#NipClub

Hello All! We are happy to see you!

The team is alive and well, but has been forced to undergo some re-structuring and re-allocation of duties. We have much more to report to you, regarding Hartz Mountain Corporation’s shady activities but, for the record, we are still currently in hibernation mode; however something occurred a short time ago, necessitating a prompt response from the BH camp.

Throughout the course of our mission, Broken Hartz has had a bit of a back and forth with a group of Twitter users operating under the hash tag “#NipClub” (for readers unaware of what a hash tag is, please click here).

We’ve watched this group and have been unsure of what to make of it, specifically, its leadership… until now.

What is #NipClub?
#NipClub is a large group of people on Twitter, known as “anipals”, tweeting as their cats and dogs. These animal lovers attend #NipClub’s virtual Twitter “pawties” every Thursday as well as one Saturday per month. They pass out virtual drinks (such as “niptinis” and “bacon beer”), eat virtual appetizers, “dance” to music provided by “animal DJs” and socialize with other anipals, all toward the goal of raising money for no-kill animal shelters and rescues. You can read more about #NipClub on their website.

To be clear, we weren’t planning to post anything about this or other incidents surrounding #NipClub on our blog for the simple fact this group seemed innocent, though a bit misguided; however, Shayna Cat (#NipClub Public Relations, “wife” of King Tutti Fruiti, motivational guru and singer for the Black Eared Peas, among other distinctions) saw fit to post a faulty blog entry last week after an exchange of words was had between our groups.

What was at the center of this exchange?

#NipClub is proud to call Hartz Mountain Corporation its corporate sponsor.

That’s right, #NipClub’s mission to stop the unnecessary deaths of countless shelter animals each year is fueled, in part, by prize donations from a monstrous corporation known for causing the unnecessary injuries and deaths of countless dogs and cats annually with their negligent flea & tick care products.

To our knowledge, Hartz is the club’s only corporate sponsor. What makes this go from a case of mere ignorance to one of pure hypocrisy is the fact #NipClub’s founder, @KingTuttiFruiti (aka @FlaCatLady) has openly admitted to knowing Hartz is bad. She simply doesn’t care because they help her mission.

Shayna Cat’s hastily constructed post, which was promoted heavily to the #NipClub community, creates far too many omissions and misleading statements, intentional or otherwise, for Broken Hartz to allow to go unaddressed, but first…

What led to this point?

As many of you know, we popped onto the Twitter scene in January of this year and started checking in on @HartzPets. Among other things, our affiliates noticed Hartz was engaging with others, using the hash tag #NipClub. The @HartzPets Twitter account has done this almost consistently, every Thursday, as long as we have been paying attention.

We reached out to people we saw talking to Hartz through this channel in order to fulfill our mission of warning the public about the dangers of this company. Although some welcomed our information, we were astonished to find more often than not we were merely chastised by the individuals we were trying to help for apparently misusing the hash tag #NipClub. We were told this tag is only to be used for the “pawty”. There was little concern from the “animal loving” individuals contacted regarding the fact they were happily speaking with a manufacturer of negligent animal “care” products. Surprised by this action, but wishing to not commit further faux “paws”, we backed away from #NipClub for quite some time.

In the months that followed, Broken Hartz experienced great success with the Twitter end of its mission. Great contacts were made, our We Iz Anonymous Cats and Melinda Wants Money videos trended for nearly two weeks straight, we started the hash tag #BeTheWave in association with the Tiny Timmy Organization and watched our follower numbers surpass that of @HartzPets. Our mission was growing faster than anticipated.

There was one thorn in our Twitter-side, however. We noticed animal-loving, trusting #NipClub attendees were still blissfully chatting with @HartzPets while the rest of the Twitterverse had clearly been starting to get the message. Over time, #NipClub members became the only Twitter users left truly engaging with the company.

Eventually, despite being in hibernation, this fact left us with the decision to reach out once more to #NipClub, even though we had been told to go away. Shortly after our return to the #NipClub front, our group finally had interaction with one of NipClub’s founders, @KingTuttiFruiti, in August.

This started a very long, public conversation between our groups.

During this conversation, we learned several things:

• The whole time, Hartz had not just been a participant, but a monthly sponsor.
• King Tutti Fruiti was not only aware of the dangers surrounding Hartz products, but claims to have known for years and even warns people at the grocery store to avoid Hartz flea and tick products.
• King Tutti Fruiti claimed to only accept pee pads from Hartz.

Here’s a highlight reel.

We also had a private conversation with Shayna Cat. In this conversation, it was suggested we attend #NipClub events but refrain from mentioning our mission while networking with attendees. We felt this action would be misleading and not in the spirit of our mission to keep our intent clear at all times. An agreement was reached during this discussion that, seeing as how #NipClub was only accepting Hartz pee pads, we would yet again back off this organization. We stated if Hartz can make anything, it’s a product worthy of being peed on. A good laugh was had by all and the matter was dropped. We also offered to assist #NipClub in finding alternative sponsors for their events.

In October, our fears were realized.

