防蚤滴劑真的安全嗎？
美國環保署廉政中心（The Center for Public Integrity）最近報導了環保署EPA要求防蚤滴劑的廠商要提供寵物施用後不良反應的詳細資訊。ABC新聞台則播出了這則新聞，報導中指出在2008年有超過44000例寵物用了防蚤滴劑後產生不良反應，而且有1200例死亡病例。不良反應及死亡病例的數字，2008年比2007年成長了53%。
從ABC的新聞影片中可看到一些寵物產生嚴重的不良反應，有興趣的人可點選觀看。
ABC US News | ABC Entertainment News
廉政中心陳述「若非這些產品導致寵物生病的數字劇增，我們也不會要求廠商提供更多詳細的資料」，同時環保署一組由獸醫所組成的小組也將會研究這些資訊以期降低防蚤滴劑對寵物傷害。而環保署也在官網中提供使用防蚤滴劑風險增加的相關資訊。
ps.相關的文章可參考：防蚤滴劑真的安全嗎？
Pets and Pesticides: Severe Reactions to Common Pet Treatments Increase Dramatically
It happens tens of thousands of times a day. People treat their pets with over-the-counter, topical treatments used to kill fleas and ticks. But reports of severe reactions have spiked dramatically in the past year.
Forrest Desmond and his wife own five dogs. They bought a spot-on treatment and used it on all five of the dogs.
"Within a half-hour, all five of them were sick, agitated, throwing up, coughing, wheezing," Desmond said. "These dogs are the most important things in our lives. ...These are our children."
The Center for Public Integrity, a non-profit, investigative journalism organization, has documented these cases and pushed the government to release numbers. In 2008, more than 44,000 severe reactions and 1,200 deaths were reported, a 50 percent increase from the year before, according to the center.
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Still, the sharp rise prompted an evaluation by theU.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which regulates topical pet treatments and says it is "intensifying" its evaluation of such products.
"Pretty quickly, we decided that it was important for us to inform the public that there was something going on with these products," said Jim Jones of EPA's pesticide program.
EPA posted information for consumers on its Web site, and initiated an internal investigation to determine the cause of the reactions.
Topical treatments have grown in popularity in the past decade. They are convenient to apply and veterinarians prefer them to shampoos and sprays. More than 100 million doses of the store-bought products are administered a year.
The treatments are designed to kill fleas and ticks by attacking their nervous systems. They are meant to stop the spread of diseases that fleas and ticks can carry.
Pet Medicine Industry Reacts
The industry insists its products are safe and believes the majority of the cases result from owners misapplying the treatments.
"The incidence is extremely rare and occurs in a very small number of cases," said Mark Newberg, the director of corporate affairs for Central Life Sciences, which manufactures some of the products.
"When we are able to evaluate cases ... virtually all cases show improper use of the product," he stated.
People will sometimes buy products meant for a dog, but use them on a cat without realizing the mistake. "We're telling consumers it's very important to read the labels of these products," Jones of the EPA said.
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