The Hidden Dangers of Plastics in Your Pet's Products

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Have you ever wondered how plastic pollution might be affecting your pets?

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Well, you might be surprised to learn that it's not just an environmental issue.

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It's also a serious health concern for the companion animals that we love.

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In this episode, we're joined by Aiden Sharon from the Earth Day organization, who will shed light on pets versus plastics.

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Discover how everyday plastic products, from your pet's toys to their food containers, could be impacting their health and well-being.

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Aiden will explain how plastic pollution works, reveal some shocking findings and offer us some practical tips for reducing plastic use in pet care.

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If you care about your pets and want to understand how you can help them stay healthier and happier, stay tuned.

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You're listening to Starlight Pet Talk, a podcast for pet parents who want the best pet care advice from cat experts, dog trainers, veterinarians and other top pet professionals who will help you live your very best life with your pets.

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Welcome to Starlight Pet Talk.

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I'm your host, amy Castro, and my special guest today is Aiden Sharon.

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Aiden is the Associate Director of Global Earth Day for earthdayorg.

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Growing up on the coast of North Carolina, aidan always had a passion for a clean environment and engaging in outdoor activities like hiking, surfing and scuba diving.

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With his passion for nature.

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He earned a degree in biology, minoring in geographic information systems which I actually know what that is because I work with a lot of cities and counties in my work and he got his degree from the University of North Carolina, wemmington.

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Before joining the Earth Day team.

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He worked in wetland reclamation, then taught middle school and high school science.

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In his free time, aiden enjoys biking and hiking around DC with his wife and their two dogs, buzz and Sally.

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So, aiden, thank you so much for being here with us today.

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Thank you so much for having me.

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I really appreciate it.

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Yeah, I was really glad when you when it wasn't you, I think that initially reached out, but somebody had reached out and I was like this is great, like I didn't know that the pets versus plastics report existed and what it was all about.

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But I've always been pretty suspect about some of the things that go into our pet products for a lot of different reasons, just being in the pet industry.

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So I'm assuming most of the people that are listening today have no idea I mean, everybody knows what Earth Day is, but no idea about some of the other things that you do, like this Pets vs Plastics report, and also no idea that plastics are an issue for pets.

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So can you kind of just give us an overview of the report and then we'll dig into some of the nitty-gritty along the way.

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Yeah, sure thing.

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So we came out with the Pets vs Plastics report after having some success with our Babies vs Plastics report, equally as upsetting.

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But we realized not everybody has human children of their own, but the pet market and the amount of pet ownership has been on the rise steadily.

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I don't have any kids of my own, I have two dogs.

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So this is really hitting close to me of just trying to get the word out and trying to raise awareness about the dangers of plastic and its additive chemicals especially.

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There's a bunch of health effects associated with plastic that we can dive into.

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And then, just when it comes to the pet food industry and the pet toy industry and the pet clothes industry, there's just so little regulation and so little oversight of what goes into those products and that's potentially harmful to your pet and to you.

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So we wrote the report as a way to just get the word out there to a group of people that aren't normally thought of when you're thinking about the environment, and that's pet owners.

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Yeah, and it's interesting because I think we get this false sense of security, both for our own health and then also for the health of our pets, that there are these organizations, Like if somebody went out and said, well, who regulates pet food with the FDA?

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Well, goodness, that's who regulates our pet food.

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But I think what people don't often realize is that the regulations exist but it's often highly left to the manufacturers to make those come to fruition and you know, it doesn't always happen like we think it's going to happen.

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So when you were involved in the research, what were some of the most kind of alarming or scary things that came out just from the get-go as you started digging into this issue?

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As soon as we started diving into the research it was myself and a team at Earth Day just working on the report for, of course, to be here, but as we're diving into it, we realized there's just so little regulation out there and there's just so little rules when it comes to these manufacturing plants, and there's so little people paying attention to it, like you have the fda that's supposed to be the monitor of our pet food and our animal feed is how it's framed.

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And then, when you start looking into it, though, you realize, oh, they're not actually checking on these manufacturing processes, they're not actually holding these companies to account when it comes to these terrible things they're doing and, frankly, the rules they have set up were put together by a separate non-governmental organization that probably doesn't have our pets' health and our pets' well-being in mind, but rather the profits of those larger manufacturing companies.

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Right.

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I mean, we've seen it across the board.

