#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:

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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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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.”

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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.

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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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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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Behind Closed Doors

We wish to expand on our discussion from Thursday’s posting.

While Hartz was busy lying to someone on Facebook, another conversation was taking place, hidden from view.

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A few weeks ago we were contacted by a Hartz victim in Canada who had applied Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens on two cats. Both of these cats reacted to the product with neurological issues. Chewie, sadly, did not survive:

“We euthanized him after a 20 minute grand mal seizure. We couldn’t even hold him in the room. My boyfriend and I had to go to Chewie in the lab while one girl held him down. The vet said ‘touch his head, tell him you love him, and let’s do this quickly’. It was the worst thing I’ve ever witnessed an animal go through.” – Hartz Victim

Hartz may wish to deny this video, pointing out the public has no way of knowing what product or brand was used, if any, or if the individual that contacted us was just making the whole thing up for no other reason than to try and pin another death on poor old Hartz.

While it’s true we have not met this individual face-to-face, those familiar with our blog should be aware we know our way around the internet and are not in the habit of accepting claims at face value. Immediately upon contacts of this nature, our team of investigators search for corroborating evidence.

Through research, we discovered:

• The name given checks out as a real name of a person living in the specific city in Canada this individual claims as their residence.
• Through IP address confirmation, this individual reached out to us from the specific city in Canada in which they claim to reside.
• Unknown to the individual, they confirmed personal, anecdotal information we had already discovered about the individual this person claims to be.

Additionally, this individual, aside from the video, has provided:

• Photos of the Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens package, claimed by this individual to be the culprit. This demonstrates the correct species product was used:
  
• The correct Health Canada number (26491) for the Hartz product claimed to be the culprit (This product matches up with US product EPA #2596-147, used by our affiliates)
• A phone number where this individual can be reached
• The case number Hartz assigned to this complaint after the victim contacted them
• Photos of Veterinarian notes on the case of Chewie:
  

  

Additionally, this individual has used their actual name through all correspondences with both us and Hartz. They would have gone to great lengths in order to stage what they claim has occurred and, in our opinion, their story more than sufficiently checks out. By the end of this post, we think you’ll agree.

As we’ve already mentioned, this individual contacted Hartz:

“The first thing the Hartz guy said was ‘I’d hate to think there was some sort of cross contamination or worse, if the wrong product was in the wrong packaging’. I thought that was a pretty random thing to say…” – Hartz Victim

Of course, that statement isn’t so random if you know Hartz has had packaging mix-ups in the past for Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens.

In the following screenshot, you’ll see the individual in question reiterated what Hartz said on the phone to the Company’s Facebook account. The Hartz Facebook team made no attempt to dispute that claim:

You’ll notice in this particular screenshot, at the beginning of corresponding with Hartz, the victim had hopes this would get resolved appropriately, though doubts were already forming. Regarding this conversation, the victim says:

“At this time I was still very upset and did not want to fight, I wanted answers. As you can see, I didn’t get one.” – Hartz Victim

Moving on, you’ll notice in the Veterinarian’s notes above, they assert an opinion that Chewie suffered from what appears to be Permethrin poisoning. There is not supposed to be any Permethrin in Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Cats and Kittens (2.9% Methoprene), though it is found in Hartz Ultraguard One Spot Treatment for Dogs and Puppies (2.9% Methoprene, 45% Permethrin).

You’ll also note, in the screenshots above, a toxicologist was consulted who supports the Veterinarian’s opinion concerning this case. It resembles Permethrin poisoning (or some other toxic exposure) despite there being no indication on the packaging of Permethrin’s presence or anything other than Methoprene, an Insect Growth Regulator, widely accepted to be safe.

