Scientists with the Environmental Protection Agency have called the handling of pet deaths linked to a popular flea and tick collar atravesty. The emails were obtained by the Center for Biological Diversity, which filed a lawsuit against the EPA to obtain the documents, and also filed a legal petition to ban Seresto, a collar that uses pesticides to kill fleas and ticks on dogs and cats. The Environmental Health Program Director at the Center for Biological Diversity has never read documents like this before. The Seresto collar was approved by the EPA. More than 86,000 user complaints have been filed with the EPA about the collar, and 2,340 of them have reported pet deaths. According to documents obtained by the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting, the EPA has been getting reports of between 50 and 100 pet deaths linked to the collar each quarter for the past couple of years. Over the past few years, several investigations, including a bombshell report from USA Today, have raised public concern about the collars. The agency hasn't conducted any investigations or issued a public recall for the collars. Burd said that it has updated its website in recent months to advise owners to take off the collar if their pet shows symptoms. Instead, it has said that it is talking with the new owner of the brand to better understand the nature and scale of the incident reports. We will update this story if we hear back from the EPA and Elanco Animal Health.
The emails show how career scientists within the EPA have expressed concern and frustration over the agency's public handling of the pet deaths and complaints.
In another exchange, EPA staff share a concern with a staffer at the California Department of Fish and Wildlife about the use of Seresto collar on the San Joaquin kit fox, an adorable fox species living in the Southwest and parts of Mexico. A staffer asks who is the best person to ask questions about Seresto.
If you want the real answer or just some talking points to cover your ass for doing nothing, a scientist said.
The agency's black box-esque system for reporting adverse incidents can be heartbreaking to read. In March of last year, a citizen wrote about the death of her Maltese, which had a seizure after two months and died in her husband's arms. The staffer in charge of handling complaints provided a form letter with information about hotlines for pesticide complaints and veterinary care.
Is it normal for a dead dog to have a diagnosis and follow-up care?
Despite the tens of thousands of complaints on record, there are no mandates for the agency to take any action. It is reasonable to assume that more pets wearing Seresto have been hurt or killed because the EPA estimates that five incidents happen in the real world for each pesticide complaint it has on file.
There is no automatictrigger for any action.
The implications for what is going on extend beyond just being worried about pet health, and point to a worrying failure on reporting adverse pesticide effects in general.
She said that it was the most disturbing part of the incident.
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