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
May 3rd, 2007 at 5:52 pm
21157, John Davis
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:39 pm
We domesticated them and we are now responsible for their health and welfare. If our lawmakers cannot force the industry to make our companions’ food as safe as ours, then we should kick them out and vote in new lawmakers. We should be loudly protesting in the streets until this madness stops and tight regulation is implemented AND enforced. And those responsible (from China on down the line) should be held financially liable for every affected victim’s medical bills plus pain and suffering for the families. That might get their attention since nothing else seems to work.
May 3rd, 2007 at 6:41 pm
Elizabeth Joyner 19966
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:12 pm
We are entrusting to these companies the well being of our friends and companions. They need to raise their standards almost to pharmaceutical levels after the pain they have caused our pets to suffer.Their accountability is brought to task with this legislation.
zip 27017
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:18 pm
You should be ashamed!
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:20 pm
35748
Laura Reynolds
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:26 pm
This is just one more nail in the confidence we hold our government, and particularly this administration.
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
76513 Jaci Duffina
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:38 pm
Barbara Walker
28515
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:48 pm
19335
p smith
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:49 pm
19335 p smith
May 3rd, 2007 at 7:59 pm
I hope there is a special place in hell for those responsible and complicit in this tragedy.
P. Poulin
60605
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:30 pm
Laura Knowles-94903
Our pets trust us to do right by them. We need to be able to trust that our food security system will do right by us.
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:34 pm
21502 Kevin Knippenberg
May 3rd, 2007 at 8:35 pm
43202
MaryAnn Annie Berry
berry.7@sbcglobal.net
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:19 pm
12204
suzanne winkler
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:30 pm
My pets are my children. I buy all my pet food from my vet and take them semi-annaully for their check ups and shots.
Please do everything possible to make their food safe.
Alice Knox Comstock
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:51 pm
08872
Companies must be accountable for the pet food consumers purchase. Animals lives are at stake.
Thank you
May 3rd, 2007 at 9:55 pm
karen Severiens
34698
May 3rd, 2007 at 10:53 pm
heather rice
63042
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:04 pm
74574
Juanita Kinyon
I’m a senior citizen. My cat was my best friend for 14 years. Cared for and healthy. The vet thought she looked more like 7 yrs. Suddenly she was very sick. Kidney failure. I tried so hard to save her and kept feeding her the very poison that was killing her. If the pet food companies had the courage to tell us about the food sooner, she would have had a chance to survive. This is very much like the Ford executives, when informed their Pinto would explode when hit from behind, killing or badly injuring it’s occupants, decided it was cheaper to pay off the injured parties and survivors than to recall the cars and fix the problem.
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:06 pm
60540
Annette Mattson
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
Tom Cronin
89408
Human food must have nutritional information listed. Shouldn’t everything else have the same information? Also, I would like to know where the ingredients in food I eat came from, as well as what is fed to pets etc.
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:47 pm
23236
Roberta Palsa
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:49 pm
23236
Roberta Palsa
May 3rd, 2007 at 11:56 pm
12580
Jill Weiss
May 4th, 2007 at 12:07 am
98375
Shirley Waddell
May 4th, 2007 at 1:05 am
86413
Tanya Porter
May 4th, 2007 at 2:54 am
98570 Kate Ayers
May 4th, 2007 at 5:12 am
85018 Sherron Hosea
May 4th, 2007 at 5:46 am
77584
Patty Felli
May 4th, 2007 at 8:29 am
15668
Cathy Victor
May 4th, 2007 at 8:44 am
11427
Renee Grant
May 4th, 2007 at 8:45 am
11427
Renee Grant
cadmium@nyc.rr.com
May 4th, 2007 at 9:16 am
75758 Ruth Ames
May 4th, 2007 at 9:30 am
03079 Marlene Smith
May 4th, 2007 at 9:41 am
78748 Gavin McKinlay
May 4th, 2007 at 9:52 am
ivy m
10002
May 4th, 2007 at 10:03 am
Cyndy Rashke, 58106
May 4th, 2007 at 10:04 am
58106
Cyndy Raeshke
May 4th, 2007 at 10:05 am
55303
Kurt Richter
May 4th, 2007 at 10:25 am
95490 Mollie Morrissette
95490 Barbara Morrissette
May 4th, 2007 at 10:37 am
99320
Barbara Houghton
May 4th, 2007 at 10:52 am
32927 Sarah Jones
32927 Edward Jones
May 4th, 2007 at 11:30 am
36092
Linda Griebel
May 4th, 2007 at 11:52 am
72651 Catherine Jones
May 4th, 2007 at 12:11 pm
When is something going to done about this very scary problem??
It look like our goverment is just going to shove this under the rug . and hope it just goes away.
Please take action Now.
So we all can feel safe in feeding our precious pets again..
I watched that thing in the congress .
What a joke that was.
Nothing was resolved at all.
Infact one of the Sentors could not even pronounce the breed of dog he had.
HOW SAD>>>>>>>>>
Kim Brown
Santa Monica, Ca.
May 4th, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Linda Goodman 07026
I have studied animal nutrition for 25 years, and in my rescue we feed and recommend “quality” brands that use human grade ingredients to all adopters. I am infuriated that one of the brands I have always recommended. . Blue Buffalo. . .has apologetically recalled their canned food because they discovered tainted rice gluten that IS NOT EVEN MENTIONED ON ITS LABEL!!!! They tell us they are sorry. . that they “trusted” their manufacturer. Well we TRUSTED them!! The pet food industry is a business worth over 15 billion dollars a year. We cannot allow them to self regulate any longer. Make them all accountable for the suffering and expense they have inflicted on pets and their owners!! Then put enforceable laws in place to govern content all pet foods.
May 4th, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Jane and Joe Jones
27041
May 4th, 2007 at 1:18 pm
85258
Debra Savittieri
My 6yr old femal corgi mix passed away on March 23rd from the food contamination according to her bloodword,ultrasounds & kidney biopsies performed by VCA Hopspital.
This is a travesty that is just like 911 in NY to me….only it could of been prevented and was done by corporate America! The disregard to pet life is amazing to me and needs to be changed and reevaluated immediatly. These companies can get away with MURDER!