Penny’s Finds #5

Generic Over-the-Counter Flea and Tick Medication Containing Tetrachlorvinphos (TCVP) Kills Family Dog [Video]
Derek Demo of CBS 12 News is warning the public that chemicals in over-the-counter flea and tick medications can be dangerous.

The CBS reporter spoke with Jessica Mentz, who recently lost her 1 1/2 year old Boxer, Rocky, after applying less than the recommended amount of a generic over-the-counter flea and tick spray. The main active ingredient in this spray was none other than tetrachlorvinphos, a chemical to which we have previously called attention. See: Tetra-who-vin-what?

Naturally, the manufacturer of the product takes no responsibility.

“They just told me they can guarantee it wasn’t their product. They’ve tested on their animals and it’s never happened.” -Jessica Mentz

Dr. James Esh, a local Veterinarian, strongly disagrees with the manufacturer:

“There are a number of products that are actually the older chemicals we had 30 years ago, when I became a veterinarian and some of those are very, very toxic.”

Broken Hartz applauds Mr. Demo on this piece for its clear public safety message. [KHSL TV]

Speaking of Old, Toxic Chemicals and Shady Companies
June Buggie the cat’s mom, Jen, experienced a close call due to some poor advice given to her from a PetSmart employee. She had come in for Frontline, but the clerk steered her away from it, recommending she treat her medicated dog DeDe with First Shield, the official flea & tick product of PetSmart’s in-house clinic, Banfield Pet Hospital. This treatment, which contains permethrin, is the same active ingredient in Hartz UltraGuard One Spot for Dogs and Puppies. Permethrin, as many of you know, is toxic to cats and, therefore, reputable Veterinarians will not even send someone home with a permethrin product if there is a cat in the house.

Thankfully, Jen knew about permethrin too and noticed the clerk’s error before using the product. First Shield is a Summit Vetpharm LLC product and, at one point, Summit was a direct sibling to Hartz Mountain Corporation, when both brands were primarily owned by Sumitomo Corporation. With Sumitomo selling off primary shares of both companies, the relationship has distanced, but Sumitomo still holds quite a bit of stock in both. In case you’re wondering, Sumitomo is a chemical manufacturer that, among other unsavory patents, holds the rights to none other than permethrin. For the record, recent studies have shown permethrin and all other pyrethrins, pyrethroids and pseudo-pyrethroids to not be as safe for dogs as once believed either.

Be sure to check out June Buggie’s full story on her sibling Rumpy’s excellent blog. [Rumpy Dog]

Meanwhile, on the subject of Banfield, we have nothing good to say. We became aware of them by chance during an incident with a detractor, who just so happened to be a Banfield employee, and were horrified by what we saw:

• Banfield complaints [Consumer Affairs]
• More Banfield complaints [Pissed Consumer]
• Here’s some more, including the comments [Lyzardly]
• Oh, what’s this? A complaint? [Crusty Orange]
• This is getting ridiculous [Yorkie Talk]
• Someone even made a Facebook page! [Banfield Pet Hospital is the Wrong Choice]
• Two pages into my Google search. Hopefully, the point has been made. [The Cat Site]

Note to Pedigree: Plastic is Not Part of the Food Pyramid
A voluntary recall was issued by Pedigree for a limited range of three varieties of their weight management canned dog food due to the discovery of pieces of blue plastic in the varieties cited. While we’re not applauding Pedigree, we feel it’s important for animal product manufacturers to receive some level of merit for having the willingness to acknowledge a problem, with seemingly little or no pressure from a government agency, rather than attempting to sweep the problem under the rug. Consumers can and should return the product for a full refund. [Life with Dogs]

For great information on manufactured pet food, please remember to check out Poisoned Pets. [PoisonedPets.com]

Tainted Chicken Jerky Treats from China and Product Liability
The Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog offers some information on product liability and pet supplies, pointing out it’s challenging to determine damages after a family loses their animal companion to a faulty pet product, since the law currently views animals as “personal property”. Damages are based on the animal’s fair market value and that is sad, to say the least. [Washington DC Injury Lawyer Blog]