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We've seen some of the headlines that have come out, both again, for human products and for pet products.

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And in defense and I'm not defending the pet food organizations, I don't work with any direct pet food organizations, but you know it's a catch-22, right, we don't want to pay $100 for a bag of dog food a lot of people.

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And so how do we make it cheaper?

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Well, there's ways to make it cheaper, but is it worth that?

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Savings?

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You know it's not.

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And people, there are a lot of people out there that just don't want to know about it.

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It's like, oh, I know that name brand.

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This is a price I'm willing to pay.

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And I'm shocked at how many people haven't even begun to look at their pet food labels or let alone their own food labels.

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But you know, we've done some things about pet food ingredients.

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Just is the regular ingredients, not the other extraneous stuff that gets into our pet's food, and it's shocking how little people have done their homework on what they're letting their beloved pet ingest.

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And the scarier thing about the label too there's not really like mandates and rules when it comes to what they put on the label, so they could blatantly lie, like there's a company that's like we only have seven ingredients in our food.

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And then you start looking into it and it's like that seven ingredients slowly starts growing and growing into like hundreds of different ingredients that just aren't mentioned or they're like well, we only use it in 2% of the batch, so why does it matter?

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Why are these things popping up?

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And it's just an issue when it comes to the labeling.

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It's an issue just all the way at the top for the manufacturing.

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Yeah, and it's.

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You know, it's kind of like those when you start digging into the.

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This is what's theoretically in it, like you said, but then these other things have made their way into it, like a certain percentage of this, that or the other thing would be acceptable, and it's just this broad category of things that, if you knew what it was, you would be shocked and appalled along the way.

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Yeah, part of that's the plastic bags and things that end up into the food for our pets.

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So in some countries, including the US at times, we dispose of huge amounts of bread products wrapped in plastic that's then shipped off to a pet food manufacturing plant where the bags of food still with the plastic wrapping and the bread is ground up and then sold dried and sold to us as pet food, so that pet food your pets are consuming still is containing the plastic.

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That way there's also when you're adding animal product to the pet food.

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They don't typically cut off the ear tags or get rid of any plastic that's used to mark the animal, that's used for slaughter and that's ending up directly into the pet's food as well.

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Animal that's used for slaughter and that's ending up directly into the pet's food as well.

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Right, yeah, so it's not even just about understanding that, when they say pet byproducts, what that means, because that's a whole other ball of wax.

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But that's probably still better than getting a ear tag.

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And I know, coming from Texas, I see the cattle out here with their ear tags.

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And what people don't realize too is that, yes, on one level those are plastic markers, but some of them also have some really nasty, heavy-duty insecticide embedded in them that keeps mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, whatever it is they're trying to keep off the animal.

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Because we've had neighbors around here that will take those ear tags and put them, like, for example, under their gait controller or in their septic system controller to keep fire ants from going in there, and it's like, okay, I didn't know those things were, you know, embedded with chemicals in addition to just being made up of chemicals, because they're plastic.

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Yeah, and like why?

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Why would you think about that?

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Like why we think we have these regulatory bodies set up to, you know, control that, and we wouldn't expect them to allow that kind of thing.

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But it's just hard to manage and it's hard for most people to realize.

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They're not always going to be on top of every single person and it's kind of up to the consumer to kind of call these companies out as well.

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Right.

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So I know, when I think about Earth Day, I wouldn't think about pets in plastic or babies in plastic.

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I think about what's the impact on the earth.

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So I guess that's the question I want to ask is what is the impact?

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I mean, we're going to get into the impact on our pets in great detail, but on a broader sense, how does this impact our environment?

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Yeah, so we are an environmental organization, but I think one of the key things we've tried and we think we've been pretty successful over the past year is recognizing that human health is a part of environmental health.

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So the thing we've been pushing for and the thing that my boss, kathleen Rogers, has been like, we really need to like not get into people's brains, like if it's bad for the environment, it's probably bad for you as well.

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Plastic is no exception and might be the worst thing out there.

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Just because plastic, when it breaks down, doesn't truly break down.

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It's made of.

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Up to 16,000 different chemicals go into the production of plastic.

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That's 16,000 different ways you can put it together, that's 16.

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I guess that ends up being trillions upon trillions of different combos you can have that just make it so dangerous.

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And when plastic breaks down, it doesn't start breaking down into those base materials.

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Like you know, wood over a while is going to break down to cellulose.

