Mainers, Beware of Flea Collar Linked to Pet Deaths

USA Today is reporting on a pet collar with pesticides in it to kill fleas that has caused the deaths of over a thousand pets due to exposure to the chemicals of the collar.  Additionally, the Environmental Protection Agency has shown documents of it's awareness of the issues related to the flea collar made by Seresto, as seen in these aggregate data tables compiled by the agency.

Despite the information from the EPA, there has been no movement by the agency to raise awareness to consumers who have bought or use the product on their animals.

The flea collar works by releasing chemicals for months on the pet, in order to kill fleas, ticks or other small bugs using a pesticide in the collar. The dose of the chemical and perhaps the chemical itself is supposed to be harmless to pets.

These collars have been available to consumers since 2012.  Since that time, their have been over 1600 pet deaths linked to the collars, 75,000 pet incident reports linked to these collars and at least 1000 harmful incidents reported for humans.

Recently, a nonprofit organization called the Center for Biological Diversity obtained federal documents that showed the prevalence and alarming results of how many people and pets have been affected by this 'safe' product.  Even more alarming is that a government agency, the EPA, has not warned consumers of this alarming information.

There have been past investigative reporting into the EPA's decision-making when it comes to many kinds of pesticide's, including other pet collars.  Incidents related to pet collars have been reported to be seemingly smaller issues of skin rashes, while other reports have been neurological issues, seizures, vomiting and death for both pets and humans.