Lennox’s Family Will Not Continue Legal Action
The family of Lennox the dog released a statement saying they have chosen not to prolong Lennox’s suffering fighting a battle they cannot win. This is a sad, yet understandable, course of action and all of us at Broken Hartz thank the family for the attention they brought world-wide to Breed Specific Legislation so it may inspire change. [Examiner]

Website Shocked to Discover People Will Not Pay for Free Information
On a side note, the North Country Gazette has dedicated a lot of time to covering the story of Lennox. Broken Hartz, along with other organizations and tens of thousands of Lennox supporters, had been thankful for this service, but the editor is seemingly pissed off that their plan to draw more attention to this story succeeded, dubbing loyal, repeat visitors to their website as being nothing more than common thieves. Here’s why:

The “paper” is, apparently, a pay service with no pay wall wherein the “company” has chosen to employ a hysterical combination of the honor system, mixed with passive-aggressive threats (less passive, more aggressive) to extract “donations” to their organization. They even go so far as to blame the “abuse” of Lennox supporters for threatening the website’s livelihood. The editor launches into a tirade, claiming Google to be anti-Lennox due to NCG’s AdSense account being disabled seemingly as a result of the website receiving an overwhelming amount of traffic from Facebook. We guess NCG hasn’t figured out how to capitalize on their recent spike in traffic without Google’s AdSense service.

We cannot stop laughing at how bizarre this is and wish we had looked into this more when we first recognized their red, mid-article donation demands. The following article points to a case where North Country Gazette was up-in-arms with another website for sharing an article that turned out to have been “borrowed” from a Florida news organization by NCG. [PI Bill Warner]

Tanks to teh BH Warriors fur sending us tips and info. Do you haz news fur me? Meow at me on Twitter @bhpenny or email pennysfinds@gmail.com.

Not So Easily Dismissed

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Click this link for the previous article in our Hartz “Executive Summary” exposé: “Misinformation on the Internet”

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Attention Hartz Mountain Corporation.

You defiantly threw a pack-of-lies at our affiliate; delivered by your lapdog, Rite Aid Corporation.

Decades of successfully escaping culpability have left you fat and complacent, believing you can act with wanton disregard for public safety, profiting from the anguish, injuries and deaths of untold numbers of defenseless, beloved pets.

You have blamed the public, but that bitterly deceptive pill has become too hard to swallow.

Broken Hartz rejects your version of history, your lies about the EPA’s Public Advisory published in March 2010, your lies about the FDA-approved status of competitor products, your figures and your vulgar assortment of additional “data”.

We have shined the light on your corrupt organization and laid waste to your multi-billion dollar army of planned deception; led by your unscrupulous mouthpiece, Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, and now we call the “good doctor” to the floor.

Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, this website is filled with many quotes that should be quite familiar to you, but we’d like to introduce one more:

 

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(Veterinarian’s Oath)

“Being admitted to the profession of veterinary medicine, I solemnly swear to use my scientific knowledge and skills for the benefit of society through the protection of animal health and welfare, the prevention and relief of animal suffering, the conservation of animal resources, the promotion of public health, and the advancement of medical knowledge.

I will practice my profession conscientiously, with dignity, and in keeping with the principles of veterinary medical ethics.

I accept as a lifelong obligation the continual improvement of my professional knowledge and competence.”

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You have forsaken your oath in favor of an ever-increasing bank account. You originated Hartz’ “Executive Summary of EPA Evaluation of Pet Spot-On Products” and, therefore, you have been the focus of our most-uncomfortable attention.

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You are a disgrace to your claimed profession and Broken Hartz has begun the process of seeking revocation of your license for crimes against those you have sworn to protect, those who cannot speak for themselves.

Hartz Mountain Corporation, at the beginning of this particular instance of negligent behavior, you lied to our affiliate behind closed doors, but now Hartz has done something inexplicably brazen by proudly broadcasting Dr. Melinda’s lies to the world.

