Poisoned Pet Food: Why We Must Be Concerned

Today it's reported that the recent rash of pet illnesses and deaths linked to a certain pet food may have been caused by rat poison. Either tainted wheat gluten is the cause, or else someone purposely put the rat poison in the food; in either case, we have a problem.

If the wheat gluten was indeed tainted, we are seeing a vivid illustration of the dangers of imported grains. This particular wheat gluten came from China, a country with far different standards than ours when it comes to many things, from air quality (Chinese factories are belching out pollution with few restrictions) to human rights. We'd be naive to assume they would adopt our stringent policies for food safety.

On the other hand, if the poison was added to the pet food, we have to consider the possibility of terrorism. First pet food, then human food? It's possible. It's been suggested that the recent run of cruise ship viruses may be due to terrorists. Why wouldn't they want to try poisoning our food supply? Maybe the Christian Agrarian movement is on to something: grow your own food, and you'll know where it came from (and what's in it!)