- Seresto’s flea and tick collars have been linked to 1,700 animal deaths, according to a USA Today investigation.
- Despite 75,000 incident reports between 2012 and 2020, the EPA did not issue any warning about the collars.
- Elanco, the company that sells the collars, told Insider that “a report is not an indication of a cause.”
- Visit the Business section of the Insider for more stories.
A popular flea and tick collar has been linked to nearly 1,700 pet deaths in the past seven years.
According to a USA Today investigation published on Tuesday, these Seresto dog and cat collars have also injured tens of thousands of animals and hundreds of people.
The report was based on documents acquired through a public record request, which revealed that more than 75,000 incidents related to the Seresto collar were reported to the Environmental Protection Agency between 2012 and June 2020. Many animals involved with allergic reactions at the site in that the collar touched their fur. Some animals had seizures.
More than 900 incidents involved humans – a serious case involved a 12-year-old boy who was hospitalized with seizures and vomiting after sleeping with his dog wearing a collar.
The EPA regulates products that contain pesticides, but has not issued any warning to consumers about the potential risks associated with collars. Karen McCormack, a retired EPA employee, told USA Today that Seresto collars have more incidents than any other pet product.
“The EPA appears to be turning a blind eye to this problem and, after seven years of an increasing number of incidents, they are telling the public that they continue to monitor the situation,” she said.
An EPA spokesman told Insider that he takes “each reported incident seriously and analyzes that data to see if action is needed.”
“The EPA encourages pet owners to read the entire label before using the pesticide product and follow all instructions carefully, including monitoring their pet after application to see if side effects occur,” added the spokesman. “If side effects occur, the label tells the consumer to consult the animal’s veterinarian immediately.”
‘Plastics impregnated with insecticides’
Seresto collars were developed by pharmaceutical giant Bayer and sold by Elanco, an American pharmaceutical company.
A puppy in a bar on February 19, 2019.
Andrew Hasson / Getty
Keri McGrath, a spokesman for Elanco, told Insider that there is no established link between the death of pets and the exposure of animals to the active ingredients in Seresto collars. EPA first approved the product in March 2012, determining that collars are safe for dogs older than seven weeks and cats older than 10 weeks.
“The article is misleading and misses out a lot of important information, leaving a distorted impression for readers,” she said of the USA Today investigation. “The numbers mentioned in the original article represent the number of reports received and do not reflect causality.”
“A report is not an indication of the cause,” added McGrath, noting that “if a dog was wearing a collar and experienced any type of adverse event, the collar would be mentioned in the report.”
According to the EPA, Seresto collars “are made of plastic impregnated with insecticides” that are released over months and coat the animal’s fur. These insecticides are flumethrin, which repels and kills ticks, and imidacloprid, a neonicotinoid that attacks fleas.
A 2012 study by Bayer found that the two insecticides have a “synergistic effect” and are more toxic to fleas when combined.
But Nathan Donley, a senior scientist at the Center for Biological Diversity, told USA Today that the “synergistic effect” probably applies to animals as well. The center is the non-profit organization that has filed for public records.
“For some reason, this combination is really unpleasant,” said Donley.
David Corby / Wikimedia Commons
The EPA does not consider insecticides harmful to pets or people, although neonicotinoids are linked to the death of bees around the world, so some states have restricted their use.
McGrath said that more than 80 regulatory authorities worldwide “rigorously revised” the safety data on the collar, since Seresto is a product marketed globally.
‘He could barely walk without screaming in pain’
Seresto flea collars for dogs are among the top products of this type on Amazon and other sites like Chewy.com. Bayer recorded revenue of $ 300 million with Seresto products in 2019, according to USA Today.
The collars have 4.5 stars on Amazon, but some customers have left comments describing their pets’ adverse reactions. Many involved rashes on dogs’ backs and necks.
One critic said his toy poodle’s behavior changed after the dog used the collar for two weeks.
“He could barely walk without screaming in pain and was extremely lethargic. 24 hours after removing the Seresto collar, the symptoms started to subside, ”she wrote.
Another critic said that the Boston Terrier had a reaction after staying with the collar for a day: “Red and raw stain on the neck that it does not stop scratching, shaking, lethargic, with no appetite,” said the client.
A dog scratching its neck in Tokyo, Japan in December 2013.
Takashi Hososhima / Wikimedia Commons
According to McGrath, less than 1% of all collar users filed incident reports in 2020.
“The significant majority of these incidents are related to non-serious effects, such as problems at the application site – redness of the skin or hair loss below the collar,” she said.
But Donley told USA Today that the number of incidents reported to Seresto is probably an underestimation, as any pet owner who has made a report to the EPA first realized that there could be a link between the collar and their pet’s problem. , then reported on the phone or via an online form.
“The fact that the EPA has done nothing to alert the public that there may be a problem here seems to me almost a crime,” said Donley.