[pyrnet] (Fwd) OT: WARNING ADVANTAGE

["Judith Stroh Miller" <jsmiller@newmex.com>]

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http://news.vin.com/VINNews.aspx?articleId=14061

Dog stuck in crate highlights rare risk of spot-on flea treatment
                                                                    
                                                                    
                                                                    

October 7, 2009
By: Edie Lau
For The VIN News Service 

A veterinarian presented with a peculiar case of a poodle stuck in its
crate last week traced the problem to the pet´s spot-on flea treatment.

Residue from the product Advantage, which was applied between the 
poodle´s
shoulders, somehow came in contact with the plastic base of the
animal´s crate, dissolving the plastic and causing it to adhere to the
dog´s belly. 

When the dog wouldn´t come out of its crate the next morning, its
concerned owner brought the dog, crate and all, to Dr. Tej Dhaliwal of
North Town Veterinary Hospital in Ontario, Canada. Following two hours
of sleuthing, Dhaliwal concluded that benzyl alcohol, an inactive
ingredient in Advantage, was to blame. 

Bayer Animal Health, maker of Advantage, acknowledged that the flea
treatment was the likely culprit and offered to pay the owner´s
veterinary bill, compensate him for loss of salary and replace the
crate, Dhaliwal said. 

Bob Walker, a spokesman for Bayer in the United States, confirmed that
Advantage contains benzyl alcohol, which reacts with certain plastics.
He said he consulted with colleagues in veterinary services and was
told, "We know it can happen, but we´ve never seen it." 

Walker said a lead veterinarian in the department thought that most of
the veterinary community was aware of the potential for the product to
react with plastic. Walker said that he personally had not heard of
such a thing before. He added, "My counsel would be, if you´re not
aware, you need to be aware." 

The incident certainly surprised Dhaliwal, a practitioner for 13 years, who posted his 
experience in an online discussion
board of the Veterinary Information Network (VIN). Some veterinarians
said they were familiar with the potential for the product to damage
plastic, but many were astonished by the news. 

Dhaliwal said the owner of the dog, a 15-year-old poodle mix, had
applied Advantage to the dog before bedtime. He speculated that the dog
rolled over in the crate before the liquid pesticide dried. Presumably,
residue of the product made contact with the plastic floor of the
crate, causing the plastic to dissolve and "glue" the dog in place
overnight. 

Dhaliwal noted that the dog had been unable to eat, drink or relieve
itself for 15 hours by the time he managed to free it with a tool
normally used to scrape excess plaster from drywall. 

The white dog had a patch of dark gray plastic about 6 inches by 4
inches stuck to its fur. Following the advice of representatives at
Bayer, Dhaliwal said, he removed the remaining plastic using the
contents of another two tubes of Advantage. Once freed, the dog was
fine. 

From the start, the dog´s owner suspected that the Advantage was to
blame, Dhaliwal said. The veterinarian figured some chemical was
involved but wasn´t sure what. At first, he applied regular alcohol to
the plastic base, to no effect. Then he tried a tube of Advantage. The
plastic liquified almost instantly, and his gloved hand stuck to the
plastic. 

Photographs snapped with his iPhone show a puddle of liquid across the
bottom of the crate. Dhaliwal said one tube containing .5 cc of product
covered half the crate base; he speculated that the plastic, as it
dissolved, perpetuated the chemical reaction. 

According to a Material Data Safety Sheet for benzyl alcohol posted at www.sciencelab.com, 
the compound "can extract and dissolve polystyrene plastic and may attack other plastics." 

The chemical is in wide use, found in hundreds of cosmetic formulations
including baby toiletries, mascaras, hair dyes and skin care products,
according to the article "Benzyl Alcohol Allergy: Importance of Patch
Testing Personal Products," published Feb. 15, 2006, in the journal
Dermatitis. 

Its function in topical preparations is as a preservative, solvent, anesthetic and/or to decrease 
viscosity, the article states. 

Walker at Bayer said the company veterinarian he consulted speculated
that benzyl alcohol is found in a variety of spot-on flea treatments
besides Advantage. However, it´s not possible to determine which
products contain the compound by reading their labels, as manufacturers
are not required to list inactive ingredients. 

Dale Kemery, a spokesman for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA), which regulates pesticides including spot-on pet parasiticides,
said the agency is considering a new rule to require that manufacturers
disclose pesticides´ inert ingredients. 

"This increased transparency will assist consumers and users of
pesticides in making informed decisions and will better protect public
health and the environment," Kemery said by e-mail. "The Agency
anticipates publishing an Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking in the
Federal Register within the next few months." 

Kemery also encouraged anyone aware of adverse reactions with an
EPA-registered product to report the matter to the manufacturer and
directly to EPA. 

"Manufacturers of pesticide products are required to report to EPA
information they receive about potential adverse effects of their
products, but reporting to the EPA directly is beneficial because the
data we receive from the manufacturers is aggregated by severity
category, and the report of an individual incident that we receive
directly may provide more details initially that could lead to a
follow-up by EPA with the manufacturer," Kemery said. 
Walker
said Bayer officials in Canada examined the lot of Advantage used on
the dog to check whether it contained an abnormally high concentration
of benzyl alcohol but found nothing unusual. 

Dhaliwal complimented Bayer for taking responsibility right away. "Obviously, this is 
something of ongoing concern," he added. 
He
said he plans to write a report on the incident and submit it to a
professional journal in hopes of spreading the word. "This is something
that everyone needs to know," he said. 




Heather Screws 
P.R. Director 
Saving Pyrs In Need Rescue 
214.473.4394 
www.SPINrescue.org 

"If you think you're a person of influence, Try bossing a Pyr around!"




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