A regular #NipClub supporter applied a Hartz flea and tick product to her cat and the animal died. A notice was put out on Saturday, October 13^th during the monthly #NipClub “pawty” by a friend of the victim, using the hash tag #NipClub. We received a flood of tweets from #NipClub supporters to the @BrokenHartzPets account, informing us of the situation and asking us to provide information.

For those who were previously unaware, assisting victims is what we do on a regular basis. We cast no “I told you so” comments toward #NipClub Management as we provided the information and consolation needed to #NipClub supporters while we waited to see how #NipClub Management would choose to proceed.

A #NipClub attendee put this tweet out in honor of another #NipClub attendee whose cat died from a reaction to a Hartz flea product.

Things seemed quiet until a month later. We noticed #NipClub Management had not only continued their support of Hartz after one of their own supporter’s cats died from a Hartz product, but they began giving out more Hartz products than King Tutti Fruiti had claimed to accept. Penny questioned King Tutti Fruiti about the new prizes and received no response.

Please note the Hartz products in the bottom-left of the photo.

On Sunday, December 2nd, our kitten on Twitter patrol, @bhpenny, brought some more evidence to the team and it was decided action was needed. The @BrokenHartzPets account sent a few Tweet missiles at #NipClub and @KingTuttiFruiti. King Tutti Fruiti decided to respond from her @FlaCatLady account, several NipClubbers jumped in to blindly defend #NipClub with seemingly no knowledge of the situation and we went back and forth with the group for hours.

The following day, Shayna Cat posted a blog entry entitled, “If You Have a Problem at #NipClub“. In this case, Broken Hartz would be considered the “problem”. As mentioned above, there were many misleading statements which we would now like to take the opportunity to correct.

1) The following screenshot is the first bullet under Shayna’s “What #NipClub Isn’t” section of her misleading post.

Broken Hartz does not conduct fundraising and has never asked #NipClub to assist with raising funds for Broken Hartz.

All Broken Hartz affiliates are volunteers. We do not seek funds at any time and do not profit in any way from our protest of Hartz Mountain Corporation. Plus, we operate anonymously so we fail to see how anyone could ever misconstrue our words into thinking we have interest in creating a paper trail through fundraising.

2) In the point “Campaigning”, Shayna Cat says this:

First of all, #NipClub has already resorted to reporting us as spam. As a matter of fact, as evidenced by the screenshot below, they put out the call to report us as spam one day before posting their blog entry about the incident.

Second, we do not spam the #NipClub hash tag. Addressing the fact Hartz Mountain Corporation is a sponsor of #NipClub, while itself being a danger to animals is not off-topic and, therefore, not spam.

We believe the true issue here is obvious. #NipClub Management does not appreciate the fact we are exposing their hypocrisy so they seek to lure their followers into thinking we are the troublemakers instead of swallowing their pride and making a tough, but proper, ethical decision for the good of their trusting anipal followers as well as allowing their mission to keep a clear conscience.

We also wish to point out others in #NipClub have used the #NipClub tag recently to promote a Hartz toy blog giveaway, which is completely unrelated to #NipClub’s goals of raising funds for animal shelters. Following Shayna Cat’s #NipClub hash tag abuse logic, shouldn’t this be considered spam as well? King Tutti Fruiti even promoted the unrelated Hartz giveaway using the #NipClub hash tag.

For those umaware, Hartz Mountain Corporation is the manufacturer of the Angry Birds toy line for pets.

Side Note for BH Warriors: We thought Hartz would be promoting their Skelanimals toys by now. Hmm, we wonder what happened to this other disastrous collaboration.

Continuing…

3) Here is another remark in Shayna Cat’s blog post we must address:

The fact is, #NipClub Management does oppose us through their willingness to involve #NipClub in Hartz’ cause, the cause of deceiving the animal loving public with philanthropic smokescreens. #NipClub Management’s actions, not ours, are hurting those they’re attempting to help.

We’re not asking #NipClub to be part of the solution. We’re simply asking #NipClub to not be part of the problem. Allowing Hartz to sponsor such a well-meaning cause hurts those #NipClub is trying to help far more than us warning others about the true, serious, heart-breaking and costly danger surrounding Hartz and its products every once in a while with a #NipClub tweet.

In fact, the Hartz sponsorship has, and will continue to, put many animal lovers off from #NipClub events due to the fact they partner with a negligent monster.

Moving on…

4) Shayna Cat seems torn on the tact she wished to take with us in her post, as evidenced by these conflicting comments:

 

Shayna Cat’s polite comment of us possibly having “the best cause in the world” seems a bit weakened when combined with the assertion we are abusers, don’t you think?

We are especially offended by this remark considering the inordinate amount of personal time our team dedicates to helping individuals who have lost animals to Hartz, and we do it without the aid of a sinister corporate sponsor, to whom we turn a blind eye.

Now that we’ve addressed Shayna’s innaccuracies…

Here are a few things that seem to come up between us and #NipClub attendees that we would like to take the opportunity to address:

1) Is this about animal testing?
While we are certainly not fond of animal testing (especially after many long nights reading EPA flea and tick product testing reports), our specific mission has nothing to do with it. No official Broken Hartz affiliates are, or ever have been, members of any animal-related organization.

Our issue is with the damage Hartz causes after their products have been sold to consumers.