We do not pretend to fully understand this action, but something is clearly brewing in Secaucus, NJ. Immediately after reading this post, you have scrambled to hide this page, pathetically assuming a simple change of file location could thwart us, but the information has been archived. You will not escape the truth.

The damage is done. That which has been seen cannot be unseen. Cybersquatting on our domain names will do nothing to stop us. The public grows wiser everyday. This information is now preserved for history; indelible, unwavering. With time, countless individuals will come to know thetruthabouthartz.

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You escaped punishment for decades in a world free from the watchful eye of the internet collective, but circumstances have changed and you will not escape the court of public opinion much longer. Your time of lying in wait on store shelves is coming to an end.

Alea jacta est.

=^..^=

Let’s Get “Technical”

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Click this link for the previous article in our Hartz “Executive Summary” exposé: Misuse or Mislabeling?

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Today, we’d like to draw attention to the contents of pages 2-4 of Hartz’ “Executive Summary of EPA Evaluation of Pet Spot-On Incidents”, titled “SUMMARY OF EPA SAFETY AND APPROVAL CRITERIA (SPOT-ON REGISTRATIONS)”.

Dr. Melinda Fernyhough deceptively tries to pass off this portion as coming from the EPA but, as we’ve already pointed out, no part of this pack-of-lies comes from anyone but Hartz Mountain Corporation.

Pages 2-4 of Hartz’ “Executive Summary” document is an excerpt (pages 14-16) from a larger Hartz document entitled “Hartz Technical Monograph Canine”, found on the “For Vets” Page of Hartzultraguard.com.

If you visit the “For Vets” Page link above, you’ll notice a link to the Hartz Technical Monograph Feline document as well. Our affiliate was happy to find this, as a document addressing cats would have been far more relevant to the case. Unfortunately, this link was mysteriously broken though Hartz has finally seen fit to post it in an effort to save face and make our claims appear inaccurate, but we all know about Hartz’ “broken” links by now, don’t we?

During the course of tracking down other “missing” information on the Hartz website, our affiliate revisited the “broken” link to the Hartz Technical Monograph Feline document on the “For Vets” Page of the Hartzultraguard.com website, mentioned above.  We will spare our readers the details, but wish to point out the canine version of this document is available through many different channels. The feline version proved far more elusive, but in the end it was uncovered. Since receiving our affiliate’s response, Hartz has tried to clean up these “loose ends”, but the “broken” link in their “For Vets” Page persisted until the beginning of May 2012.

In our affiliate’s case; this document, like its canine counterpart, has little relevance to Hartz’ “Executive Summary of EPA Evaluation of Pet Spot-On Products”, but it makes some interesting statements. Statements found in this document make it quite clear why Hartz preferred to keep it hidden until we forced them to post it:

(Hartz Technical Monograph Feline, Page 4, Paragraph 4, Sentence 5)

“Unfortunately, the likelihood of purchasing an inappropriate product or using a product incorrectly increases when veterinarians are not part of the equation.”

So, in light of this admission, why does Hartz continue to distribute its products through retail channels? It’s simple…

 

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No conscientious Veterinarian would ever recommend a Hartz product.

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Since the problem our affiliate experienced with Hartz’ product 2596-147, dozens of veterinarians were contacted. In the conversations, more than three-quarters of them immediately named Hartz as the worst offender in the flea and tick control market, unprompted, stating they have treated many animals that have had the misfortune of coming into contact with these poisons. As for the remaining 1/4 of veterinarians surveyed, when asked about Hartz directly, they did not have positive things to say either.

Also, this Feline Monograph document speaks highly of the benefits of newer flea treatment options, like neonicotinoids, phenylpyrazoles and semicarbazones.

(Hartz Technical Monograph Feline, Page 15, Paragraph 1, Sentence 2)

“New products have revolutionized flea control and provided veterinarians and pet owners with a broad range of weapons.”

