OCCUPY!! Protest on Behalf of Our Pets, Too!

No More Business As Usual

Well, folks, as you may have learned from stories in the news, the corporations that manufacture our various consumer products are not always truthful about their effectiveness or safety.  We've all seen the news about contanimants ranging from bugs and fecal matter to outright poisons.  It was not so long ago that pet food made in China was full of things like melamine that caused animals to sicken and die.

Sadly, these mega-corporations care only about their own "bottom line," and have little or no concern for the health and safety of their customers.  We are seeing the backlash now.  It began with protests about the banking fiasco, but there are plenty of other things to be upset about. 
Many of the protesters are out there against all sorts of these other issues--which is why the nay-sayers try to assert that it is a "non-protest" becuase there is no single focus.  They are wrong.  There is a single focus--it is the status quo!  Everything has gone wrong in this country, and folks are fed up and "mad as hell" with being squelched, cheated, poisoned, fleeced and deprived by the elitist 1%.

We Love Our Pets

One of the things I wish to point out has to do with products for our pets. We Americans love our pets, both large and small, considering them as members of our families, and in many ways, they are exactly that.

According to an August 2007 article in Business Week , American pet owners shelled out a collective $41 billion on their animal companions.  To be sure, some of those expenses are for unnecessary luxury items, marketed more to the owner than the animals--including clothing, 'gourmet' food and fancily upholstered beds.  Right.  Cats and dogs would just as soon sleep on the floor, or in the humans' beds!

Big Bad Flea Medications

Now of course, more necessary expenditures come in the form of vaccinations, health checkups and keeping our companions free of nasty critters such as fleas and ticks.

This is where a new problem comes in.  In fairly recent years, it has been shown that many of the ingredients in commercially produced preparations for killing these pests are also causing great harm to our pets.

Specifically, the topically-applied drops, all from well-known and "trusted" names in the industry.  However, more and more pets have been harmed by these medications, and in serious ways.  Some have suffered severe neurological damage; others have died.

There is a movement afoot to ban these dangerous chemical products, just as DDT was banned over 30 years ago.  For a more in-depth look at the problem, simply follow this link, which opens in a new window.

Please feel free to pass this link along, or link to this blog post to help spread the word on how to keep our beloved pets safe and healthy.