2) You’re not who you claim to be.
King Tutti Fruiti made this paranoid and bizarre claim publicly last August to the @BrokenHartzPets account:

The “King” never clarified this absurd comment, but this was brought up with Shayna Cat in private messages. In these messages, Shayna mentioned she believed King Tutti Fruiti was referring to some incident that had occurred previously which King Tutti Fruiti was seeming to attribute to us as well.

Attention #NipClub Managment:

• Our mission was not started to mess with you.
• We had no prior knowledge of #NipClub before starting our mission.
• Our only accounts on Twitter are @BrokenHartzPets and @bhpenny.
• We don’t work for anyone in animal industries or any other related industries.
• We’re not sure who you think is behind our mission but, we assure you, you’re wrong.
• Get over yourselves.  

We work anonymously because we report on a multi-billion dollar corporation notorious for bullying its detractors. We have a negative impact on the corporate image they pay a lot of money to maintain. Remaining anonymous offers us and our families a small amount of personal protection. Call it what you want, but it is the best approach for our mission.

3) Why don’t you go after retailers/tell people at the grocery store/protest somewhere else?
The assumption Broken Hartz doesn’t do these things is quite ridiculous. We do plenty outside of Twitter and to assume all you see is all we do is painfully ignorant.

Twitter is but one small part of our organization’s activities but, for those who haven’t realized, Twitter is the equivalent of standing outside thousands of grocery stores at once, clearly making our acts of protest through this chosen medium a worthwhile endeavor. Just as #NipClub and Hartz use Twitter and other services on the internet to further their causes, we will continue to use the internet to further ours.

4) NipClub doesn’t give out Hartz flea products.

Duh.

Shayna Cat said this to us last week and, yes, we know this. We have never stated that #NipClub gives away or even promotes Hartz flea and tick products directly. On a side note, @KingTuttiFruiti favorited our “admission” to Shayna Cat, as if this was some kind of profound victory.

Our point is it’s not caring or compassionate to take the attitude #NipClub Management takes.

@KingTuttiFruiti (@FlaCatLady) and @ShaynaCat have spent years communicating a message to their followers, that boils down to something like this:

We’ve taken the time to verify these carefully selected causes so you can rest assured your donations are going to worthy charities.

#NipClub Management has trained its followers to blindly trust them, but then carelessly throws out pro-Hartz marketing messages for “pawesome” giveaways and kudos for helping the #NipClub mission. When questioned about this, #NipClub Management’s response basically amounts to:

Not our problem. We know that shit is bad and we’re surprised others don’t. Don’t they research?

No, #NipClub Management. They don’t because you’ve taught them you will do the thinking for them. We’ve also noticed a surge in your Hartz interactions since our most recent altercation.

Allowing Hartz to sponsor #NipClub makes Hartz look like a “good guy”. This is a very common marketing technique used by many corporations to mislead the public.

In conclusion, as the title of the song suggests, perhaps “vampires” is a bit strong; but the following song (with lyrics beneath) is dedicated to #NipClub Management:

————————-

I’ve seen your eyes as they fix on me.
“What is he doing? What on earth’s the plan?
Has he got one?”

You better give me some pointers
since you are the big rocket launcher
and I´m just the shotgun.

Well, I’ve got no dollar signs in my eyes.
That might be a surprise but it’s true.
Said, “I´m not like you
and I don’t want your advice or your praise
or to move in the ways you do
and I never will.”

Cause all you people are vampires
and all your stories are stale
and though you pretend to stand by us
I know you´re certain we´ll fail.

I´ve seen your eyes as they fix on me,
full of confusion.
Your snarl is just so condescending.

Trying to explain that we´re on to a win
if the fee we get in
near recoups what we´re spending

He said “I can´t believe
that you drove all that way. Well how much did they
Pay ya? How much did they pay ya?
You´d have been better to stay round our way,
thinking about things but not actually doing things.”

(2x)
Cause all you people are vampires
and all your stories are stale
and though you pretend to stand by us
I know you´re certain we´ll fail.

All you people are vampires!

————————-

We again request #NipClub Management end its Hartz partnership.

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Hibernation

Does anyone remember Phase III?

 

About two weeks later, we released our “We Iz Anonymous Cats” video:

 

Many assumed that video to have been the item we had been referring to in our shamelessly vague post, but it wasn’t.

The steps necessary to get Phase III moving were far trickier than anticipated, but we are happy to report our efforts have begun to bear fruit.

Though this is good news, it has become apparent we must take a small “cat nap” from the blog in order to ensure this opportunity does not go to waste. We will still be around on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest but, for the next couple of weeks, we must prepare for our next move.

Wish us luck.

While in hibernation, we encourage you to look back through our catalog of nearly one-hundred posts.

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What’s Really Golin On?

As the title suggests, we wish to provide an update to the post “What’s Golin On?”.

Those who have read that post are aware, on May 1, 2012; Hartz began releasing news of brand new products just in time for the 2012 flea season. Here are the examples we provided:

• BeaumontEnterprise.com
• YahooNews.com
• 5WPR.net
• PRWeb.com

The links in these press releases go to old products. This, combined with the fact we found no traces of new products at many different stores, caused us to believe Hartz was just making another false claim. Why did we make such an assumption, you say? Because Hartz had tried to do this back in 2009 with one of the same products they linked to in these press releases and the EPA slammed them.