Because of this, the toxicologist inquired if there was a dog in the house that may have been treated with a Permethrin product or some other toxic substance. The veterinarian consulted with the Hartz victim, then noted:

“Called [Hartz Victim]. Discussed info from toxicologist. Confirmed dog in house, however, he was treated with Revolution (Selamectin)”

Revolution is an FDA-Approved Animal Drug, for use on both cats and dogs. As the Veterinarian notes, Revolution contains Selamectin, which kills fleas and flea eggs, along with treating for mites and a variety of worms. It does not match the profile of a possible culprit in this case.

The Veterinarian and toxicologist’s findings followed in line with the Hartz representative’s readily-offered suspicion that perhaps Permethrin was mistakenly placed into Hartz’ cat packaging, causing the death of Chewie.

This prompted the individual in question to post these notes from their Veterinarian on Hartz’ Facebook wall:

After posting this information on Hartz’ Facebook wall, the individual in question reached out to us.

Here is where this already interesting case takes an even more interesting spin.

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“Vet AND Toxicologist agree. The symptoms, timing of onset, even reputation of this product and brand – the only conclusion is that Hartz killed my cat The lab tech even said ‘we see this all the time’” – Hartz Victim

“This picture lasted exactly 7 minutes on the Hartz fb page before someone deleted it” – Hartz Victim

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This was followed up privately shortly thereafter with the following revelation:

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“I went back and it’s there!! People even slammed them in the comments… so weird. So I posted it, it was removed… then re-appeared?

I asked them in a public forem for a written apology [:)]

*forum

Can you see it from your page?” – Hartz Victim

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No, we could not see it from our page, nor could we see it using various control methods.

Clearly, there was a discrepancy.

Here is a portion of what the Hartz Victim (represented in black) was seeing:

Here is what we were able to see:

So, it became apparent we were witnessing a different Hartz tactic. This tactic is a bit more advanced than Hartz’ typical course of action: deletion.

The flaw in this plan is people really don’t take kindly to a product that causes them to inadvertently sicken, injure or kill those they love.

These kinds of people have a habit of finding each other and uniting. Through that, there were individuals watching this case unfold from both sides of the privacy setting, exposing Hartz’ intent to lure this victim into thinking this comment had been left in the public domain when it had, in fact, been hidden.

Unfortunately for Hartz, this individual (represented in black) was on to them.

In the screenshot above, the victim states:

“Isn’t this form a good DM as it is only visable [sic] to some people?” – Hartz Victim

“time dated screen shots from another computer show this is not a public message.” – Hartz Victim

To this, a Hartz Facebook “prisoner”, probably long forgotten, made themselves known:

“[Hartz Victim], Hartz removed this picture from their page, so it’s no longer visible to the public. Basically, they don’t want others to know about how dangerous their products are so they can keep making a profit. Sad.” – [Name Removed]

So, we come back to Hartz claiming other sites are guilty of misleading the public while, at the same time, they hid Veterinary documents pointing to the very serious possibility of a deadly packaging error.

The likelihood something of this nature would be limited to one package is highly unlikely and we hope Hartz is taking a close look at what is happening with Health Canada product #26491, though we are not holding our breath.

The individual in question makes one last point on this posting, regarding Hartz’ request for contact information:

“Hartz has all my info and has been able to ‘reach out’ to me at any time.” – Hartz Victim

It has been days now since the individual in question called Hartz out on their Facebook grouping tactic, with no response:

“I believe I am just being ignored.” – Hartz Victim

In the meantime, we checked back on the posting that led to Thursday’s piece.

We notice Hartz has removed a comment since the time of our last entry. We have accented the comment in question in the following screenshot from June 27, 2012:

Here is a susbsequent screenshot, taken on June 30, 2012, showing Hartz’ decision to remove the comment, which had received 5 “likes”:

“Don’t use Hartz. It’s terrible for your pets” – [Name Removed]

Upon closer inspection, we noticed this posting consists of 7 comments, even though a Facebook glitch notes 10 comments in the preview of this posting:

It would appear Hartz has removed 2 other comments before we got any screenshots of this posting.

We wonder what else they chose to censor.

