Officers of the EPA:
I am relieved to learn the EPA has finally acted to remove Hartz Mountain Corp.
flea and tick control products from retail shelves. However, the arrangement with
Hartz, as outlined in the EPA's June 3, 2005 press release, is unsatisfactory.
While the EPA directs Hartz to "cancel uses of several flea and tick products that
may be associated with a range of adverse reactions," it offers Hartz nearly a year to
recover financially. The agreement states new production of specified products for
felines will cease on September 30, 2005. Hartz will halt the sale/distribution of
specified products for felines after December 31, 2005 and comply with a prohibition
on sales at the retail level by March 31, 2006.
During this time, products known to have killed or irreversibly injured thousands
of cats, kittens, dogs and puppies will stay in stores.
The EPA's call for short-term relabeling of certain products has been tried before.
In 2002, the EPA registered 5,000 complaints about Hartz flea and tick control
products. After the EPA instructed Hartz to relabel products with "stronger
precautionary statements and use directions," the agency recorded over 1,400 consumer
grievances within the first six months of 2003.
Respectable veterinarians have long acknowledged Hartz's use of an obsolete
ingredient capable of causing hypersalivation, vomiting, ataxia, muscle tremors, hypo-
or hyperthermia, seizures, paralysis, or major organ failure in both cats and
dogs.
The EPA's role should be to safeguard companion animals and consumers from
injurious products — not to placate Hartz Mountain Corp. I ask for a
comprehensive recall of Hartz flea and tick products, including those manufactured for
dogs, as well as the immediate removal of these products from drug stores,
supermarkets and mass merchandisers around the nation.
If a Hartz product poisons another animal between now and March of 2006, I hold
Hartz and the EPA accountable. Please don't let this happen.
Thank you,