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(EPA Registration #2596-150 Amendment, Dated January 13, 2009 Page 4, Paragraph 1)

The EPA clearly states to Hartz, “Delete the following claims which suggest that the product is new, when it has been registered since 2000.”

---

The only other links provided in the press release examples above go to Hartz.com and a gallery of old Hartz application videos from the HartzUltraguard.com website:

So, why are we revisiting this topic?

As stated before, we at Broken Hartz make every attempt to speak truthfully. We have no interest in spreading false information and have come upon evidence there is a little more to this story than we first uncovered. Besides, the whole story doesn’t pan out much better for Hartz anyway.

The following video provides a walkthrough of the original press release from PRWeb.com. You’ll see evidence of our above claims regarding the links on this release going to old product information, however, this particular release (unlike the 3 other versions of the press release we cited) features an embedded YouTube video.

That embedded video is the key to getting to the bottom of this issue. Check out the walkthrough:

There you have it; Hartz indeed has a new dog product, though they make it quite hard to find evidence of their newest poison. Here is its labeling amendment data.

Furthermore, the active ingredient in Hartz’ new dog product, etofenprox, is certainly nothing new to the world of pesticides. In fact, Hartz has been using etofenprox for a while now in some of its cat products.

Also, it is very important to note they have not released a new cat product.

The etofenprox cat product featured on the new HartzUltraguardPro.com website (EPA Reg# 2724-504-2596) was named in the EPA Public Advisory, published in March 2010.

We went more in depth on this particular product in one of our Hartz Exposé posts, “Fun With Charts!”. This is a very interesting post because it highlights the fact Hartz’ problem seems to reside in its inert ingredients, not its active ones.

Moving on, now that we have cleared up confusion, we’d like to take a closer look at this recent Hartz commercial.* As usual, Hartz is blurring the line. You’ll also see, it looks like they’ve decided to go with a more “camera-friendly” representative than previously seen:

^{*Bonus points to the first individual that comments, letting us know how many explosion effects there are in this commercial.}

By including Hartz cat products and cat imagery in this new product announcement, Hartz is definitely making it hard for consumers to determine what is new and what is not. This is made even more confusing by the alternate version of this new Hartz commercial, found on the homepage of HartzUltraguardPro.com.

In this second video, near the end, the announcer states:

“To ultra-protect your dog within 15 minutes or ultra-protect your cat, and all for half the price of Frontline Plus or Advantage II, call now for your 3 month supply of new and improved Hartz Ultraguard Pro for only $19.95.”

As if these two commercials aren’t misleading enough, we fear the confusion won’t end there.

Those who follow us on Twitter, may have seen the following tweet a little while ago:

The reason for our trip was an individual had spotted new Hartz products in a store. As mentioned above, our previous searches for new Hartz products in stores had come up empty-handed, so we were off. Of course, some of us had other concerns:

BH Affilates checked many different stores: pharmacies, pet stores, grocery stores and big box retailers. We found some new Hartz dog product (as revealed above) but, only sparsely, and it was always heavily outnumbered by old Hartz crap, like in the photos below:

In this photo, you see Hartz’ new dog product (EPA# 2596-168), flanked by old crap.

Again, you see how outnumbered the new guy is.

Hooray! A coupon!

What makes this whole thing truly interesting is the new Hartz dog product was not the reportedly new product that had been spotted. The products that had been spotted featured silver and purple boxes.

The following products are not new. They are merely old Hartz products that have received new packaging and labeling.

These are examples of the products that had been spotted:

The first example is none other than Hartz cat product 272-504-2596. This is the same product featured in Hartz latest commercial, though the commercial utilizes a version of this product with its old packaging. This product has not been reformulated.

For evidence, please note the highlighted EPA registration number 2724-504-2596.

This is product #2596-150, the same Hartz product linked to from the original press releases that announced the arrival of new products, This product has not been reformulated.

Again, please note the highlighted EPA registration number.

As you can see, Hartz has even re-packaged its dangerous, tetrachlorvinphos-containing flea collars. These collars present a danger to humans, especially children, according to many reputable sources, including the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC). They have not been reformulated.

These newly packaged products feature improved labeling, but they are still nothing earth-shattering. Aside from that, seeing as how misuse is only a fraction of the problem, we fail to see how re-labeled products are going to recitfy the issue. In fact; we fear these new packages, combined with a new product announcement, are going to cause many individuals to think this old Hartz junk, including their ultra dangerous, out-dated, organophosphate collars, are something new and therefore operating with a clean slate. That could not be further from the truth.

Despite having found Hartz still had plenty shady actions to go along with these press releases, we did not like having stated something incorrectly. Of course, this could have been avoided if Hartz would contact us but, they don’t dare because it would only serve to highlight that for which they have no answers.