=^..^=

Alex Gweneth Revisited

We’d like to return to the subject of Alex Gweneth from 5W Public Relations, willing lackey and outrageous shill for Hartz Mountain Corporation. If you are unfamiliar with Mr. Gweneth and his role in this ugly affair, please read this article first.

Since having been exposed for fraud, Mr. Gweneth has been quite busy. Is he running around correcting inaccuracies we’ve exposed?

No, of course not. Hartz does not fix problems.

Instead; Hartz Mountain Corporation, through Mr. Gweneth, has decided to continue peddling their overwhelmingly fraudulent claim that their flea treatment products for cats cause no adverse reactions:

This author bio can be found at the bottom of every one of Alex Gweneth’s Ewagz.com articles as well as his author page. As you can see Mr. Gweneth has posted 7 more articles, on Ewagz.com alone, since we last checked in on him.

Mr. Gweneth has been hard at work spreading more Hartz crap all over the internet but, today, we’d like to highlight some older posts by Mr. Gweneth, which were not covered in our previous exposé. These articles have been left in their entirety in the interest of preserving their “integrity”.

In this first piece, you’ll see Mr. Gweneth performing his usual routine of fear-mongering, followed by claims attempting to mislead potential consumers into thinking Hartz is a trusted brand, complete with a false statement that these products are well known to produce minimal adverse reactions over the years.

 

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(Hatrz [sic] Flea & Tick Products – Providing the Best Protection To Your Pets posted on articlesvision.com on February 2, 2012, by Alex Gweneth)

“With [sic] arrival of summers [sic], most pet owners start to worry about the measures they need to take to protect their pets from the menace of fleas and ticks. Once fleas ride into your home and start laying eggs in the fur of your pet, getting rid of them is not an easy task. Even if you manage to kill the adult fleas, the eggs hatch and you have a completely new generation of fleas ready to suck your beloved pet white. However, pet owners, [sic] who have been using the [sic] Hartz Flea & Tick Control products for years, [sic] are well aware that these high quality products are completely safe and effective in protecting their beloved pets from the various troubles caused by these small parasites.

Hartz flea & tick control products are rendered [??] least toxic and safe for direct use on animals by the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Numerous pet owners, [sic] who have been using the [sic] Hartz products on their pets over the years, [sic] have confirmed that these products cause minimum adverse reactions or allergies on animal skin. The dedication of Hartz to ensure pet production [??] and their passion ensure the happiness of pets combined with their years of experience in manufacturing pet care products definitely provides them with an advantage over other pet care product manufacturing brands. [The preceding sentence is simply a grammatical nightmare. Try not to let your head explode.]

The people at Hartz are well aware of the intense bonding that most pet owners have with their pets. So, the company strives hard to provide products that can ensure to make this relationship even healthier and fun filled. They utilize the latest technologies and innovative ideas of their researchers in creating pet care products, including flea and tick control treatments that will ensure a healthier, happier and longer life for them. In order to serve their customers in a better manner, Hartz has established strategic partnerships with leading research and educational organizations that help the company in developing new and better products for pet care.

Hartz is a premium brand of pet care products which has been catering to pets includes [sic] dogs, cats, parrots, finches, goldfish, tropical fish, reptiles, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits etc. for over 80 years. Hartz flea & tick control treatments happens to be amongst [sic] the most popular creations of this 1,500 products strong Company.

To know more about the [sic] Hartz flea & tick control products and check out their entire range of the [sic] products, log on to [??] http://www.hartz.com/”

 

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This next piece is filled with more crazy nonsense.

Mr. Gweneth actually mentions vacuuming, however he adds the totally unnecessary step of burning the vacuum bag afterwards even though fleas can not survive inside the confines of a vacuum bag.

The act of burning the vacuum bag afterwards is even more dangerous if one has chosen to utilize Hartz Carpet Powder as Mr. Gweneth suggests. We do not imagine burning off pesticides is a good idea.

