Congress calls for recall due to pet death link

• A congressional subcommittee is calling for a temporary recall of Seresto’s flea and tick collars.
• A USA Today investigation found that 1,700 collar-related pet deaths were reported to the EPA.
• Elanco, the company that sells the collars, told Insider that he does not think a recall is justified.
• See more stories on the Insider business page.

After a hard-hitting USA Today investigation linked a popular flea and leash to nearly 1,700 pet deaths, a congressional subcommittee is calling for the products to be removed temporarily.

“I think it is appropriate, in this case, for the manufacturer to voluntarily recall,” Illinois Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi, chairman of the Chamber’s Economic and Consumer Policy subcommittee, told CBS News. “And I think it is appropriate, very cautiously, for us to step back, examine the situation, investigate and proceed from there.”

USA Today revealed earlier this month that more than 75,000 incidents involving Seresto collars were reported to the EPA between 2012 and June 2020. These reports linked the collars to tens of thousands of injuries to animals; 900 of the incidents involved people.

According to the EPA, which approved the collars in 2012, Seresto collars “are made of plastic impregnated with insecticides”, which are released into the skin of an animal over an eight-month period. The agency does not consider these insecticides, flumethrin and imidacloprid to be harmful to pets or humans. But a 2012 study by Bayer found that the two have a “synergistic effect” and are more toxic to fleas when paired.

Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, told USA Today that the “synergistic effect” probably applies to animals as well.

Krishnamoorthi sent a letter to the pharmaceutical giant Bayer – which developed the collars – on Thursday requesting more information about the products’ toxicity. He sent another letter to Elanco, the company that sells the collars, asking him to recall the products and make a refund.

‘I know these collars killed my dogs’

Courtesy of Karen Hufman

When Karen Hufman read the USA Today report, her family was still mourning the dog Charlie, who died in August.

“I was shocked,” she told Insider. “I said, ‘My God, now I know that these collars killed my dogs.'”

Hufman said he bought Seresto collars for Charlie and his other dog, Muffin, in October 2018 and June 2019. After that second instance, Muffin, a 12-year-old Petit Basset Griffon Vendée, stopped eating. She died a month later.

Charlie, an English Pointer-Beagle mix who was also about 12, won his third Seresto collar in February. Weeks later, he was diagnosed with a bladder infection and then cancer. One study has linked dogs’ exposure to certain topical insecticides – although not the ones Seresto uses – to an increased risk of bladder cancer.

Courtesy of Karen Hufman

“This month I finally put it all together: it was the necklaces. It was just too much of a coincidence,” said Hufman.

She added that, before they died, her two dogs were in excellent health – they exercised and ate high-quality food. Still, she has no evidence that collars were the cause of her deaths and has not submitted any reports to the EPA.

According to Elanco, of the 25 million Seresto necklaces sold since 2012, less than 0.3% are linked to incidents.

“The recent media reports were based on raw data and cannot be used to draw conclusions about what may have really caused the problems,” said Tony Rumschlag, senior director of technical consultants at Elanco, in a statement to Insider, adding: “It is extremely important to understand that a report is not an indication of the cause.”

Keri McGrath, a spokesman for Elanco, told Insider that the company is cooperating with the Chamber’s subcommittee’s request for information, but that “no market action, such as a recall, is warranted.”

“Elanco continues to support Seresto’s security profile,” she added.

The 1,700 deaths may be a lower count

Prior to the USA Today report, members of the House subcommittee had not heard of any problems with Seresto products. But now they have asked Elanco and Bayer to disclose any communication they have had about the toxicity of the necklaces with regulatory groups like the EPA.

Andrew Hasson / Getty

Subcommittee members think that there are probably many more Seresto incidents than the number reported to the EPA, as these reports represent only pet owners who realized that there could be a link between the collar and their pet’s problem and then they filled out a form or called the agency.

“We believe that the actual number of deaths and injuries is much higher, as the average consumer would not be able to report damage to pets to EPA, an agency apparently unrelated to pet products,” Krishnamoorthi wrote in his letters.

Hufman can be one of those consumers.

“My two dogs are not included in that 1,700 number,” she said.

McGrath said it is not up to pet owners to report Seresto collar incidents to the EPA: “That is not the expectation,” she said.

Instead, Bayer or Elanco should pass information about incidents to the EPA after customers or veterinarians call the companies’ hotlines. Veterinarians can also contact the EPA directly, she said.

Aylin Woodward / Insider

The EPA did not issue any notice to consumers about the collars, but an agency spokesman told Insider earlier this month that it takes “every incident reported seriously and analyzes this data to see if action is needed.”

Seresto flea collars are still among the top products of their kind on Amazon and other sites like Chewy.com. Amazon spokeswoman Mary Kate McCarthy told USA Today, however, that the company will now be “investigating the product in question”.

Although Seresto collars have 4.5 stars on Amazon, some customers have left comments describing their pets’ adverse reactions. Many rashes on dogs’ backs and necks, or behavioral changes, such as loss of appetite.

“They need to stop putting collars on dogs,” said Hufman.