The Seresto flea and tick collar has been linked to at least 98,000 adverse reaction incidents and more than 2,000 pet deaths in complaints to the federal government. Gizmodo published consumer complaints about problems pet owners encountered after buying counterfeit versions of the dog collar. The congressman from Illinois asked the company to recall the collar at this time. There is no recall of the collars. The House Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee held a hearing on the topic of pulling Seresto collars from the market.
The EPA has ignored consumer reports of deaths from dog owners who said they purchased the collar despite internal emails at the agency showing serious concern about the sheer volume of adverse reactions.
Krishnamoorth said in a statement before the hearing that it was unacceptable that the EPA had been aware of the Seresto collar's safety concerns for years.
Jeff Simmons gave an opening statement about the company's love for animals.
Simmons said that the company and its people are dedicated to advance the health of animals.
More than 80 regulatory bodies have approved Seresto, according to Simmons. Simmons went to the center of the company's defense.
Simmons said that adverse event reports are not meant to be and are not proof of causality. Reports need to be further investigated and analyzed to determine the cause.
Simmons said that his research team didn't find any deaths caused by the active ingredients in the collar.
Simmons insists there is no evidence of a link between the collar and the deaths of pets.
There is no evidence of a connection. Krishnamoorthy pointed to a chart that showed the number of incidents investigated by Canadian regulators.
The Canadian equivalent of the EPA didn't allow Seresto collars to be sold in Canada.
A Democrat from Southern California who sits on the subcommittee, asked Simmons about the fact that other countries have large warnings on the packaging for Seresto collar and that they are labeled as poison. Porter pointed out that the warning label in the US doesn't mention death.
Simmons said the scientific data did not warrant a label change.
The previous owner of Seresto was urged by the EPA to update the warning label. Simmons said the EPA has never asked for a change to the warning label.
Rep. Porter is concerned that Seresto is preventing the EPA from gathering necessary data and making a decision about the safety of the products. If the EPA doesn't provide the data, Seresto will have to leave the market.
Republicans tried to stop the hearing at their first chance, putting forward a motion to adjourn and say that the hearing wasn't a priority for the American people. The Republicans want a bigger priority. One congressman blamed drugs flowing in from Mexico for the problem of fentanyl addiction.
A right-wing group called Independent Women's Voice whined about how people on the subcommittee wanted to defund the police in an irrelevant rant.
The Democrats are determined to get to the bottom of what happened with the Seresto collar and the dogs that died using them.
It doesn't seem plausible that 12 pets might have died because of the collar, but not because of any of its active ingredients.
Krishnamoorthi ended the hearing by calling on the EPA to conduct a new investigation to see what's going on and asked for a voluntary recall of the collar.
We need to make some decisions here. Krishnamoorthy recommended that the EPA start a notice of intent to cancel proceedings because of the number of pet incidents and deaths.
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