More disturbingly, this article seems to be running the risk of causing the possibility of overexposure to these pesticides by suggesting such a fierce and multi-tiered plan of action, when the simple acts of vacuuming and laundering would probably suffice.

 

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(Relinquish [??] Fleas and Ticks with Hartz Flea and Tick Control Products posted on articlesvision.com on February 1, 2012, by Alex Gweneth)

“Winning the war against fleas and ticks requires preparation and research. These nasty creatures not only live off their host by sucking their blood day in and day out but also act as carriers of deadly diseases and parasites such as tapeworms. The itchy whelps [sic] they leave behind on the skin of their host are both unsightly and [sic] nuisance. Don’t for a moment believe, [sic] that they are [sic] threat to only your cats, dogs, or hamsters, these little beasts can easily choose you for their next ride.

How you make sure that your pets and your home are free from parasites is entirely up to you. But you are not alone in your crusade against these tiny brutes as Hartz flea & tick prevention products help you to eliminate them and keep [sic] away for good.
There is nothing to be embarrassed about if your home gets infested with fleas.

While it is not a reflection on the cleanliness of your home, remedying the problem may require you to take action on several fronts. Along with treating your pets with various Hartz Flea & Tick control products like Hartz Flea & Tick Shampoo, Hartz Flea & Tick Collars and Hartz Flea & Tick Drops etc. you should thoroughly vacuum your home and burn the bag afterwards. Hartz Flea & Tick Carpet Powder would [sic] help you to eliminate any remaining flea eggs and prevent fleas from returning. Don’t forget to wash any bedding your pet lays on, including your own bed if it is in the habit of snuggling with you.

Treat your yard while you’re at it, if you want your efforts to be truly fruitful. If they are out there, they will find a way to ride in. If you are trying to deal with a really bad infestation, it may take several treatments at one go and several repetitions before you can be sure that you have wiped out the buggers completely.

Hartz is a premium brand of pet care products which has been catering to pets includes [sic] dogs, cats, parrots, finches, goldfish, tropical fish, reptiles, chinchillas, guinea pigs, hamsters and rabbits etc. for over 80 years. Hartz flea & tick control treatments happens to be amongst [sic] the most popular creations of this 1,500 products strong Company.

To know more about the, [sic] Hartz flea & tick products and check out their entire range, log on to [??] http://www.hartz.com/”

 

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We’d like to conclude today’s post by addressing a piece Alex Gweneth did about Hartz’ Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab. It should come as no surprise the piece is garbage, concluding with these sentences:

 

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(Hartz launches Flea and Tick Education program on Facebook posted on ezinemark.com on February 5, 2012, by Alex Gweneth, Paragraph 5, Sentences 2 and 3)

“With an extensive set of information about Hartz products, common dog and cat flea problems, news and updates, everything is right at the fingertips of concerned pet owners. It may be all that pet parents need to keep their four-legged friends happy and healthy during any season.”

 

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Though Hartz would like very much to be the only resource consumers utilize, given the wealth of inaccuracies we’ve found on their Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab, we think the public would be better off consulting the EPA and reputable Veterinarians.

In conclusion, Mr. Gweneth’s postings since our first piece have been a bit more careful, but we’re sure he’ll give us something more to talk about in the future.

Stay tuned.

=^..^=

“Panic” Button

Hello Readers,

As you can imagine, the world of social media can be very scary to a corporation like Hartz that has so much to fear in the manner of public backlash, but they have a “cunning” solution to that problem:

The “Delete” Button

We’d like to take a look at three recent examples of this strategy, the first of which involves a follower who contacted us shortly after posting on Hartz’ Facebook wall about their product making her cat deathly ill 5 yrs ago:

In the screenshot above, this Hartz Victim tells us:

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“I just posted on Hartz about my cat getting critically ill 5 years ago from their crappy flea product. I said my Vet said it had chemical in it that were toxic to cats. I asked WHY there are still selling their product. I know several other people whose cats got sick from the flea meds. There cats wer not as lucky as mine, they died. I re-checked their site 10 minutes later and my post had vanished….unbelievable…what sick, unethical bastards!”

