Could this be Why FDA Ignores Investigations and Enforcement?

A lawsuit alleges former FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg used the FDA to run a massive conspiracy of racketeering and fraud to generate millions in drug company profits. Are other FDA employees profiting from FDA’s lack of investigation and enforcement of pet food?

Could this be why? Why FDA has investigated Chinese imported jerky treats for 8 years yet never found a cause for thousands of pet deaths? Why FDA never tested Beneful for cause of pet deaths and illness linked to the pet food? Why FDA openly allows some pet foods to violate federal law? Are some individuals at FDA benefiting financially from lack of enforcement?

A lawsuit against drug manufacturer Johnson & Johnson has been updated recently opening up a huge can of worms. The updated suit alleges Johnson & Johnson worked with former FDA Commissioner Dr. Margaret Hamburg (and others) to suppress information that a popular drug – Levaquin (antibiotic) was dangerous and that consumers were not properly warned. “This Amended Complaint sets forth allegations that involve a conspiracy by Defendants, each and every one of them, to reap large financial returns by failing to disclose to Plaintiffs and the public at large the full extent of the devastating, life-threatening, and deadly effects of a highly dangerous pharmaceutical drug named Levaquin.” The suit claims “over 5,000 people died as a result of consuming Levaquin” and other drugs promoted by Johnson & Johnson.

The lawsuit states that Dr. Margaret Hamburg failed to disclose to Congress her certain conflict of interest. “In and around May 26, 2009, Defendant Hamburg was forced to divest herself of several hedge fund holdings, as was her husband, Defendant Brown. This was done in order for her to take the position as the top food and drug regulator without any real or apparent conflicts of interest. However, the conflict of interest herein was never resolved.”

Defendant Hamburg’s husband controlled a hedge-fund that owned millions of dollars worth of Johnson & Johnson stock and the family investments continued to own conflict of interest stock during her entire tenure as FDA Commissioner. It was stated that before Dr. Hamburg was appointed FDA Commissioner (2008), her husband’s annual income was “$10 million”. After she was appointed Commissioner, her husband’s annual income increased to “$125 million in 2011”.

“Once confirmed as FDA Commissioner, Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg acted as the instrumentality that all Defendants used to perpetrate their conspiracy and racketeering enterprise by having her act illegally and outside the scope of her authority as FDA Commissioner to suppress material information to Plaintiffs and the public that Levaquin was inherently dangerous and in fact, deadly. Had this information been disclosed to Plaintiffs and the public at large, her and her husband’s financial gain and net worth would have plummeted, since Dr. Margaret A. Hamburg’s husband, Peter F. Brown, reaped and continues to reap huge financial gain as a result of Renaissance Technologies, L.L.C.’s holdings of Johnson & Johnson stock.”

Of concern to pet food consumers, Dr. Margaret Hamburg’s husband’s hedge fund also owned significant amounts of stock in Colgate Palmolive – parent company of Hill’s Science Diet; $145 Million worth.

The question has to be asked…Did Dr. Margaret Hamburg provide ‘favors’ or suppress information about Hill’s or Science Diet pet food during her reign at FDA?

In 2014 – while Dr. Margaret Hamburg was Commissioner at FDA, the FDA provided pet food the ONLY opportunity of any food to make the claim “cure, mitigate, treat or prevent diseases”. Human food cannot state it can cure, mitigate, treat, or prevent disease – even with a stack of scientific studies to prove such. But in 2014 FDA decided that prescription pet foods can.

The largest manufacturer of prescription pet food is Hill’s. Dr. Margaret Hamburg’s husband’s hedge fund owned $145 Million worth of parent company Colgate Palmolive. Is it coincidence that FDA decided to allow pet food and only pet food to make the claim to cure disease during Dr. Margaret Hamburg’s reign at FDA?

And that made me wonder about the other possible pet food investment opportunities for Dr. Hamburg or other FDA officials…example Nestle Purina. Nestle stock currently sells for more than $70 a share.

Nestle Purina is the parent company of Waggin Train jerky treats and Beneful Dog Food. Waggin Train jerky treats have been linked to pet illness and death since 2007, yet FDA has mysteriously never found a certain cause for thousands of pet deaths linked to the treats. Had FDA found a cause certainly linking Waggin Train jerky treats to pet deaths, the lawsuits against the company would have been significantly higher (costing stock holders money). Coincidence?

Beneful Dog Food has been linked to pet illness and death for several years; the brand is involved in a class action lawsuit since last year. Even though FDA has received hundreds of adverse event reports regarding Beneful dog food, through Freedom of Information Act we learned the FDA has NEVER tested Beneful dog food for causes of the many pet illnesses and deaths. Coincidence?

Freshpet Pet Food moved to a stock offering company in 2014. For almost a year, thousands of complaints of mold in this pet food have been reported all over the internet. FDA has not investigated this brand. Coincidence?

Darling International – the largest rendering company in the US – offered stock to investors beginning in 2013. The FDA openly allows Darling International and all other rendering companies to sell illegal ingredients (sourced from diseased or dead non-slaughtered animals) to be used in pet food. FDA’s official approval of illegal ingredients provides billions in profits to ingredient suppliers such as publicly traded Darling and publicly traded pet food companies such as Purina. Does anyone at FDA have a financial interest in Darling International or other public companies selling or using illegal ingredients or is this just a coincidence?

Is what has been alleged against Dr. Margaret Hamburg – conspiracy and racketeering – being repeated by others at FDA in pet food? Is this the motive of FDA failing to investigate some pet foods and failing to enforce law?

It does make you wonder.

Wishing you and your pet(s) the best,

Susan Thixton
Pet Food Safety Advocate
Author Buyer Beware, Co-Author Dinner PAWsible
TruthaboutPetFood.com
Association for Truth in Pet Food

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