Regardless, that has caused our crew to re-double our investigative efforts. Because of that, we found many labeling amendments for newly registered products, though none were for cats. Most interestingly were two separate amendments for technical formulations of Fipronil:

Here are the labeling amendment documents for the above formulation:

http://iaspub.epa.gov/apex/pesticides/f?p=PPLS:102:692438572295901::NO::P102_REG_NUM:2596-172

Here are the labeling amendment documents for this alternate Fipronil formulation:

http://iaspub.epa.gov/apex/pesticides/f?p=PPLS:102:692438572295901::NO::P102_REG_NUM:2596-173

Looks like fipronil-based products are in Hartz’ future as well, but seeing as how so much evidence suggests the real danger comes from all the unlisted crap being shoved into these products, we’re not breathing any easier from this knowledge.

Lastly, we wish to state the post, “What’s Golin On?” will be left as it was originally posted. This will be done to allow individuals to see what our original assessment had been and that we do not wish to hide the error, we only seek to correct it. The post will, however, feature a bold header and footer, noting the crucial update so people will not miss the complete story.

Also, for those who are curious as to whether or not Penny got her wish:

See you next time.

=^..^=

Looking Back

Hello All!

You may remember we’ve talked about Hartz Mountain Corporation’s TheTruthAboutHartz.com website before.

It was allegedly taken down years ago in the wake of public criticism, but we still managed to unearth Dr. Charles T. Gaskins’ shamefully fraudulent work, due to the fact Hartz is sloppy.

The discovery of Gaskins’ full report was a key factor in our debunking of Dr. Melinda Fernyhough’s nasty little “Executive Summary” document.

Here is what you see if you visit TheTruthAboutHartz.com today:

That may have been the end of the story but, thanks to the Internet Archive, we invite you to hop in the Wayback Machine and take a gaze upon TheTruthAboutHartz.com as it was on May 4, 2009.

Not many remember what this site looked like or the “facts” it contained. Well, as Hartz said, “It’s Time to Set the Record Straight”.

Seeing as how Hartz linked to the following page seven times from their homepage, deemed as “facts”, we feel it pretty safe to say this was what they were most interested in showing to the public:

You may be wondering why we didn’t just use the archive in the first place when looking for information on TheTruthAboutHartz.com. Actually, we had forgotten about this excellent resource until Tiny Timmy brought it up in her tribute to the now defunct BioSpotVictims.org.

Not everything gets archived but, thankfully, Hartz Mountain Corporation’s deceitful “masterpiece” was captured before being taken down.

Enjoy!

=^..^=

The Wonderful World of Search Engine Optimization

We at BH see many interesting search terms used by individuals, causing them to stumble upon our site. We thought it may be best to share some of these and offer assistance to those seeking advice. We hope these answers will help future Googlers.

10) hoax hartz is killing dogs

Perhaps this EPA data will help to settle your question. The following screenshots are from the individual reports for both of Hartz Mountain Corporation’s dog products named in the EPA Public Advisory, Published in March 2010 (EPA Registration numbers 2596-150 and 2596-151)

Of course, you must also remember these are only the deaths Hartz has actually reported for only two of their spot-on products, this has been going on for decades, these reports only reflect 2008, plus it is suspected the majority of incidents go unreported or are left out due to technical limitations. These are the untold numbers.

Comparitively, how did Hartz’ dog products stack up against the other dog products named in the EPA’s Public Advisory?

The following chart shows, if a dog experienced an adverse reaction to any of the Spot-On dog products listed in the EPA Public Advisory Published in March 2010, what the likelihood was (based on percentage of reported events) of a dog experiencing Death or a Major, Moderate or Minor event. As you can see, in the case of an adverse event, dogs were 2.5 times more likely to die from a Hartz product than any of the other brands found in the EPA Public Advisory published in March 2010. Hartz also topped the list for Major events and Moderate events, clearly making it the most dangerous of these products.

Likelihood of Death, Major, Moderate or Minor Event if Your Dog Experiences an Incident With a Manufacturer’s Product Listed in the EPA Public Advisory published in March 2010:

For more fun with charts, click back there.

9) why does everyone hate hartz

We imagine this person now knows the answer to that question.

8) melinda dr. krazy dynotaku

??????????????

7) is hartz campaign by competitors

Umm… no.

6) “i am brokenhartzpets

No, you’re not. We wish to state this next bit is pure speculation, however, this seems like a lame attempt at investigation by an individual resembling the following illustration:

5) why are all these people blaming hartz

Because Hartz is to blame.

4) should i buy hartz flea and tick powder or sergeant’s household flea and tick spray?

Let’s see… there’s Hartzy… or Sarge.

May we kindly offer a third option?

3) is hartz victims for real

2) hartz organization that fights the hartz corporation

Welcome, new BH Warrior!

1) only positive feedback on hartz drops pro for dogs no negative remarks!

Why research the product if you are so thoroughly convinced it’s safe and do not wish to see evidence to the contrary?

We find it amusing you used an exclamation point. It’s almost as if you had lost patience with Google after numerous failed attempts to find the “Holy Grail” you seek.

We also find it quite amusing you broke down and visited our site anyway.