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Given how often we have seen Hartz delete complaints as well as comments from protestors, we fully believe the individual above despite us having no physical proof of this individual’s claim.

With these next two examples, however, we have documentation.

Here is an individual, unaware of our organization (to our knowledge) that contacted Hartz:

The Hartz Victim in the screenshot above states:

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“Can you tell me why my cat is dead the day after applying your flea and tick medication? You portray it as safe, but I don’t think that he has the same opinion as you. The Vet said that all of you that sell this crap ought to be prosecuted.”

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Before moving on, we ask you to note the comment underneath the death complaint. You’ll see in the screenshot below, this comment now features a different comment on top of it, proving Hartz’ decision to delete the death complaint rather than respond or allow members of the public to see the truth.

Moving on, we’d like to conclude today’s post with the story of Sangha.

Sangha’s family found us shortly after going through a very traumatic experience.

 

 

Through contact with the Hartz Victim above, we learned a picture of Sangha was posted on Hartz’ wall as well, in the interest of calling more attention to this matter of public safety.

Upon learning this, our organization obtained the following screenshot:

By noting the time stamp information offered by Facebook, combined with time stamp information in the bottom-right corner of the above screenshot, you can determine the posting of Sangha to Hartz’ Facebook wall occurred on June 11, 2012 at 10:56pm.

Applying this same technique to the screenshot below, you’ll notice the Hartz Victim did not post any comment on the photo until 5:33am the following morning.

It took Hartz Mountain Corporation until 3:30pm to take note. This cost them, as evidenced by a separate individual taking note and commenting. We are sure others saw this as well.

This time Hartz tried pasting in their form response:

Here is the conversation found in the screenshot above:

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[Hartz Victim]:

“This cat, my cat, my healthy beautiful cat, died just over a week after receiving her first dose of Hartz Ultraguard for cats and kittens.”

[Other Individual]:

“I am so sorry. She was a beautiful, sweet kitty.”

Hartz:

“Hi [Hartz Victim]. We are very sorry to hear about the loss of your cat. As pet parents, we know that losing a beloved member of your family can be devastating. We would like to learn more about what happened and ask that you please call us immediately at 1-800-929-3566.”

[Hartz Victim]:

“Based on the amount of complaints you have already received, I’m positive you already know what happened to my cat. Please, stop selling the Ultraguard product.”

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Once Hartz knew the jig was up and this Hartz Victim wasn’t going to be silenced, they promptly deleted the posting. This can be proven by looking back at the screenshot of Sangha’s posting before any comments were made.

You’ll note, there is a posting below the Hartz Victim’s post of a small dog in a sink with Hartz shampoo in the background.

However, in the screenshot below, you’ll notice the dog in the sink posting now has a different posting featured directly above it.

Hartz may have deleted the comment in an effort to silence this victim, but they will not succeed.

Not only did this particular victim alert Broken Hartz, they have alerted HartzVictims.org as well with this posting of Sangha’s death.

The actions documented above leave us with further doubts as to the truthfulness with which Hartz approaches its incident report submissions to the EPA, using nothing but the “honor system”.

We will be creating an infographic for Sangha to accompany other Hartz Victim infographics, found in our Warrior Kit and will be distributing this graphic in many ways in order to aid HartzVictims.org, HartzKills.org, TinyTimmy.org and others in combatting Hartz Mountain Corporation’s revisionist history.

To be clear, Hartz does not delete all negative comments and complaints of adverse reactions but, in the case of death, we feel the following chart sums up the Hartz Facebook Team’s position:

We at Broken Hartz wish to extend our condolences to the Hartz Victims highlighted in this post as well as all those throughout the decades who have had the misfortune to be affected by this evil corporation.