So, why does Hartz continue to use dangerous pyrethroid and pseudopyrethroid products? To answer this, you have to look at who owns Hartz Mountain Corporation: Sumitomo Corporation. You may recall, we mentioned Sumitomo before.

Sumitomo Corporation has long been one of Hartz’ primary chemical providers but; in 2004, amidst another round in Hartz’ history of legal troubles, Sumitomo quietly acquired Hartz Mountain Corporation, creating an international pet-care business. With this move, Sumitomo began to profit on both the chemical manufacturer and end-user side of the pet-care industry.

With 26 of Sumitomo Corporation’s 31 patented Environmental Health Division Products being pyrethroids, it’s obvious why they have worked so tirelessly, despite the facts, to unethically defend the viability of these outdated, unnecessary, dangerous products.

Earlier this year, Sumitomo Corporation struck a deal with a major manufacturer in the Japanese pet-care market, Unicharm, and will transfer 51% of Hartz Mountain Corporation to Unicharm in May of this year. Sumitomo will still maintain a significant interest in Hartz Mountain Corporation after this date and will no doubt continue providing their outdated chemicals.

Still more to come.

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Click this link for the next article in our Hartz “Executive Summary” exposé: Misuse Revisited

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Rite Aid Corporation Still in Bed with Hartz

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Click this link for the previous article in our Hartz “Executive Summary” exposé: Hartz Claims Advantage Doesn’t Have FDA Approved Drugs

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Until now, Broken Hartz had not revealed Rite Aid Corporation as being the distributor involved in the particular case we’ve been discussing. This was done to allow Rite Aid time to assess the information provided by our affiliate and determine its position in this matter.

Yesterday (2/20/12), Rite Aid responded with a clear desire to continue its unethical business partnership with Hartz Mountain Corporation. Given Rite Aid’s unique history with Hartz, this decision comes as no surprise.

Rite Aid Corporation is widely-accepted as one of the most corrupt corporations in the country. The Company seems to have an endless file of lawsuits and general grievances from the public as well as its employees. They have been known to sell expired condoms, baby formula and infant medications. Given their lack of concern for human life, it’s no wonder this unscrupulous corporation exhibits no regard for animal safety. This is very concerning to our affiliate because there is good reason to suspect Rite Aid sold an anomalous version of the Hartz product purchased.

In the April 18, 2000 issue of Fortune Magazine, the Rite Aid board of directors was named one of the six worst in the United States and do you know who happened to be on that board? Mr. Leonard Stern.

In case our readers are unaware, Leonard Stern’s father founded Hartz Mountain Corporation. Leonard took over the business in 1959 and was the head of Hartz until 2000. Leonard Stern was also on the Rite Aid Board of Directors from the mid-nineties to 2001.

Mr. Stern was fiercely engaged in his role as a board member of Rite Aid when the drugstore chain was involved in shady accounting practices, including overstating net income by $1 billion over two years. Mr. Stern was also named in a class action in which investors claimed that he and other directors had breached their fiduciary duty to shareholders. The company settled in 2000.

In 1999, Kevin Mann (the son of Rite Aid’s original founder and former Executive Vice President) alleged Leonard Stern used his influence to increase shelf space in Rite Aid stores for Hartz’ pet products at the expense of competitors. Rite Aid Corporation settled that suit in 1999 for $11 million. Companies don’t just settle for $11 million and we at Broken Hartz take this as a clear admission of guilt.

Mr. Stern maintained his position on Rite Aid’s board until resigning of his own accord in late 2001. Current members of Rite Aid’s board served with Leonard Stern and we have no doubt Rite Aid and Hartz are still close partners. This is backed up by our own investigation of all local Rite Aids in our area. None of these stores carry any pesticide products other than Hartz. In fact, these locations typically carried half-an-aisle of Hartz products.

Our affiliate had become aware of this interesting relationship between Hartz and Rite Aid during correspondence with the Company, but chose to keep silent about this detail and see how Rite Aid behaved when presented with irrefutable evidence of their beloved manufacturer’s unscrupulous behavior.