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Penny’s Finds #7

Bob Martin Clarifies: By “Remove the Flea Collars”, They Actually Meant “Keep on Shelves Until They Sell Out”

After receiving numerous calls from concerned consumers since France issued a ban on flea collars containing organophosphates, Bob Martin, a European producer of over-the-counter flea and tick products, announced on May 16, 2012 they would be “working with retailers in the coming weeks to remove the products and provide alternative products.” Despite this announcement, Bob Martin flea collars were spotted at a grocery store in Scotland on July 3, 2012 (pictured above) by BH Ambassador @Lulu_Lindi. When questioned via Twitter on when exactly the flea collars would be removed, the company responded with the following:

“we’ve voluntarily stopped selling the collars; the product hasn’t been banned; retailers may have residual stock”

Bob Martin added:

“any remaining stock that shops may have on their shelves will sell through but will not be replenished by us”

While we applaud Bob Martin on their decision to stop producing the products, the statement the company provided on Twitter conflicts with their press release claiming the products would be removed from shelves and replaced with alternative products. Sneaky sneaky, Bob. This means that the flea collars, found to be potentially toxic to children and deemed unacceptably dangerous by France, could potentially remain on store shelves elsewhere for years as the products sell out, or until the UK decides to ban the toxic plastic strips as well.

Read more about France’s flea collar ban and other animal industry updates from PoisonedPets.com:

• BANNED: Flea collars are pulled off shelves in France, citing danger to pets and children [PoisonedPets]
• Purina Recalls AquaMax Products, Expands Recall of Mazuri and LabDiet Feed Products [PoisonedPets]
• Class Action Filed Against Monte’s Milo’s Kitchen [PoisonedPets]

In PetMate Lingo, “Warranty” May Be Better Interpreted as “Expiration Date”

An individual contacted us with the following account of an issue she experienced with a PetMate carrier. Two years ago, she purchased a soft, collapsible PetMate carrier for her 8lb cat, Boo. This June, her husband took Boo to the vet. Upon, returning, he was transporting Boo from the car to the house when the zippers of the carrier broke apart and Boo, startled, got out. The pair searched for their scared little girl all night long to no avail. They put up fliers, spoke to all the neighbors, put out food and water, set humane traps, enlisted others to help with the search but still failed to find Boo. The following day, around noon, a neighbor called with a sighting:

“I was at their home in less than 2 minutes and found warm blood and bloody paw prints. We were frantic but hoped she’d just hurt her paw.”

That wasn’t the case. They continued searching day and night without sleep or food. Their other cat cried at the window the entire time, refusing to eat as well. Two days later, in the evening they found their little girl behind a garage alive, but in obvious distress. Her leg was severely broken and the individual, who volunteers at  a cat rescue, knew it would require amputation. Further inspection revealed the true tragedy, poor Boo’s entire abdomen (skin & muscle) had been forcibly ripped off, most likely caused by a car pinning her between it’s wheel and the curb, according to this individual’s Veterinarian.

“She mustered some meows for us but she was looking at several surgeries. We were looking at over $10k to save her and she would have been in extensive pain for 6+ months. Her temp was so low it wouldn’t register and several times before we had to make the call I thought she’d already passed. We spent all our bill money on vet bills. We can never unsee what we saw, but I wish we could.”

The couple contacted PetMate with this opinion:

“I’d like to let you know that your defective product caused this so you can make better products so people don’t have to go through what we did. I am holding on to this carrier in case you want to pay to have it shipped to you so you can look it over. If not I’m going to throw it away. We are beyond devastated by all of this and traumatized by how our little girl looked when we found her.”

This was PetMate’s response:

“Thank you for your email, and we are truly sorry for your loss. We understand that the loss of a pet, especially when they are cherished members of the family, is devastating.

We really appreciate you taking the time and extra step to let us know what happened. We have passed on your valuable feedback to our Product Development teams and are saddened as anyone when a beloved pet is injured in any way, as we are pet parents ourselves.

When I inquired about having the unit returned, it was determined that since the unit is two years old, it would be beyond the warranty instilled for this product line and not a necessary action. It was suggested that you could e-mail pictures and we could add them to the file. This would be up to you.

Our compassion is with you in this time of sadness and healing.

If I can assist further please let me know.

Sincerest Regards,

[Name Removed]
Consumer Services Supervisor”

We have shared this in sympathy for a devastated family:

“I would love you to tell her story so others know. If I would have known the carriers weren’t reliable past their warranty I would have replaced it every year! But I wasn’t made aware of this until that email from the company mentioned the warranty. I hadn’t even thought about it. I only wanted them to know they had a faulty product that caused a beloved pet to die in a horrific way with much pain and suffering so they could do better. But they don’t want to do better they just want to hide behind their warranty expiration. If they cared they’d want to see this.”

While we fear there is no legal recourse that can be taken against PetMate in this case, since the product did not directly cause the injury, we wish to stress members of Broken Hartz will be throwing out their hard-shelled PetMate carriers, well past warranty, and will seek another option.”