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It's going to break down to the sugars.

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It's going to break down and decompose.

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Plastic, on the other hand, just gets smaller and smaller and smaller and still holds that structure, still carries those chemicals and can then act as vectors for disease as well.

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So it goes from being this macroplastic we think of this pencil, for example as a macroplastic.

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It's gonna break down into a microplastic, it's gonna break down further into a nanoplastic, and the nanoplastic's what's really interesting and what's really dangerous, because that's what's ending up into our bloodstreams.

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But on the environmental field, it also means it can just be thrown up into the air, float around and get anywhere, including into our waterways.

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We're finding it at the bottom of Marianas Trench.

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We're finding it at the top of Mount Everest.

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People may be like well, we have people exploring Mount Everest all the time.

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That's not that surprising.

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But it's also being found in these remote areas that haven't been touched by humans for 300 years.

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Now, placid's only been around for like 80 years.

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So that doesn't really make sense unless it's able to just be thrown up in the air and just get anywhere super easily.

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Well, and you think about migration and the oceans and things like that as well and leaching into soil.

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When I was in the Air Force I took a really interesting and it was literally about specific to jet fuel and how that can cause underground water contamination.

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And you know, I was a public affairs officer, I had nothing to do with anything environmental, but we were having an environmental issue, which is why we were doing this course.

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But it was so fascinating and horrifying to realize how chemicals and other dangerous things get into our soil, get into the underground water tables, how it spreads out and then the impact on people's drinking water or your kids playing in the backyard digging in the dirt or you're working in your garden and just the long-term effects of those is pretty horrifying.

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Yeah, and then you also have plastic, and what a lot of people don't realize too is plastic is oil, it's fossil fuels.

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It's made up of petroleum.

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Petroleum, notably and considerably, is very flammable, so we have to pump it full of these additive chemicals.

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I mentioned 16 000 before.

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We've tested nowhere near the 16 000 amount.

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We've tested like 4200 of them, I believe.

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All 4,200 were found to be toxic for human and organism health, so that tells you anything about the stuff we're just pumping into it.

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Furthermore, it just leads to all these different diseases and things, but it also.

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Plasma production accounts for currently only 3.4% of greenhouse gas emissions, which may sound like a small number, but as we start pivoting away from you away from petroleum and fossil fuels as our main energy source when it comes to the planet.

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We're starting to move towards renewable energy and those kinds of things.

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We're going to start to see the petroleum industry and the fossil fuel industry start trying to push towards plastic as their saving grace.

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They don't want to give up the huge profit margins.

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They want to see a shift and that shift will be plastic.

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So 3.4% is going to at least triple by 2060 if we don't start curbing the problem.

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And that's just the greenhouse gas emissions.

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That doesn't include the millions of tons that are pumped into the ocean every year.

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Right, yeah, for a lot of people it's like oh, I'm not.

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Like when you said 2060, am I still going to be alive then?

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Yeah, but your kids and your grandkids and their pets are going to be around.

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So let's go ahead and kind of transition and start talking about the pets specifically, because I think the average consumer is at least moderately aware of plastics and their own health, but probably don't think about it with their pets.

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And then the pet products and that was something that was interesting when I read the report is that it's the plastic in the food, because that's the first thing that I thought about oh, it's getting into our food.

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But I literally, after reading the report, went through all of our pet toys, because we get a lot of pet toys, not only ones that we have purchased ourselves at the animal rescue, but things that have been donated, and you just look at them in a different way when you realize the impact.

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So you know what are some of the common culprits or the common ways that our pets are being affected by plastic in their day-to-day lives.

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Yeah, so one thing or a couple of chemicals that people might be more familiar with when it comes to plastic is something called phthalates and bpa, or bisphenols, I guess, is the better term.

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But bpa is going to be the most common one.

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Notably, you'll see it on water bottles and say bpa free.

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Great, we got rid of bpa.

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The other issue with plastic and all those chemicals is you can just kind of switch the formula, make it into something else that's no longer regulated, done, done.

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They restart over.

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When those chemicals phthalates and bisephanol A or BPA are leaching into our pet's gums, they tend to break down and when they get consumed in there it will go through the stomach and will go through the large intestine and from there those chemicals leach out.

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And those chemicals are what gives the plastic its certain flexibility, its certain rigidity, whatever it is.

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When those chemicals leach out it can cause that toy that was once flexible, once should have passed through.