To say Rite Aid’s Senior Counsel completely underestimated our affiliate and botched this particular case wherever possible would be an understatement. He and Rite Aid’s board dismissed our affiliate and tried to excuse themselves from the matter, unconscionably denying their own Code of Ethics document, neglecting to review the solid information provided by the affiliate and making the ultimate mistake of sharing Hartz’ “Executive Summary of EPA Evaluation of Pet Spot-On Products”, no doubt imagining the 6 1/2-page document would overwhelm our affiliate.

When presented with our affiliate’s 35-page rebuttal to Hartz’ “Summary” document, Rite Aid’s Senior Counsel decided reading the document would be too much work. Instead, he chose to shoot off a reckless, poorly-constructed response (consisting of five sentences and two typos) in such a short time from opening the email he could not possibly have bothered to read the information provided and make any attempt to assess the validity of the affiliate’s argument. If he had, he surely would not have dared to respond in the manner he did.

A quick, ten minute internet search is all it took to unearth the links, concerning Rite Aid, found below. You’ll find cases of racial and religious discrimination, consumer fraud,  disability discrimination, improper treatment of workers, unpaid overtime and even Rite Aid’s attempt to bully a terminally-ill, 77 year old Korean War Veteran over some forgotten sardines.

• The Rite Aid Sucks Blog
• Some Less-Than-Stellar Reviews of Rite Aid
• Rite Aid and NYPD Embarrass and Arrest Innocent Woman
• War Vet Sued by Rite Aid Over Misunderstanding
• Rite Aid Religious Discrimination Suit (for whatever reason, you may need to click this link more than once)
• Rite Aid Disability Discrimination Suit
• Consumer Fraud One
• Rite Aid Tries to Avoid Paying Overtime
• Consumer Fraud Two
• Rite Aid Employee Awarded More Than $8 Million for Wrongful Termination
• Rite Aid Fails to Protect Patient Info
• Rite Aid Racial Discrimination (for whatever reason, you may need to click this link more than once)

This list could go on and on, but we at Broken Hartz think the point has been made. Sorry, Rite Aid Senior Counsel. It seems like you really screwed up this one.

Maybe you should stick to riding your ATV.

We may get into Rite Aid more in the future, and will also be updating previous posts to mention Rite Aid specifically, but we’ll get back to Hartz in our next post.

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Click this link for the next article in our Hartz “Executive Summary” exposé: More Fun with Charts!

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Wal-Mart and Hartz Mountain Corporation Sued by Couple After Death of Dog

An Indiana couple has filed suit against Wal-Mart and Hartz Mountain Corporation.

The suit was filed five months after one of the listed plaintiffs, Mr. David Wilgus, stated in a comment posted on HartzVictims.org he was forced to euthanize his 6-year-old Husky, two days after applying Hartz flea and tick drops to his dog. He and his partner also acquired an $800.00 veterinary bill.

Understandably outraged by the loss of his beloved pet and Wal-Mart’s failure to take any responsibility by upholding their satisfaction guarantee, Wilgus wrote on the back of his car windshield “Hartz and Wal-Mart Killed My Dog”.

We couldn’t agree more. We highly doubt this was Wal-Mart’s first time hearing complaints about Hartz and for Wal-Mart to dismiss this matter is negligent and unconscionable.

Broken Hartz wishes Mr. Wilgus and his partner the best. We offer any assistance we can provide in this matter.

We also thank them for taking the very important step of holding the distributor accountable. All too often these culpable middle-men skirt responsibility while raking in the profits.

The car windshield message is fantastic, but we thought Mr. Wilgus and our constituents may also want to print and (warning: mature content) distribute this flyer. We realize his pet was a dog, but we had already created the graphic for a different incident and think the kitten gets the point across regardless.

Would you like us to personalize a protest flyer for you? We’d love to! Send us the details of your case and include the distributor, product name and EPA registration number, if possible. Let’s take these products off the shelves together.

Email us at brokenhartzpets@gmail.com.