Lennox Euthanized by Belfast City Council, Backlash Ensues

After a two year legal battle, Belfast City Council euthanized Lennox, the family animal companion who never bit anyone, under Breed Specific Legislation. However, many questions remain. The council refused to return Lennox’s body or even the dog’s collar and many are questioning when Lennox actually died and how. New video surfaced of Lennox being evaluated by a behavioral expert hired by Lennox’s family while Alexandra Lightfoot, the dog warden who testified under oath she was terrified to be near Lennox, sits nearby and pets him. The video shows Lennox wagging his tail, sweetly taking treats and showing no signs of aggression despite being carefully taunted by the behavioral expert. Sinista DaCapo and Cypress DaKilla released a rap song and video expressing their outrage over Belfast City Council’s actions, which has gone viral. The Lennox Army is calling for an investigation into Belfast City Council. [Examiner]

Some of the latest from HartzVictims.org

These people treated 8 cats with Hartz. Only one survived. To the best of our knowledge, Adverse Events involving multiple animals are still not included in EPA studies. The EPA is trying to determine how to include these reports. [HartzVictims.org]

OTC Flea and Tick Product Activists Bid Farewell to BioSpotVictims.org

After eight long years, the highly informative resource on over-the-counter flea and tick products BioSpot Victims.org was removed by site owner, James TerBush. This is a very sad loss for all of us fighting this battle. You can read more about the site and its owner at TinyTimmy.org. Tiny Timmy followed up this piece with a welcome to Broken Hartz and a summary on how our mission came to be. All of us at Broken Hartz thank Mr. TerBush for his years of service to our community and for the factual information he provided which helped fuel the launch of our mission. [TinyTimmy.org]

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.

Change the Station

We hope you enjoyed reading our last post, “Mixed Messages”. We will be re-visiting that topic in today’s post thanks to the latest crap to come rolling down from the “mountain”.

Meet the Hartz Facebook Flea & Tick Care Station:

So, Hartz is going to relieve consumer fears about buying the wrong products by offering their suggestions on what’s safe to use?

You probably know where this is going.

The system works like this. You tell Hartz if you have a cat or a dog, how old the animal is, how much it weighs and where you live in the United States. This “sophisticated” app takes all that data, analyzes it, gives you a coupon for good ole Hartz and makes a postcard for you to tell all your friends about the wonderful deal you just got on some reckless poison.

To be fair, the Care Station doesn’t always recommend Hartz. If you tell the app your animal is under the age or weight limit, it cautions you against using the products, employing cutesy animal graphics. Aww.

Of course, Hartz, has also accounted for the combination of underage and underweight at the same time! What attention to detail:

Okay, so, aside from the expected bias towards Hartz products, what’s the problem?

We’re glad you asked.

In our last post we revealed that Hartz has been sending out messages in direct opposition to their EPA approved labeling, specifically on the subject of age.

As a reminder, here is some of the advice Hartz offers on its Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab, on the topic of appropriate age:

In this instance, the advice above matches with Hartz’ labeling, though Hartz does not go into nearly as much detail on what they consider elderly on their labels (but that’s a whole other post):

Keeping all this in mind, please watch the following video (for the record, you do not have to be logged in to Facebook to use this app and the music is our addition):

Yep. Although Hartz considers cats to be elderly at 7 years of age and they state on their labeling not to use the products on aged cats, they carelessly tell you to run out and choose from an assortment of Hartz flea & tick “treatments” and apply them to your cat of 10 or more years of age, well over the Company’s definition of “aged”.

If you’re wondering, the same results can be obtained if you select the “7-9 Years” option and, yes, the error occurs on the dog side of the fence too:

As soon as we saw news of this release, we made sure to let Hartz know what was coming:

With today’s post, we believe we delivered on that promise.

P.S. – More on Fitch later.

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Penny’s Finds #6

Hai Efurrybodies!

Though my segment has habitually offered a smattering of finds; today, I’d like to focus on one matter in particular.

Our mission is directed squarely at Hartz Mountain Corporation’s deadly flea and tick products because:

1. This is the brand with which our affiliates had an issue
2. We proved their resident veterinarian, Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, to be a dirty liar
3. We found Hartz flea and tick products to be the most deadly by far, in the case of an Adverse Event, based on EPA data from their 2010 Public Advisory
4. The Company is shady as hell

That being said, during our investigations, me and other BH affiliates come upon information concerning not just Hartz, but other Flea and Tick brands as well. This is part of the reason we do not recommend any particular product, advising people to speak with a reputable Veterinarian before applying any product to an animal. More importantly, we seek to drive the point home that all these products are likely to be unnecessary. Vacuuming, laundering, baths with baby shampoo, flea traps and flea combs do an excellent job of protecting your family. We also recommend researching your Vet and any products they recommend. If there’s one thing we’ve learned throughout this mission, it’s that you can never be too careful when choosing a good Veterinarian and products for your furbabies.

To illustrate this point, I’d like to share some findings on Frontline. Frontline is probably the most well-known flea and tick control product on the market, but it is not without problems. Though not as deadly as Hartz, the brand has its own myriad of complaints from consumers:

• Frontline complaints discussion [Amazon]
• More Frontline complaints [Consumer Affairs]

That’s a lot of complaints but, again, Frontline is probably the most popular flea & tick brand on the market. More sales means more likelihood of incidents, which is why we have resorted to percentages in the absence of hard sales data when compiling our charts.