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It just makes it a solid mass.

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So that's getting stuck into the intestines of our pets.

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That has to be removed surgically.

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We're also seeing leakages between these chemicals chemicals, they're called endocrine disrupting chemicals, and the vast majority of the ones introduced to plastic, are causing dementia-like and alzheimer's-like symptoms associated with rats, and if it's going to be happening in your rats, it's likely to be happening in your dogs.

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That's not to include just the general choking hazard that plastic plays when they're consuming it, because it just breaks off.

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It's formed sharp edges as well.

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A stick can form a sharp edge, but it's more likely to break down and become better chewing and just break down further once it gets into the stomach.

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Plastic just doesn't do that.

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It becomes that solid block.

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Right, and so it's not just about the consumption, the swallowing of something that's made out of plastic, but it's literally getting into their bodies, through their gums and into their bloodstreams and things like that.

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So you've got you know.

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It's basically hitting our animals in multiple different directions.

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So we're talking about, obviously we've got the issue we need to be concerned about what's in our pet's food, but then packaging toys is there anything else?

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Are water bowls?

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Things like that, are all of those things, things we need to be looking at and saying what is this thing made out of, instead of making assumptions.

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Yeah, I mean, if it's plastic, it's probably going to be dangerous.

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These chemicals are also associated with embryo development in dogs.

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You have potentially infertility.

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We're seeing the same thing in humans.

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Unfortunately, liver and kidney damage is also associated with some of these 16,000 different chemicals.

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We're also seeing cancer on the rise in dogs, with 50% of dogs over 10 being afflicted, and these are rates that have been growing and growing with the same time as plastic, which doesn't necessarily mean they're related, but we're seeing more and more connections between the two with more and more science that's coming out and people are really starting to pay attention to that linkage.

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When it comes to plastic bottle or plastic bowls, I should say in this case, just try to move away from them.

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Make the switch over to ceramic, make the switch over to stainless steel.

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They are truly inert compared to plastic that we thought was inert.

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Stainless steel they are truly inert compared to plastic that we thought was inert.

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That means it's just not going to flake off.

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You're not going to be ingesting as much of those plastic bits that are causing these issues later down the road.

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Yeah, I've started looking at everything differently and we've got a whole cabinet of various types and sizes and whatever of pet bowls in our animal rescue cabinet, let alone my own personal cabinet, and I actually came across a couple of plastic bowls that I got rid of but that, you know, somebody had obviously chewed on those, so they were chewing on it like a toy, so they were getting it there, and then I'm sure, every time they're licking it, you know they're being exposed to chemicals.

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But if people need a little extra motivation, even beyond the ingestion of chemicals, is if you're still using plastic bowls.

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Every scratch, every microscopic scratch, is a potential place for bacteria, you know, and other nasty things to hide, especially because more than likely you're hand washing those things as opposed to putting your dog bowls plastic dog bowls in the dishwasher, and so there's a whole host of other problems with those plastic bowls.

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So, definitely, you know, stainless is the way to go.

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It may not be as cute, although you can get some super cute ceramic ones, but yeah, that's, I mean, that's at least a great place that pet parents can start is by their, you know, the thing that your dog is going to be eating and drinking out of, or your cat or whatever other pet, every single day exposure.

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It's also a pretty easy transition when it comes to those things.

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A stainless steel bowl is going to be about the same price as a plastic bowl, thankfully, and that stainless steel bowl is going to last a lot longer.

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Your pet's less likely to chew on it and chew it up.

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I've worked at a vet clinic all through high school and volunteered at SPCA and things, so I've seen dogs chew up stainless steel bowls, but much less common than the plastic ones, and I'm sure you've seen the same thing.

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Exactly, yeah, exactly.

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So what would be some?

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I mean, we talked about stainless, we talked about ceramic, but what about when it comes to like pet toys and other products?

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Like, let's just say, I got a new puppy for argument's sake and I was going to go out and buy their whole kitten caboodle.

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What are some materials I should be looking for?

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And then we'll talk about pet food ingredients, because that's a whole other thing.

00:19:15.707 --> 00:19:22.068
Yeah, when it comes to pet toys and things, make the switch to natural like, make the switch to natural fibers, make the switch to those.

00:19:22.249 --> 00:19:28.191
You know they sound gross, like the beef trapezius, I think, is what they sell at the store, those bully stits and things.

