Dr. Pitcairn's Complete Guide to Natural Health for Dogs and Cats by Richard H. Pitcairn, Susan Hubble Pitcairn Read Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Richard H. Pitcairn, Susan Hubble Pitcairn
known as nitrosamines.
Many dogs are allergic to foods containing chemical preservatives, enduring symptoms such as excessive scratching, chronic diarrhea, or just not feeling well—problems that will continue as long as the chemicals are fed.
C OLOR M E S ICK
Another class of common additives usually listed simply as artificial coloring does not require specific labeling. In pet food, the class typically includes the following coal tar derivative dyes, all allowed without adequate lifetime feeding studies and put in the food to make the food look acceptable to the human consumer.
Red No. 3
Red No. 40 (a possible carcinogen)
Yellow No. 5 (not fully tested)
Yellow No. 6
Blue No. 1
Blue No. 2 (shown in studies to increase dogs’ sensitivities to fatal viruses)
Similar dyes that were banned from both pet and human foods in the mid-1970s included Red No. 2 (which appeared to increase cancer and birth defects) and Violet No. 1 (a suspected carcinogen that can also cause skin lesions).
Although concerned citizens have tried to get the FDA to ban the inclusion of artificial colors in pet foods, their use continues unabated. In 1979, a petition to bar color additives from pet food was submitted to the FDA. The petition said that adding artificial color to the foods covered up the true appearance of the product and was a deceptive practice. The consumer could not tell the ingredients apart—they were all colored alike, and one could not tell what was meat, what was vegetable, or what were the other ingredients.
How did the FDA respond to this request? They said that by their definition this practice was not deceptive because it was only deception if, by adding color, you were trying to make the food look better than it really was. But (go slowly because the next part does not make sense), because the term “artificial colors” was listed on the label, then it couldn’t really be deception because the consumer could read on the label that colors had been added and therefore they couldn’t be fooled. Does this make sense to you?
In a crowded marketplace where all the major competitors use these colorings to make their food look more like fresh red meat, a company that tries to sell a product in its true colors—various unattractive shades of gray—could put itself at a serious disadvantage. Since dogs and cats don’t see colors like we do, the inclusion of these dyes is for human eyes , not to make the foods more attractive to animals. You can, however, find some pet food products in health food stores that don’t use artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors.
F LAVOR M E F OOLED
Even more lax are the controls governing the largest class of food additives used in the United States— artificial flavorings . Largely due to a powerful lobby, the manufacturers of these delights can synthesize new flavorings, call them safe with little or no testing, and then use them without the need for FDA permission under the general term “artificial flavorings.” Since we have no way at all of trusting or assessing the safety of what is used, anyone seriously concerned about health would be wise to completely avoid using products—for themselves or their pets—that contain this mysterious group of ingredients.
INADVERTENT CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
Besides those chemicals intentionally added to pet food, there are others that sneak in ontheir own. Chemical contamination of the food chain is an increasing problem that is becoming a major factor in chronic disease, particularly for animals. It is difficult for us to comprehend just how frequently these chemicals appear in food. The process starts with the herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides used to grow crops. Despite Rachel Carson’s landmark warning about the dangers of pesticides, today we use produce pesticides at a rate 13,000 times greater than we did in 1962, the year that her book Silent Spring first appeared. The process continues with antibiotics, growth
Many dogs are allergic to foods containing chemical preservatives, enduring symptoms such as excessive scratching, chronic diarrhea, or just not feeling well—problems that will continue as long as the chemicals are fed.
C OLOR M E S ICK
Another class of common additives usually listed simply as artificial coloring does not require specific labeling. In pet food, the class typically includes the following coal tar derivative dyes, all allowed without adequate lifetime feeding studies and put in the food to make the food look acceptable to the human consumer.
Red No. 3
Red No. 40 (a possible carcinogen)
Yellow No. 5 (not fully tested)
Yellow No. 6
Blue No. 1
Blue No. 2 (shown in studies to increase dogs’ sensitivities to fatal viruses)
Similar dyes that were banned from both pet and human foods in the mid-1970s included Red No. 2 (which appeared to increase cancer and birth defects) and Violet No. 1 (a suspected carcinogen that can also cause skin lesions).
Although concerned citizens have tried to get the FDA to ban the inclusion of artificial colors in pet foods, their use continues unabated. In 1979, a petition to bar color additives from pet food was submitted to the FDA. The petition said that adding artificial color to the foods covered up the true appearance of the product and was a deceptive practice. The consumer could not tell the ingredients apart—they were all colored alike, and one could not tell what was meat, what was vegetable, or what were the other ingredients.
How did the FDA respond to this request? They said that by their definition this practice was not deceptive because it was only deception if, by adding color, you were trying to make the food look better than it really was. But (go slowly because the next part does not make sense), because the term “artificial colors” was listed on the label, then it couldn’t really be deception because the consumer could read on the label that colors had been added and therefore they couldn’t be fooled. Does this make sense to you?
In a crowded marketplace where all the major competitors use these colorings to make their food look more like fresh red meat, a company that tries to sell a product in its true colors—various unattractive shades of gray—could put itself at a serious disadvantage. Since dogs and cats don’t see colors like we do, the inclusion of these dyes is for human eyes , not to make the foods more attractive to animals. You can, however, find some pet food products in health food stores that don’t use artificial colors, preservatives, and flavors.
F LAVOR M E F OOLED
Even more lax are the controls governing the largest class of food additives used in the United States— artificial flavorings . Largely due to a powerful lobby, the manufacturers of these delights can synthesize new flavorings, call them safe with little or no testing, and then use them without the need for FDA permission under the general term “artificial flavorings.” Since we have no way at all of trusting or assessing the safety of what is used, anyone seriously concerned about health would be wise to completely avoid using products—for themselves or their pets—that contain this mysterious group of ingredients.
INADVERTENT CHEMICAL CONTAMINATION
Besides those chemicals intentionally added to pet food, there are others that sneak in ontheir own. Chemical contamination of the food chain is an increasing problem that is becoming a major factor in chronic disease, particularly for animals. It is difficult for us to comprehend just how frequently these chemicals appear in food. The process starts with the herbicides, insecticides, and fungicides used to grow crops. Despite Rachel Carson’s landmark warning about the dangers of pesticides, today we use produce pesticides at a rate 13,000 times greater than we did in 1962, the year that her book Silent Spring first appeared. The process continues with antibiotics, growth
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