Was looking for someother stuff and found this:

"2008 Finalist—Homeland Security Medal
This award will recognize a federal employee for a significant contribution to the nation in activities related to homeland security (including border and transportation security, emergency preparedness and response, intelligence and law enforcement). This medal is accompanied by a $3,000 award.

Dr. Renate Reimschuessel
Position: Research Biologist, Center for Veterinary Medicine

Agency: Food and Drug Administration

Location: Laurel, Maryland

Residence: Reisterstown, Maryland

Achievement: Made the scientific breakthrough to identify the cause of the largest pet food recall in history and is currently conducting critical research to guarantee the safety of imported foods."

http://servicetoamericamedals.org/SAM/finalists08/hsm/reimscheussel.shtml

   

5CatMom
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Wow 5Cat, good find!  Did you see the rest?....

Dr. Reimschuessel examined tissues from affected pets and found that over time the crystals dissolve in the chemical used to preserve pathology specimens, explaining why relatively few crystals were found by pathologists. As a result of this finding, FDA recommended changes in the way that veterinarians preserved and submitted specimens to pathology laboratories.

Next, Dr. Reimschuessel decided to test how melamine behaves in fish to try to better understand what had happened to the pets. Her team fed some fish with a dose of melamine, others with cyanuric acid and others with a combination of the two. The fish treated with both chemicals developed kidney crystals that were similar to the crystals seen in the dog and cat kidneys that had been affected by the recalled foods.

Dr. Reimschuessel demonstrated that the combination of the two chemicals caused the crystals, not each chemical on its own, and she confirmed that melamine, with cyanuric acid, was the problem that made pets sick after all. Due to her discovery, the United States has increased surveillance for melamine and related compounds in food ingredients. In an effort to identify potential risks to humans, she is continuing to test the effects of melamine in chickens, pigs and fish, including tilapia, trout, catfish and salmon. Dr. Reimschuessel’s research helped improve the way our government preserves scientific specimens and identified the ability of nontoxic compounds to become toxic when combined. These discoveries helped resolve an immediate crisis, and her continued efforts help guard against ongoing threats to the safety of the U.S. food supply.

I hadnt heard that this led to how specimens were being preserved.....and then the second paragrah says it did cause crystals in fish?  I thought FDA said that fish werent affected....?    And I thought they said there was no affect on humans which is why the fish, pigs and chickens were released from quarantine early on.....good grief, this doesnt make me feel so great....

Yes the ever popular dilution factor !

It's been a while since I checked, but looks like FDA has reformatted the recall information.

The information is current as of April 16, 2008, and you can search by brand (among other things).

http://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/petfoodrecall/

5CatMom
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maybe they knew the CA was in the food?   Let's not forget the recent pre-november 2006 cat food that tested positive for CA....and also all the info about pool water and how they use them together for what they do....my vet had originally told me that it would be like looking for a needle in a haystack when I asked him if they thought they could find this toxin as Smudge was still in his hospital then...so I never really have been able to "digest" just how fast they found the needle..

With this find would that mean that the organic rice that is in Organix dog and cat food would not be safe to feed either due to the arsenic ground it might be grown in?

I see Nutro's on the list!

Yeah, some of those look a bit "iffy" to me.

5CatMom
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