this is not a journal title

No information about which ones, but China's finding that a lot of their veterinary drugs are fakes.

And meanwhile the former head of the Chinese FDA equivalent is appealing his death sentence for corruption.

Thanks to rosefox for the links.

FYI, a Texas lab has found lethal (to cats) doses of acetaminophen (Tylenol) in cat food. Apparently Hills Science Diet Sensitive Stomach is affected among others, but I don't know specific others. At the levels of acetaminophen measured, a cat eating a 100g can of contaminated cat food would have a 50/50 chance of dying w/in 4 days. Acetaminophen is apparently *quite* toxic to cats, essentially stopping their blood's hemoglobin from being able to carry oxygen.

http://www.dolittler.com/index.cfm/2007/6/7/pet.vet.dog.cat.pet%20food%20recall.acetominophen.6.7.07
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/mostread/s_510984.html
http://www.itchmo.com/read/itchmo-reader-reports-acetaminophen-in-pet-food_20070605

Again, I don't have a list of the actual products, and there hasn't been any recall.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/asiapcf/05/08/china.petfood/index.html

The guy in charge of the Chinese factory from whence the wheat gluten flour was sold to the US is claiming that he doesn't even know what melamine is. He's being held by Chinese authorities for 30 days, and after that will be either charged or released.

Yes, you read that right, it's wheat flour that was actually contaminated with melamine and cyuranic acid, and it was then mislabeled as wheat gluten or rice protein concentrate. It was this flour that made its way into the feed for hogs, poultry, and fish, and none of the news I've read addressed whether the flour could've made its way directly into the human food supply. Meaning that individuals can only avoid potentially contaminated products by eating home-grown or buying from trusted organic-type farms. I'm screwed.

The mechanism for death is that the melamine and cyuranic acid react in the kidneys, causing crystals, organ failure, and eventual death. Kidneys play an important role in homeostasis, including filtering out impurities in the blood, maintaining the proper acidity, blood pressure, and levels of electrolytes in the blood. Screwing with any one of those individually will kill you, all three...

Although the FDA has received 4,000 complaints of pet (cat and dog) deaths, only 17 have been confirmed.

You may want to avoid pork for a while. It appears that some of the recalled cat and dog food tainted with melamine was fed to some 6,000 pigs. Some of these pigs were then sent to the slaughterhouse and the pork from around 345 former pigs then entered the human food supply.

States with pig farms using the potentially tainted pork include California, New York, North and South Carolina, Utah, Kansas, and Oklahoma; and poultry in Missouri may also be affected. Keep in mind though that the ham you get at a deli could've come from ANY state, so you cannot say if it's safe or not. Unless you're buying locally and/or organically grown, those're probably safe.

Natural Balance's Venison & Brown Rice Dry Dog Food, Venison & Green Pea Dry Cat Food.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/17/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/video/player/player.html?url=/video/us/2007/04/07/vo.nm.train.through.wildfire.krqe
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/06/pet.deaths/index.html
http://www.banfield.net/about/article.asp?id=10

There's a possibility that melanine was added to the wheat gluten intentionally and fraudulently to try and get a higher price. The reasoning goes as follows. When there's a high protein content in the wheat gluten, it fetches a higher price. Protein has lots of nitrogen. Melanine has lots of nitrogen. Prior to this fiasco there was no indication that melanine could cause kidney failure in either cats or dogs, so why not add it?

Two other bits of info also. They're still not sure melanine really DOES cause kidney failure in cats and dogs. It could be that there's another chemical, as yet undetected, that is causing the kidney failure, and the melanine is either coincidentally there as well, or is somehow linked to the source of the other chemical. They will have to do more tests and probably deliberately kill a few (lab) cats and dogs with melanine to know for sure.

And lastly, the closest they have to a national database of information from vets is the Banfield pet hospital chain/group. They've reported a 30% increase in kidney problem diagnoses over the past few months, but they have also reported a recent decrease in the number of diagnoses, indicating that the worst may be over.

Two more brands of cat and dog food are being recalled: Purina Alpo Prime Cuts in Gravy wet dog food, and Hill's Prescription Diet m/d Feline *DRY* cat food.

"Acute kidney failure is typically marked by vomiting, increased thirst, increase or lack of urination, lethargy, bad breath, diarrhea, and lack of appetite. These symptoms signal a health crisis, with time being the difference between whether an animal lives or dies." (Pet Connection)

More Info:
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/03/31/pet.food.recall.ap/index.html
http://www.purina.com/Company/Press/2007/MightyDog.aspx
http://www.hillspet.com/menu_foods/md_Recall_03302007_en_US.htm
http://menufoods.com/recall/
http://www.petconnection.com/renaldisease.php