog food more closely?? Do you research the soup in your cabinet or the milk in your refridgerator? Of course not, you TRUST that the food is safe. If you’re so much more superior than the rest of us, what do you feed your animals?? Please enlighten our poor, “idiotic” souls with your extensive knowledge of the subject.
March 25th, 2007 at 3:15 am
Amy Boda 95207
March 25th, 2007 at 3:35 am
We can judge a culture by the way they treat their animals.
Sonia Easley
March 25th, 2007 at 4:02 am
Daniela Montgomery
T2E 4A5
(Canadian Postal Code)
March 25th, 2007 at 4:20 am
I thought this was about signing a petition, and expressing our feelings to the powers-that-be-that-can-change-things, not a place to make snide comments to each other or about another person’s statements?
March 25th, 2007 at 6:10 am
Jonathan Nickerson
80301
March 25th, 2007 at 6:26 am
Victory White
55404
March 25th, 2007 at 8:38 am
32148 cliff mosley
March 25th, 2007 at 9:17 am
N0M1Y0 Tee Chadwick
March 25th, 2007 at 9:30 am
87105 Ilona Byczek
Frodo, my cat, less than two years old died painfully on February 18, 2007.
His diet included IAMS chicken/beef/pate and Nutro Complete Care
March 25th, 2007 at 11:06 am
[…] started a petition to demand changes. (Click here to read, and, if you want, to add your name.) Are these suggestions the place to […]
March 25th, 2007 at 11:07 am
Peggy Willson 23061
March 25th, 2007 at 11:15 am
35614 Kendra Spadoni
Malachi 5 yr old Black Standard Poodle
March 20, 2007
March 25th, 2007 at 11:15 am
27518
Lark Devon
March 25th, 2007 at 11:21 am
Joanna Patrice
Studio City Cal 91604
March 25th, 2007 at 11:21 am
joanna Patrice
91604
March 25th, 2007 at 11:22 am
91604
joanna Patrice
March 25th, 2007 at 12:02 pm
31569
Eileen Turner
March 25th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
Ron and Kathy Davis
92604
one dead cat and one close to death :(
March 25th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Annie Anderson
60123
Petunia cat put down 3/10
Fluffy cat is affected.
March 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Lee Pruett
94303
March 25th, 2007 at 12:16 pm
Roberta Malone
14882
March 25th, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Lynn Daniels - 99205
March 25th, 2007 at 12:27 pm
Jude Enoch
93012
March 25th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
87111
March 25th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
27606 Frank Bennett
March 25th, 2007 at 12:50 pm
Pamela J. Betz-Baron
60021-1213