00:19:28.191 --> 00:19:34.744
Rawhide is typically not advised for pets, so just consult your vet before switching to rawhides.

00:19:34.744 --> 00:19:38.957
They tend to become a choking hazard, similar to a lot of plastic toys.

00:19:38.957 --> 00:20:04.483
But also one easy thing we've done in my household and we thought it was really funny, because we've spent hundreds of dollars over the course of the five years we've had Buzz on dog toys and then we realized his favorite toy is an old 100% cotton T-shirt that I've just had laying around, that I tore up tied into knots and that's his favorite toy now, tied into knots and that's his favorite toy now.

00:20:04.483 --> 00:20:10.492
So we're able to kind of start getting rid of the plastic toys and start replacing them with those 100% cotton toys, with it just being a T-shirt tied into balls.

00:20:10.492 --> 00:20:13.574
Also, look for all-natural rubber toys.

00:20:13.574 --> 00:20:14.730
There are some out there.

00:20:14.730 --> 00:20:20.175
They can last longer than the plastic ones and they don't typically carry as many of those additive chemicals.

00:20:21.506 --> 00:20:26.022
Yeah, it's amazing how creative people can get with making dog and cat toys.

00:20:26.022 --> 00:20:29.696
I know that we've had a lot of things show up here at the rescue.

00:20:29.696 --> 00:20:33.189
You know, a cat toy made out of a wine cork or whatever it might be.

00:20:33.189 --> 00:20:39.269
So, yeah, I mean, how cheap and easy is that to take an old t-shirt, cut it into strips, braid it, put some knots in it.

00:20:39.269 --> 00:20:45.738
Now you've got a tug toy that I mean, with all things you're going to want to keep an eye on it, that they're not, you know, chewing off big chunks.

00:20:45.878 --> 00:20:53.511
But you know, not only if you save yourself some money, but you save yourself, you saved your pet some exposure to chemicals just by doing something, something super simple.

00:20:53.511 --> 00:20:59.770
And there's lots of other like I know that the report mentioned things like toys made out of hemp and other other natural products.

00:20:59.770 --> 00:21:01.053
So just look at there's so many out there.

00:21:01.053 --> 00:21:02.474
Just look at there's so many out there.

00:21:02.474 --> 00:21:26.710
Just look at what the thing is made out of and you know that's a great place to start up of plastic and those are made up of synthetic fibers that come from plastic.

00:21:26.730 --> 00:21:29.940
They may have a flashier name, um, they may sound like they're not as cheap, but they're plastic.

00:21:29.940 --> 00:21:37.951
They've just been advertised really well as this new great material that comes from the ground and I guess technically it does.

00:21:37.951 --> 00:21:44.009
If you count, you know, extraction of petroleum and then all these additive chemicals, and then down the road it becomes this fiber.

00:21:44.852 --> 00:21:57.054
But just look for those natural ones, those hemp's, those wools, those cottons yeah, now what's being done about this, I guess, or what could be done about this, potentially, if we don't have, you know, the proper oversight?

00:21:57.054 --> 00:21:58.598
I know we have afco.

00:21:58.598 --> 00:22:07.787
That, you know, is a voluntary organization that provides input on on pet but doesn't really have any enforcement control.

00:22:07.787 --> 00:22:09.852
How does this get fixed?

00:22:10.854 --> 00:22:11.134
Well.

00:22:11.134 --> 00:22:21.751
So if you blow it up to the largest scale possible, we have something called the Global Plastics Treaty that we're trying to get signed and we're trying to make sure that it's the most comprehensive treaty.

00:22:21.751 --> 00:22:25.271
A great comparison to draw is the Paris Climate Accords.

00:22:25.271 --> 00:22:31.310
That's the first thing people come to when they think international treaty on something, and on the environment at least.

00:22:31.310 --> 00:22:36.017
But what we really want to model after is something that's like the Montreal Protocol.

00:22:36.017 --> 00:22:38.212
We always hear about the hole in the ozone layer.

00:22:38.212 --> 00:22:45.790
Now we don't talk about it as much because we enacted these policies that have allowed it to start healing, and that's through the Montreal Protocols.

00:22:45.790 --> 00:22:52.231
But the Paris Climate Agreement it was voluntary measures and that kind of means countries can drop out whenever Coming back.

00:22:52.271 --> 00:22:53.737
We have the Global Plastics Treaty.

