Check dog and cat food for melamine content

PETS DYING: Since last year, some friends have had pet dogs and cats stricken with, according to the veterinarian, kidney and related ailments. To their grief, some of the pets died.

An animal lover myself, I found the sudden upsurge of kidney trouble among dogs and cats disturbing. But I dismissed the matter after the cadavers were buried.

Then came the news months ago that more than 50,000 babies in China were downed by kidney stones formed by milk tainted with melamine, an industrial chemical used in making plastic ware, home decor and household items called melaware.

That raised a connection in my mind: Is it possible that the pets afflicted with kidney trouble were eating feed that also had melamine? Since I had no clinical data, and did not have time to research and gather statistics, I could not pursue the point.

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GLOBAL SCARE: Then the other day, media friend Dennis Navarro forwarded email that revived my suspicion that some dog and cat food distributed by unscrupulous manufacturers may contain melamine as extender.

The report that Dennis sent me said, among other things, that way back in 2007 a significant rise was noted in the United States in the number of cats and dogs dying from kidney disorder. It was found that they had subsisted on pet food from China containing melamine!

The next year, 2008, an abnormal increase in infant cases of kidney stones in China was reported. The problem affecting more than 50,000 babies was traced to milk powder tested with melamine.

Followed a global scare. Several countries also discovered melamine in milk powder, other dairy items and confectionary from China. Suspected products were pulled out from the market.

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RESEARCH: Is there any research by Philippine agencies on this pet food angle? The authorities or some private research group should seriously look into it.

Pet owners and animal lovers may want to pick up the subject. I can forward the 1-mb file to readers who are interested. It contains several photos, chemical diagrams and a little Chinese text.

I hasten to add, however, that I am not competent to vouch for the accuracy of the information carried in the report. That is why I ask that authorities look into the possibility that some animal feed may have been tainted with melamine, too.

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KIDNEY KILLED: The report said that the most important nutrient in milk is protein. Since melamine has the same protein that contains nitrogen — and looks the same and has no distinct smell — it is sometimes added to milk powder as extender.

Melamine is cheaper than milk so it lowers the cost of the end-product and boosts profits. The adulterated product is then used, knowingly or otherwise, by other businessmen manufacturing food items requiring milk.

When eaten, melamine forms into stones that get stuck in the tubes and spaces in the kidney, sometimes even in the urether. The person affected has a hard time urinating and the pain could be excruciating. With the blockade, the kidney swells.

Surgery is sometimes needed to remove the stones, but the damage to the kidney could be irreversible or give rise to complications. It could lead to death because of uremia.

When kidney function is lost, dialysis or the washing or filtering of the blood (a job of the kidney) by an external machine attached to the body is often required. Dialysis takes about four hours and is repeated every three days.

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BAR CODES: Because of the resulting notoriety of Chinese milk products, some merchants do not indicate in their packaging and labeling the country-source if it is China.

I have mentioned this in a previous Postscript, but will repeat it: Even without the country of origin indicated, buyers can determine the source by using the bar code.

When the bar code starts with the three digits 690… 691… 692 through 695, the product is made in China. Taiwan’s bar code starts with 471.

The bar code of Philippine products starts with 480. Other countries: 00 through 13, USA and Canada; 30 - 37, France; 40-44, Germany; 49, Japan; 50, United Kingdom; 57, Denmark; 64, Finland; 76, Switzerland and Lienchtenstein; 628, Saudi-Arabia; 629, United Arab Emirates; and 740-745, Central America.

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ROAD MISHAP: In Pampanga, Mabalacat Mayor Marino “Boking” Morales and the town council are urging the Manila North Tollways Corp., operator of the North Luzon Expressway, to build a separate northbound lane in the town to promote safety.

They passed a resolution to this effect after six persons were killed and about 60 others injured in a bus-van collision last Nov. 1 near barangay Sta. Inez.

There are only two lanes — one going north and another going south — at the NLEx accident site. Only a solid line divides the lanes. An overloaded northbound Fermina bus passed another vehicle and collided with a southbound Toyota Revo van on the opposite lane.

Morales said adding a separate northbound lane would help prevent accidents in the narrow three-kilometer final stretch from barangay Mabiga to the Sta. Inez exit.

But with the low volume of traffic there, MNTC president and CEO Ping de Jesus said it might not be economically feasible to build another lane at this time.

De Jesus said an alternative is to devote that stretch to southbound traffic. Northbound vehicles could turn into the ramp of the Subic-Clark-Tarlac Expressway then exit right to MacArthur Highway toward Mabalacat proper.

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