Counterfeit Frontline

Written By: Susan Thixton
8-16-2011

http://www.truthaboutpetfood.com/articles/counterfeit-frontline.html

The following information is from an investigation byDailykos.com. A veterinarian has evidence of counterfeit Frontline flea treatment believed to be responsible for a pets death.

I received a sad call from of friend in Indiana last week; she had recently lost two pets she believed related to Frontline. The guilt my friend felt was overwhelming; she questioned herself for using the flea treatment. And then I received an email from one of you out there; forwarding me the DailyKos.com article regarding counterfeit Frontline believed to be responsible for a dogs death.

The following are excerpts from the DailyKos.com story...
"Dr Shrader said one his friends who runs a Veterinary Hospital in Centerville, VA told him a few days ago that he's 95% positive a counterfeit version of Frontline killed a 10 month old rescue dog owned by one of his clients. He saw the animal last Wednesday for a check up and to give it a final round of shots. The owners reported they applied the first vial of Frontline to the dog on Sunday night. When they returned home from work on Monday, the dog had been vomiting and was very weak. Being animal people and knowing this looked like poisoning, they rushed him immediately to the veterinarian. The vet asked them about what he might have gotten into so he could apply a possible antidote and they mentioned the Frontline application. Because he knew about the counterfeit Frontline, the vet asked them to bring the box to his office ASAP. They brought the Frontline package they bought from an online veterinary supply company and the vet immediately recognized it as one of the counterfeits. Although they tried to save the puppy, he died on Tuesday. The owners are allowing an autopsy to be performed because they are heartbroken and don't want to see this happen to another animal."

"According to Dr Shrader, what may be the problem is that one of the active ingredients in Frontline, fipronil, is sensitive to light. If exposed to light, it breaks down through the process of "photo-degeneration" into a molecular substance called fipronil-desulfinyl. Once it is broken down into a smaller molecule, it becomes as much as 10 times more toxic than fipronil because the larger molecules are broken down into smaller molecules which can then be absorbed into the skin. As the original fipronil, it is a much larger molecule that cannot permeate unbroken skin and is therefore much safer to use unless it is ingested. In the original state, fipronil is toxic to cats since because they are self grooming and use their saliva to groom themselves, they are likely to ingest it and get it into their blood stream where it can affect the central nervous system."

"Dr Shrader got an updated email from Dr H at the FDA Animal & Vet Med Dept that said it's his understanding from one of the EPA vets that there should be an alert issued within the next few days to a week from the EPA about their findings but that it might go out only to the vets. There have been reports of 17 deaths that may have resulted from these counterfeit Frontline and Advantage products since May."

Comparison photo of counterfeit Frontline to a real package of Frontline.