You are in our thoughts.

We fight for you.

=^..^=

 

It Would Seem Congratulations are in Order

WARNING: THE FOLLOWING POST CONTAINS A GRAPHIC IMAGE

It’s become pretty clear to the members of our organization that Hartz Mountain Corporation has made Facebook one of its primary tools of deception.

Hartz not only uses Facebook to mislead the public with its Flea & Tick Education Tab, which we’ve already addressed, but they make some other very interesting claims when dealing directly with the public on this popular social media network.

The following graphic image is reported to be of a dog burned by a Hartz flea product.

It has been shared all over Facebook, including our wall:

 

 

As you can see, with 55 likes, 279 comments and 849 shares; the picture above has created a huge amount of interaction in relation to our small organization, but did you know this picture has made its way to Hartz’ Facebook account as well?

With no likes, no shares and only 3 comments, you may be surprised to learn we find Hartz’ interaction to be more interesting than ours:

 

 

The comments in the picture above read as follows, with emphasis on an unexpected “revelation”:

[Facebook User]:

“THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS WHEN YOU USE HARTZ FLEA PRODUCTS!!!!! DO NOT USE HARTZ PRODUCTS!!!!”

Hartz:

“Hi [Facebook User]. We hold our products to the strictest efficacy and safety standards by the Federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), Food and Drug Administration. If there is no animal standard in place, we hold our products to human standards. In fact, all Hartz flea and tick products are held to the same safety and efficacy testing standards as those purchased from veterinarians. Hartz was one of the first brands to comply with EPA standards when the agency was first established. You can find links to independent studies about our products here: https://www.facebook.com/HartzPets/app_204655519608631. If you would like to speak more about this issue, we encourage you to email us at consumeraffairs@hartz.com.”

[Facebook User]:

“Then explain the photo….. This is [sic] burns from your product.”

[Facebook User]:

“I have workedin.vet [sic] clinics for years and your products are not safe. Please stop producing flea and tick solution, for our pets sake!”

Hartz had no further comment but, as you can see from the portion we highlighted in the screenshot above (and emphasized in the quote), it would appear Hartz is overdue for some congratulations.

Way to go, Hartz.

We didn’t realize your flea and tick products had received FDA-Approval.

We’re not sure how we missed this, though we suspect it has something to do with the fact you are lying through your collective teeth because no Hartz flea products carry FDA-Approval.

We first called attention to this fact in our post “Hartz Claims Advantage Doesn’t Have FDA Approved Drugs”. In that post, we revealed, the only Hartz flea and tick product listed on the FDA’s website was withdrawn:

Hartz Flea Control Capsules AKA Zodiac Fleatrol Caps: NADA 141-162 (Active Ingredient:s-methoprene)

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“This product Voluntarily Withdrawn By Sponsor”

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Please add this intentionally misleading statement to the ever-increasing list of shameless lies Hartz has fed the public in an effort to maintain control through misinformation.

=^..^=

 

“A [sic] Education Tab” Part III: Teenage Flea Pregnancy is on the Rise

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Click this link for “‘A [sic] Education Tab’ Part II”

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We hope Hartz Mountain Corporation and Dr. Melinda Fernyhough have been providing you with a good “a education”.

In today’s post, we continue analyzing the “From Hartz” links, found on the right-hand side of their Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab:

 

 

In Part II of this series, we discussed the first two Hartz links, “The UltraGuard Cause” and “UltraGuard Product Efficacy”.

It’s time for the “Parasites and your Pet” link:

 

 

The information linked to from this page serves to get the public good and concerned about the dangers of fleas, mites and others by making statements like this:

 

 

The highlighted text in the screenshot above says:

“Female fleas start producing eggs 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 50 eggs per day.”

