Promote Kindness to Animals

EPA: Flea, tick products may injure, kill pets
By MATTHEW DALY • Associated Press • March 21, 2010
WASHINGTON — Products intended to treat cats and dogs for fleas and ticks kill hundreds of pets each year and injure tens of thousands, the Environmental Protection Agency said Wednesday as it outlined plans to make the products safer.
The EPA said it will develop stricter testing and evaluation requirements for flea and tick treatments that are applied to a pet's skin. The agency also will begin reviewing labels to determine which ones need to say more clearly how to use the products.
The EPA's effort follows increasing complaints from pet owners that the "spot-on" products have triggered reactions in dogs and cats, ranging from skin irritation to neurological problems to deaths. Cats and small dogs appear particularly vulnerable, the EPA said, especially when given products intended for larger animals.
Steve Owens, assistant administrator of EPA's Office of Prevention, Pesticides and Toxic Substances, said new restrictions will be placed on flea and tick products. "These are poisons," Owens said. "These are products designed to kill fleas and ticks -- and they do their jobs."
The EPA is committed to better protecting the health and safety of pets and families, Owens said, but added that pet owners "need to carefully read and follow all labeling before exposing your pet to a pesticide."
The agency announced last April it was increasing scrutiny of topical flea and tick products because of the growing number of bad reactions reported.
The EPA said it received 44,263 reports of harmful reactions associated with topical flea and tick products in 2008, up from 28,895 in 2007. Reactions ranged from skin irritations to vomiting to seizures to, in about 600 cases, death of an animal.
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We stand here today with optimism. Optimism that we can strengthen our economy and bring prosperity back to New Jersey’s 3^rd District. You ask, how can we make tomorrow better than today? How can we accomplish this task. The answer is simple – we need to unite our district as Republican’s with one goal, and one goal only – to defeat John Adler in the November General and TAKE BACK THE HOUSE IN WASHINGTON, to give us the opportunity to take back our country.As ordinary Joes, we are ready for the hard work, for the fight that we have ahead of us. We are ready for Ordinary Joes to stand up and do there part to take back the house, return the 3^rd Congressional District to Republican rule – the order that has remained steadfast for more than 20 years. This campaign is not about ordinary Joe Rullo; this campaign is about all the ordinary Joes who make this district what it is. These are the real hero’s of the 3^rd District. Our Veterans, Our Seniors, Our Police Officers, the Emergency Fire and First Responders, the ordinary Joes who have jobs, the ordinary Joes who pay taxes, the mothers and fathers, the youth who are so important to the future of our district and to our country. Let us hear from every ordinary Joe whose voice has been silenced-ignored-forgotten and betrayed by a country led by Democrats and a district represented by John Adler. We stand here today feeling little hope for our country, our district in the hands of Democrats. Our economy continues to drift and the John Adlers offer no answers or relief. Just spend, spend , spend. Unemployment, foreclosures, our national debt continue to rise. Our Foreign Policy is without direction growing weaker in the hands of Democrats. Corruption reigns in the halls of every level of our government institutions. Ordinary Joes, feel powerless to change this path. We were promised change by John Adler’s friends - Obama, Biden, Pelosi, and Reed. We got change alright - we got socialism piled around us higher and higher with each day.To give ordinary Joes hope, we need new leadership; leaders who understand promise; leaders who fight against corruption, not contribute to it; leaders that serve one interest, not themselves, but all of the ordinary Joes that are represented by you tonight. In July 09, we were devastated as we watched 50 politicians arrested for betraying the public trust, betraying YOU, the ordinary Joes of America. It was at this moment, that I made the solemn vow to myself, that I would create a new standard for politicians; that I would restore the trust of ordinary Joes to ordinary Joes and work towards restoring hope and promise; that I, ordinary Joe Rullo would sacrifice in order to offer myself in the service of others; to bring about honest change for YOU, the ordinary Joes of America, proving once and for all, that not all politicians were corrupt, not all are Self Serving, and that no not all politicians needed to be on the payrolls of PACs and special interest groups at the expense of the needs of the many ordinary Joes throughout this district, throughout this great nation. I have heard your cries…. I have cried with you. I have listened to ordinary Joes in meetings, I have listened to ordinary Joes on phone calls and during every day’s life challenges that I, not unlike you, face with courage. Let us take hope from the opportunity and the challenge ahead. Let us focus on the need to take back the house in Washington; let us focus on taking back our country from the grips of corruption and special interests. Let our hope be our guide and our strength; let the needs of the ordinary Joes that I will represent as your next congressman in New Jersey’s 3^rd Congressional District form a resounding cry to be heard loud and clear across this land…. “we are not going to take this anymore – we are taking back the house.” I believe in transparency. My beliefs and my stand on the issues are a matter of record. I believe that politicians everywhere should stand for the same level of transparency and clarity. I stand with Freeholder Joe Vicari who recently asked congress to modify the 1984 tax laws to reward and not punish seniors who continue to work in America in order to survive. At a recent town meeting John Adler would not join me to support the 1984 unfair tax modification nor we answer if he would support giving seniors/veterans the same Cadillac health care that he gets or congress receiving same as seniors/veterans. I am on record in many papers supporting a bill to require congress to have same health care as seniors/veterans to assure cost savings with quality. No, he just went on ignoring the most important thing to seniors and veterans their healthcare and income that dries up from the taxes of Adler’s liberal friends.I am a problem solver and I want nothing more than the opportunity to improve the quality of life for all who reside in New Jersey’s 3^rd Congressional District. I offer solutions, not rhetoric on expensive Adler brochures that have been paid for at the tax payer’s expense. I am running for Congress because I’m an ordinary Joe Rullo and I want to properly represent the ordinary Joe’s all over this great nation. I stand before you as not just another politician, but rather as an ordinary Joe who believes in YOU, who, believes in strength of America, who believes that we are strong, and that with transparent, honest, leadership, the ordinary Joes can, not only take back the House, but we can take back America from the wild spending spree that we have been led on, the waste of our opportunity to develop forms of renewable energy, and the corrupted politicians that currently undermine our future. I am an ordinary Joe and I struggle with you everyday to understand how we let America get to where she stands today …. I want you to join with me and support the values of renewable energy that can stimulate our local economy, reduce our dependence on foreign oil and ultimately contribute to bringing our soldiers home. I want you to commit to renew YOUR energy and gather your family, gather your friends and neighbors, gather the American Worker, our Seniors, our Veterans, and our Troops …. gather all of our ordinary Joes and renew your commitment to take back America.
I am here tonight to announce my candidacy for the 3^rd Congressional District of New Jersey. I am here tonight to unite Ocean County Republicans; I am here tonight to unite Burlington County Republicans; I am here
tonight to unite Cherry Hill Republicans; I am here tonight to ask all Republicans in the 3^rd Congressional District to unite behind and support ordinary Joe Rullo for Congress and send someone to Washington that
WILL represent your interests and needs.