00:22:53.737 --> 00:23:04.289
We're going into our fifth session of negotiations, where countries are coming together to mark out what they want to see, and we want to make sure it's a legally binding treaty that kind of controls the production of plastic.

00:23:04.289 --> 00:23:14.606
So that's, from the top, like we want to cut production of plastic through this international treaty that has punishment in it, like you know, countries that they disobey or they don't want to follow this rule.

00:23:14.606 --> 00:23:16.472
There's something to hold them accountable.

00:23:16.472 --> 00:23:27.700
When we come back down to the pet food level, there is AFCO, but in July of this year it was actually announced that AFCO is no longer going to be that advisory body to the FDA.

00:23:27.700 --> 00:23:35.433
So as of October 1st, I believe, is when AFCO is stepping down, fda is on the lookout for somebody new to enforce it.

00:23:36.445 --> 00:23:46.212
We have a letter writing campaign currently on our website to kind of call for the FDA to actually do some enforcement and maybe hand it off to a different regulatory body that can actually handle it and actually pay attention.

00:23:46.212 --> 00:23:53.976
And then it's just kind of staying on top of those manufacturers of just like we don't want to see this plastic crap in our food anymore.

00:23:53.976 --> 00:23:57.613
We want to see what's actually going into the food so we can kind of monitor it better.

00:23:57.613 --> 00:24:06.538
And just means more accountability from them, whether that's coming from the government or the consumer, just to be like, look, this company is willing to tell us what's in their food.

00:24:06.538 --> 00:24:07.445
We're going to make the switch.

00:24:07.445 --> 00:24:10.291
That way FDA can do the same thing.

00:24:10.291 --> 00:24:14.328
If they're not going to tell us what's in the food, they cannot sell it to the people.

00:24:14.328 --> 00:24:32.932
That's just a couple of things we can do and then it's just staying on top of them, just keep calling them out, just keep up the force on both the FDA the government, government and these manufacturing processes, yeah, and what?

00:24:32.951 --> 00:24:33.453
what about as pet parents?

00:24:33.453 --> 00:24:33.835
I mean, what could?

00:24:33.835 --> 00:24:37.267
Because you know I'm kind of of the belief and we've it's come up on the show before is that, uh, like we did an episode, uh, with a bunny rescue?

00:24:37.267 --> 00:24:54.756
And you know, if you don't want bunnies to be used for food or you want to at least limit it, like if, if there, you know, there's a, there's that fine balance where you know a dog could die because that's the only meat that it can eat, and dogs eat meat, they're not vegetarians and et cetera, et cetera.

00:24:54.816 --> 00:25:02.733
Okay, so let's say you're going to limit it, but everybody's dog doesn't need to eat a companion animal, like a bunny kind of thing, and so you know.

00:25:02.733 --> 00:25:15.016
The way that we show our displeasure at that is look at the ingredients on your pet food, your pet treats, and if it has rabbit and you don't want rabbits to be killed for pet food unnecessarily, don't buy rabbit based pet food.

00:25:15.016 --> 00:25:24.054
So I mean, it seems pretty simple, but I mean how important it is that we vote with our dollars and our purchases for what we want or don't want in our pets products.

00:25:30.204 --> 00:25:32.575
Yeah, I mean, it's kind of where a lot of us feel like we have the most powers when it comes to those buying and selling.

00:25:32.575 --> 00:25:32.916
And it truly is.

00:25:32.916 --> 00:25:40.786
If we start telling companies we're no longer going to buy that product because of what's in it, they're going to have to either adjust or they'll go out of business.

00:25:40.786 --> 00:25:48.373
It's a simple process and it's a slow one, so that's why it kind of takes a couple of different areas and hit it from.

00:25:48.373 --> 00:26:02.054
So you have to hit it from the FDA, just call for them to have more regulations on it, and then also tell the companies you don't want to see that crap in your food anymore, or you don't want to see that rabbit in their food anymore, by just not buying it, and eventually the market will have to shift.

00:26:02.054 --> 00:26:07.068
There's no way to stop the billion or so pet owners that are in the world now.

00:26:07.068 --> 00:26:10.705
If they refuse to buy this product, that product will no longer be sold over time.

00:26:10.705 --> 00:26:12.932
It won't be instant, though.

00:26:13.653 --> 00:26:17.151
No, I mean, yeah, it's obviously it's going to take time and it's going to take effort.

