News Briefs for the Week of January 20, 2003
By Marcella Durand for Cat Facts
- Hartz Has Education Plan for Flea Products
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently announced that the Hartz Mountain Corporation has agreed to a number of measures intended to reduce the risks to cats from the use of two Hartz flea and tick control products. The two products are Hartz Advanced Care Brand Flea and Tick Drops Plus for Cats and Kittens, and Hartz Advanced Care Brand Once-a-Month Flea and Tick Drops for Cats and Kittens.
As part of the agreement, Hartz will provide point-of-sale brochures and lead a direct-mail campaign to cat owners, veterinarians, and pet supply stores about how to apply the two products. Hartz is also recovering and repackaging current stock to include new labels with "stronger precautionary statements and use directions," according to the EPA. The relabeled products should start appearing on store shelves over the next several months. In addition, Hartz will submit to the EPA an additional animal safety study conducted by an independent laboratory, as well as quarterly reports summarizing allegations of toxic or adverse incidents to cats. The EPA's investigation was started after they received a number of complaints from cat owners about the two products.
If you bought the products and you'd like to exchange them, you can call Hartz at (800) 275-1414. For more information, you can also visit the EPA's Web site at www.epa.gov/pesticides/citizens/hartzq_a.htm.
- Teens Unite to Fight Animal Abuse
Now here's a youth movement worth rooting for. To combat animal abuse, a group of high school students delivers educational presentations to fellow students, businesses and civic, social and law enforcement agencies. And that's not all. They also will be publishing a newsletter filled with informative articles on animal topics. Talk about youthful energy!
Sponsored by the Ozaukee Humane Society (OHS) in Grafton, Wisconsin, Students Working for Animal Protection (SWAP) was formed this fall, and the newsletter will be coming out this month.
"I believe that it is the first type of student educational animal advocacy outreach program of its kind in the nation," says Jeanie Lord, the director of community outreach for OHS and the executive director of the Pine View Animal Rehabilitation Center (PVARC). "We were addressing middle schools and upper elementary schools," she says, but not high school students. So Lord decided to get older students involved. "It's the older students who really have the energy and time -- they can be so instrumental in change." Plus, "some of them know how to drive," she says, which comes in handy for getting to presentations.
Lord emphasizes that the SWAP program develops a number of skills and interests, such as public speaking, art, writing and science. "The energy and enthusiasm of these young adults is just fantastic," she says. "They truly want to make a difference."
For more information or to make a donation to SWAP, call PVARC at (262) 692-9021 or write to the OHS at 2073 County Trunk W., Grafton, WI 53024.
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