Senator Brown Speaks to the Senate, Urging Swift Action on Deadly Dog Treats

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An unlikely advocate for pets has been found in politician and pug parent U.S. Sen Brown of Ohio who has become the latest unofficial champion for pet parents, pugs, poodles and pooches all across America. The sympathetic senator took to the Senate floor, a few days ago urging swift action on the part of the FDA to step up their investigation of the chicken jerky treats from China that continue to poison dogs with increasing frequency.

Senator Brown’s involvement in the campaign was inspired by citizen activist Candace Thaxton, a grief-stricken pet parent whose own pug and little puppy were both poisoned by the treats. Pissed off pet parent Candace Thaxton decided she wasn’t going to take what Nestle-Purina had to offer and decided she would take on big pet food and the government instead.

Her one person crusade has accomplished in a few weeks what takes most seasoned activists years to achieve: She won the unswerving support of Ohio State Representative Dennis Kucinich, Ohio State Senator Sherrod Brown, renowned humanitarian and veterinarian Dr. Brian Forsgren and Humane Society of the United States’ Ohio state director Karen Minton, who joined her family in a recent news conference where the Ohio legislators announced their official support in urging the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take quick action to protect consumers and pet owners, and withdraw the tainted treats from the market.

Both Sen. Brown and Rep. Dennis Kucinich sent letters to Dr. Margaret H. Hamburg the Commissioner of the FDA asking for immediate action. “The FDA must not wait to issue a voluntary recall until it is able to definitively identify a causal agent,” said Kucinich’s letter. “The FDA has clearly established an association between consumption of the chicken jerky and illness and death. It is simply not feasible to expect every dog owner to be aware of a modestly publicized warning from the FDA.”

In Senator Brown’s speech he detailed the problems inherent with manufacturing and importing goods from China and called for increased awareness and monitoring of contaminants by both the government and the companies in the U.S. that profit from these products. He made a special point of drawing the parallel between two highly vulnerable populations: children and pets; both of whom deserve increased protection and requested swift action from the FDA to protect not just the pooches of America, but the people as well from more poisonous products from China.

Mentioning Candace in his speech before the United States Senate, it is remarkable when one realizes this was the very same woman whom I spoke with who reached out to me for advice only weeks before. Clearly, this is a woman who needed no ones direction and was driven solely by a need to rectify an injustice. It’s hard to imagine how one woman can accomplish so much, but for the love and devotion of her two dogs, pug Chansey whose death was caused by the toxic treats and fragile little puppy Penny whose struggle to recover is not yet over, except when you realize what inspired her to take on the world and win.

I am honored to know her and will look to her as a shining example of what one woman can achieve alone, despite her own terrible grief, for the sake of her dogs.