Another matter to consider in the case of Frontline is the knowledge that counterfeits exist, potentially causing many incidents to be incorrectly attributed to Frontline. The counterfeits reportedly contain anything from simply water to toxic pesticides.

• Warning About Counterfeit Frontline [Amazon Discussion Board]
• Information on Counterfeit Pesticide Products for Cats and Dogs [EPA]
• Fact Sheet: Retailers and Counterfeit Pet Products (PDF) [EPA]

Also, I can’t help but notice these negative reports for Frontline seem to come primarily from internet based purchases, even though Frontline is not sold by Merial to anyone but licensed Veterinarians. To assume this means all internet versions of Frontline are counterfeit however would be incorrect. To showcase this point, I call back to a piece from the Veterinary Information Network I mentioned in my first “Penny’s Finds” segment. This piece talks about a Veterinarian who went undercover to expose the illegal sale of Frontline. I only shared Part 1 last time, but did you know this was a 3-part series? It is a very interesting read!

Veterinarian Goes Undercover to Expose Illegal Sales of Frontline:

• [VIN – Part 1]
• [VIN – Part 2]
• [VIN – Part 3]

Funny, we’ve only heard of counterfeit Frontline and Advantage, never Hartz or Sergeant’s. We can’t imagine why. *rolls eyes*

I’d like to finish this week’s Penny’s Finds with a reminder that Truthfairy is very concerned about Frontline.

That’s all for this week!

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.

This Sounds Familiar

Around the time of Hartz’ truth campaign, iwatchnews.org (run by The Center for Public Integrity) featured a piece called “Pets and pesticides: Let’s be careful out there”.

The piece is very fair and balanced. If anything, it skews slightly more favorably to the manufacturers. Despite that, the publication of this article did not sit well with Hartz Mountain Corporation, resulting in The Center for Public Integrity publishing a follow-up article:

Hartz Mountain disputes our story on pets and pesticides; the Center responds

This article begins with the following paragraph:

“Earlier this month, the Center received a five-page “open letter” from Hartz Mountain Corporation alleging that our 12/16/08 story, Pets and Pesticides: Let’s Be Careful Out There, contained inaccurate and misleading information about spot on flea and tick treatments for pets.”

The story of someone debating Hartz, then receiving an insulting, crap document in response is quite familiar to us. Though our affiliates’ crap document came from Dr. Melinda Fernyhough, this particular dispute was led by Hartz Mountain Corporation’s Dr. Marta Draper. We’d love to get our hands on this letter, but it is no longer available.

The Center for Public Integrity discusses Dr. Draper’s disputes and categorically dismisses her false accusations. This case is just one more instance of Hartz accusing others of being misleading when, in fact, they are the party guilty of this deplorable conduct.

We strongly encourage readers to take a moment to read both pieces from The Center for Public Integrity, one of the country’s oldest and largest nonpartisan, nonprofit investigative news organizations with a mission statement quite near to our hearts:

“Our mission: to reveal abuses of power, corruption and dereliction of duty by powerful public and private institutions in order to cause them to operate with honesty, integrity, accountability and to put the public interest first.” – The Center for Public Integrity

Check out these articles today:

“Pets and pesticides: Let’s be careful out there”

Hartz Mountain disputes our story on pets and pesticides; the Center responds

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Truth in Art

Have you seen great Broken Hartz protest art from BH Warriors and wondered where it all ends up?

They go to our “#BHwarriors Art” Pinterest board, of course!

You may remember, Pinterest was one of the sites where Hartz Mountain Corporation infringed on our servicemark, leading to Hartz being handed a third straight defeat in its attempts to censor our mission.

Since then, our boards have been growing, becoming ever more populated with supporter submissions. We’d like to share some of those submissions with you today.

This first piece comes from less of a BH Warrior and more of a BH Compatriot, HartzKills.org.

We’ve been absolutely thrilled by the level of attention we’ve received from this excellent Hartz protest website that’s been in operation for years, but when this graphic was created in honor of our 13-day Twitter trend, we were over the moon!

Next up, we have a submission from one of our longest standing, strongest supporters; Lulu (@Lulu_Lindi on Twitter). Lulu’s involvement in our mission has earned her the title of BH Ambassador.

Continuing, the revelation Skelanimals has partnered with Hartz prompted active Hartz opponent, Boycott Hartz (found on Facebook and Twitter) to add the following graphic to its prolific body of protest compositions:

Though slightly newer to our mission; BH Warrior, Corina (@Rinarubee on Twitter), has made many contributions to the mission, including this important message for Hartz:

The last example of great Hartz Mountain Corporation protest art we will be sharing today comes from none other than BH Warrior, Guye (@Di_sss on Twitter). When it comes to BH Warrior art, Guye is the grandfather. He pretty much launched the artistic wing of our mission all on his own, inspiring us and others to follow suit. Here is just one of his many excellent creations:

Thank you to everyone out there that keep making Hartz Mountain Corporation protest art to add to the collection. Art has a way of reaching people in a manner other forms of communication cannot and, in the war against Hartz, we believe artistic expression will continue to play a strong role in achieving our goal.

To send us your submissions, feel free to contact us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest or send an email to BrokenHartzPets@gmail.com.

We can’t wait to see what our BH Warriors come up with next!

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