A group of people whose pets died after eating allegedly contaminated "Pedigree" brand dog food in 2004 protested at the Legislative Yuan yesterday, claiming that the dog food not only killed their dogs, but also affected their own health.
Shen Jung-chen (
One of the participants in yesterday's protest showed reporters a rash on her wrist, saying that it was proof that she had been poisoned by the dog food.
Shen said she had asked the Department of Health to test the dog keepers for tricothecene mycotoxin (also known as "Yellow Rain"), a destructive neurological agent produced by certain species of mold.
She said the department had rejected her application on the grounds that the amount of tricothecene mycotoxin found in the dog food was insufficient to threaten humans.
"What the government did was to simply adopt the US standards and to endorse them," Shen said. "They are really trying to kill their own people."
Shen said that neither the Feed Control Act (飼料管理法) nor the Act Governing Food Sanitation (食品衛生管理法) regulated pet food. She said that Effem Foods, the manufacturer of Pedigree dog food, had only been forced to compensate dog owners who lost their pets after non-governmental organizations highlighted the issue.
The Council of Agriculture, the Department of Health, the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the Consumer Protection Commission had all passed the buck, Shen said, forcing her to take the matter to the street.
The protesters did not produce any medical records or other substantiating evidence to support their claims.
Shen said, however, that she had sought medical attention in Hong Kong, where she was told that several of her organs were showing signs of failure.
A source in the bureau of animal and plant health inspection and quarantine who spoke on condition of anonymity said it was true that the Feed Control Act did not include regulations on pet foods. In practice, however, the bureau did inspect imported dog food, the official said.
In general, the government would make the decision on whether or not to inspect pet food based on its contents and place of manufacture, he said.
The contaminated dog food which allegedly killed several dogs in 2004 was found to contain aflatoxin and was imported from Thailand.
Hsueh Jui-yuan (
In a statement, however, the Department of Health did mention that exposure to mycotoxin could result in poisoning. In the short term, victims were likely to suffer from red rashes, cough constantly and have troubling breathing, the statement said. In the long run, white blood-cells were likely to be depleted, it said.
Effem was forced to recall dog and cat food manufactured in Thailand in March 2004 after Taiwan reported cases of renal illness among dogs that had consumed the products. Some of the dogs died of kidney failure.
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