This comment gets repeated on the equivalent cat page:

 

 

We at Broken Hartz found this little “tidbit” quite surprising, considering Hartz received the following reprimand from the EPA for one of their label submissions in 2009:

 

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(EPA Registration #2596-150 Amendment, Dated January 13, 2009 Page 4, Paragraph 2)

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Hartz must have really disagreed with the EPA on this one, or perhaps teenage flea pregnancy has been on the rise, because Hartz repeatedly claims much higher flea-egg production rates than the EPA acknowledges on 4 of the 10 “educational” references provided on this page.

The real problem here is Hartz exercising one of its favorite tools, “vague truth”.

There are differing reports on fleas, but it is generally accepted that fleas are indeed capable of laying up to 50 eggs per day. This, however; is the upper threshold, not the average.

Seeing as how the average rate of flea-egg production, per the EPA, is 25 per day; logically, many fleas lay less than 25 eggs per day. That is why the EPA would view statements such as those made by Hartz to be misleading.

Additionally, it is not fully clear, but Hartz seems to be suggesting a 100% flea-egg success rate, as opposed to the generally accepted 75%-80% survival rate.

The previous two examples are causing some miscommunication of facts, but seeing as how Hartz isn’t exactly lying, perhaps you think we are being a little excessive on this point.

These next two examples however add a new layer to the “vague truth” tactic.

 

 

 

The highlighted text in the pair of screenshots above read:

“Female fleas start producing eggs within 24 to 48 hours after taking their first blood meal and can lay up to 40 – 50 eggs per day.”

Again, Hartz has not technically lied, but we at Broken Hartz feel the act of placing a range of “40 – 50 eggs per day” on the equation will “inadvertently” lead the public into thinking fleas lay between 40 – 50 flea-eggs per day as opposed to an average of 25 flea-eggs per day, as preferred by the EPA.

Interesting wording, Hartz.

What you call “factual information about flea and tick products”, the EPA considers “false and misleading”.

We wonder who to trust.

Stop back on Thursday as we expose even more of the real story behind Hartz’ efforts to “educate” the public in Part IV of our “A [sic] Education Tab” series.

=^..^=

 

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Click this link for “‘A [sic] Education Tab’ Part IV”

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“A [sic] Education Tab” Part II: We’ve Got Microscopes!

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Click this link for “‘A [sic] Education Tab’ Part I”

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Welcome back to our analysis of Hartz’ Facebook Education Tab, referenced in Hartz’ Executive Summary document, authored by Dr. Melinda Fernyhough.

 

In Part I, we focused on the EPA data made available through links on Hartz’ Facebook Flea & Tick Education Tab, found on the left-hand side of this screenshot:

 

 

In this post, we’ll begin focusing on materials appearing on the right-hand side of this tab. This information comes straight from Hartz in an effort to “properly” educate potential customers.

As you can imagine, Hartz chooses to start off by deceiving the public into thinking they put safety first. The following material is reached by clicking the first “From Hartz” link, “The UltraGuard ‘Cause’”:

 

 

The text in the screenshot above reads:

“The relationship between you and your pet is very important to us, [sic] Hartz is committed to providing you with products that will effectively get rid of fleas, ticks and mosquitoes to keep your pet pest-free.

In these economic times, we know how important it is to have affordable options. Hartz UltraGuard® is committed to offering you “better protection for less”.

See for yourself and compare.”

Classic Hartz.

The above Hartz text, aside from being pure crap, makes a “but don’t take our word for it” kind of claim at the end but, if you follow that link, you find yourself on a Hartz page with nonsense comparison charts drafted by Hartz based, in part, on Hartz surveys.

 

 

Here is a close-up of the Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Frontline Plus Dog Product Comparison Chart:

 

 

You’ll notice many asterisks and other notations on these charts as well as the fact Hartz seems to think the additional feature of “repelling” is a bonus.

We at Broken Hartz feel killing suffices and, in some ways, repellent features are not attractive. A repelled pest is afforded the opportunity to continue hiding in your environment. A product that does not discourage pests from meeting their fates could be viewed as preferable.