00:26:17.151 --> 00:26:27.217
But again, going back to the issue of looking at those labels and really understanding what you're seeing, some of it's obvious, like if there's rabbit, that should be relatively obvious.

00:26:27.217 --> 00:26:40.137
But when it comes to plastics, when it comes to other ingredients that are not healthy for pets, I mean I have literally pulled a label off of a pet food container and sat down and you know, gone on the internet and looked up.

00:26:40.137 --> 00:26:44.420
You know any term that I didn't already know and I consider myself a relatively savvy person.

00:26:44.420 --> 00:26:46.747
Looked up, you know any term that I didn't already know and I consider myself a relatively savvy person.

00:26:46.767 --> 00:26:47.809
But usually after about the first.

00:26:47.809 --> 00:26:49.715
It depends on the quality of your pet food.

00:26:49.715 --> 00:27:01.147
But you know, for your average commercial dry dog food, let's just say for argument's sake, you probably recognize about the first four or five items if you're lucky and the rest of it is, you know.

00:27:01.147 --> 00:27:05.258
Unless you're a chemist or something like that, you're not going to know what that is.

00:27:05.258 --> 00:27:18.844
So look it up and you're probably going to be shocked that you know 70% of what's in that label is not what your pet probably should be eating, you know, and do you want your pet ingesting that?

00:27:18.903 --> 00:27:23.566
You know what is it really, and I think that's a huge starting point for pet parents.

00:27:23.566 --> 00:27:27.602
You had even mentioned pet clothing, and is that really just more of like?

00:27:27.602 --> 00:27:37.001
Is it a leeching issue, like my dog's coat is made out of plastic or, you know, like little rain jacket, let's say, is made out of plastic and so it could leach into his skin while he's wearing it.

00:27:37.001 --> 00:27:40.067
Or is it more of the longer term environmental impact?

00:27:40.067 --> 00:27:43.579
It's like, okay, it's just one more thing made out of plastic we don't need in our world.

00:27:44.461 --> 00:27:45.064
I guess both.

00:27:45.064 --> 00:27:55.902
So when it comes to these synthetic fibers that I mentioned, I mentioned it in terms of you know, the polyesters and those things and a lot of pet clothes are going to be cheaper, just inherently.

00:27:55.902 --> 00:28:08.066
But when it comes to those fibers and those synthetic fibers, they tend to flake off a lot easier than natural fibers, and the danger with those is they're more easily inhalable.

00:28:08.066 --> 00:28:14.023
So when your pet's wearing this you know, I think my shirt probably has some plastic in it too.

00:28:14.023 --> 00:28:16.163
That's just an old t-shirt.

00:28:16.163 --> 00:28:17.619
These fibers flake off super easily.

00:28:17.619 --> 00:28:17.988
Like if I had a microscope, I could see them plastic in it too.

00:28:17.988 --> 00:28:18.111
That's just an old t-shirt.

00:28:18.051 --> 00:28:18.414
These fibers flake off super easily.

00:28:18.414 --> 00:28:21.265
Like if I had a microscope, I could see them floating in the air.

00:28:21.265 --> 00:28:24.023
It's the same thing with our pets' clothes as well.

00:28:24.023 --> 00:28:29.002
So you want to make the switch for your pets' clothes, if they wear them, to those natural fibers.

00:28:29.002 --> 00:28:32.344
Once again, we have wool sweaters for my dogs.

00:28:32.344 --> 00:28:38.786
It's like I went online with a wool sweater, made sure it was 100% wool and that's what we dressed them in in the winter.

00:28:38.786 --> 00:28:40.522
They look adorable.

00:28:40.683 --> 00:28:45.285
but we also made sure that it was I was going to say they look snappy when they're going down the sidewalk.

00:28:45.375 --> 00:28:47.303
Yes, we all have matching wool sweaters.

00:28:47.303 --> 00:28:49.542
We are extremely cute in the winter.

00:28:50.577 --> 00:28:52.194
You are that family oh.

00:28:52.455 --> 00:28:54.898
I am that family, much to my father's chagrin.

00:28:54.898 --> 00:29:06.096
Yes, we show up wearing matching sweaters at Christmas, and they got us matching sweaters one year and they thought we weren't going to wear them and we immediately all put them on.

00:29:06.136 --> 00:29:06.958
We actually like them.