If you remove the repellent “bonus” and decipher the notations on the Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Frontline Plus Dog Product Comparison Chart, you get the following clarified comparison:

 

 

There you have it.

A couple years ago Hartz was determined, by a Hartz survey, that their applicator was better than Frontline Plus.

Both products kill one pest that the other does not.

Frontline Plus is more expensive; but both are less than $20/month and, according to the EPA, may not even be necessary.

Additionally, we’ve added the important notation that, in the case of an Adverse Event, Hartz is more likely to cause serious injury and death.

Serious medical complications would obviously result in hefty Veterinary service bills, heartache and pain.

The Hartz Ultraguard Pro vs. Advantage comparison is similarly deceptive, primarily based on the fact Hartz is trying to gloss over Bayer’s newer Advantage II product.

This product kills all flea life stages including flea eggs and larvae to prevent infestation and, in the case of its dog version; treats, prevents and controls lice infestations as well.

Hartz can still claim victory in the Tick and Mosquito columns as well as being cheaper and, in the case of an adverse event, far more likely to kill.

Take your pick.

Moving on, if you click the next tab on this first “educational” resource Hartz has provided, you will see this:

 

 

The above screen outlines “The Hartz UltraGuard ‘Cause’”.

As you would expect, it’s filled with more deceptive nonsense, designed to lure consumers into trusting that which is indefensibly monstrous.

We won’t bother repeating every bit of the above screenshot here but, since Hartz chose to emphasize the following piece, we think they would appreciate if we made sure to share this particular lie with you:

“At Hartz, we are committed to providing you with the necessary information to make educated, objective decisions about pest treatment products for your pet.”

Hartz would like it if you keep this mind and, actually, so would we.

It makes the information we will be presenting in our “A [sic] Education Tab” series that much more deplorable.

On the last tab available on this first “educational” Hartz resource, you are met with the following:

 

 

This page offers nothing but some claims of Hartz having educated staff in their research facilities.

We at Broken Hartz wish to point out, a corrupt, educated man can lie for money far more effectively than a fool.

There is not much else that can be derived from this page except, given the photographic evidence, the primary functions of these individuals seem to be holding petri dishes and posing next to microscopes.

We’d like to finish out today’s post by moving on to the second of Hartz “educational” links, but that link is broken.

 

 

Why is this page broken, you ask?

That’s a good question, and the answer is hilarious!

We caused it.

Back when we first exposed Hartz for actually publishing the Executive Summary document they submitted to our affiliates, Hartz made the desperate move of re-structuring their entire website in order to try and break our link to the offending page.

Of course, we found the new location instantly, then informed Hartz it was futile to keep moving the page, since we already had archived the offense.

There would be no escape.

All Hartz achieved by hurriedly re-structuring their website was prove we had caught something they didn’t want us to see.

Furthermore; by choosing to re-locate these lies, rather than delete them from their website; Hartz proved, despite the risk, they are very keen to have this information on their website for some unknown reason.

This of course, led to further archives and proof Hartz has now violated the terms of FIFRA (the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, Rodenticide Act).

You can read more about what happened and how we pinned Hartz to the wall in our post, “Status Report”.

In that post we pointed out how Hartz renamed one of their web folders from “About_Hartz” to “About_HartzPet” in order to break our link to their offending web page.

Aside from completely failing to thwart us, this action caused a plethora of Hartz links to become broken.

Take another look at Hartz’ broken “Product Efficacy” page. We’ve circled the important part:

 

 

Since we know why the page is broken, a simple change of address is all we need to fix it:

 

 

Hartz’ “Product Efficacy” page is filled with the same junk we’ve come to expect from Hartz but, since it’s not technically an active part of Hartz’ Facebook “Education” Tab, we will not be addressing it at this time.

This concludes Part II of “A [sic] Education Tab”.

We’ll see you on Tuesday for Part III.

=^..^=

 

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Click this link for “‘A [sic] Education Tab’ Part III”

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