00:29:07.479 --> 00:29:08.140
We actually like them.

00:29:08.140 --> 00:29:12.684
We're going to wear them all the time, but yeah, it's just, the flaking of the fibers is really easily.

00:29:13.686 --> 00:29:16.410
You know, at first you're thinking there's no fibers flaking off.

00:29:16.410 --> 00:29:19.199
What do you think's in your lint trap when you put stuff in the dryer?

00:29:19.519 --> 00:29:20.582
Yeah.

00:29:21.183 --> 00:29:39.354
I mean, yes, there's a certain percentage of pet hair, but all of that stuff is material that has flaked off of your clothes and I know when I I mean I could run two loads of laundry and that thing, you know, got a one inch by five inch by eight inch bed of lint, and so, yeah, god knows what's in that.

00:29:39.413 --> 00:29:51.067
put that under a microscope yeah, and it's the same thing with, like you know and this is no fault to miss people like it's, the carpets we have in the in our houses are typically to be made of plastic fibers.

00:29:51.067 --> 00:29:52.017
Now, and it's the same thing.

00:29:52.017 --> 00:29:53.301
Those are flaking off as well.

00:29:53.301 --> 00:29:55.596
Same thing with, you know, synthetic fiber blankets.

00:29:55.596 --> 00:29:58.285
So it's just like in your house.

00:29:58.285 --> 00:29:59.913
Try to make those incremental switches.

00:29:59.913 --> 00:30:02.904
If it's starting with your pet's clothing, start with your pet's clothing.

00:30:02.904 --> 00:30:05.963
If it's the bowls, make the bowls, the switch first.

00:30:05.963 --> 00:30:09.575
But it's going to take a little bit of time to get away from plastic entirely.

00:30:09.575 --> 00:30:20.690
And you know I'm was director of end plastic initiatives at earthdayorgorg have been working on this issue for two years and I still have plastic in my house just because it's so unavoidable and so hard to avoid.

00:30:20.690 --> 00:30:23.545
But you know it's just making little changes over time.

00:30:24.315 --> 00:30:36.411
Yeah, so other than the, I mean obviously I want everybody and we'll put the link to the Pets vs Plastics report, because it's just a lot of information consolidated in a relatively small space.

00:30:36.411 --> 00:30:38.521
And then they what was it like?

00:30:38.521 --> 00:30:40.642
Two or three pages of citations at the end.

00:30:40.642 --> 00:30:43.674
So obviously somebody's done all this homework for you already.

00:30:43.674 --> 00:30:44.436
Start there.

00:30:44.436 --> 00:30:49.228
But where else can people get accurate information about pets and plastic?

00:30:49.934 --> 00:30:53.023
Yeah, I mean, if you just go to our website, earthdayorg, we have plenty.

00:30:53.023 --> 00:30:56.862
We have the report and then we have, you know, smaller articles that are about the report.

00:30:56.862 --> 00:30:58.005
That kind of just give you the like.

00:30:58.005 --> 00:30:59.468
This is how you should avoid it.

00:30:59.468 --> 00:31:02.720
This is what you should be doing, instead of you having to trudge through the.

00:31:02.720 --> 00:31:08.789
I think it's 30-ish pages or something of the actual 38 pages of the actual report.

00:31:08.789 --> 00:31:21.467
If you want just a smaller like you got 10 minutes to read it we have a quick article about ways to step away from plastic in your pet's life All over our website as well as we're all over you know, the normal socials and things.

00:31:21.714 --> 00:31:25.405
And then Truth About Pet Foods is a partner we've worked with in the past.

00:31:25.405 --> 00:31:28.223
They have a lot of good information about pet foods.

00:31:28.223 --> 00:31:29.480
I talked to her.

00:31:29.480 --> 00:31:42.015
We talked for a while and she was just like opening my eyes to the other side of the issue outside of plastic, you know it being just so little regulation and she's been fighting about it for years now when it comes to the pet food industry.

00:31:42.015 --> 00:31:46.104
So there's just a couple places to find it and just read the report.

00:31:46.104 --> 00:31:47.988
You know 38 pages.

00:31:47.988 --> 00:31:49.901
If you got a weekend, sit down, read it.

00:31:49.901 --> 00:31:54.477
It can be a little bit of a bummer at times, but you know there are things to do.

00:31:54.477 --> 00:31:56.825
At the end there are ways to make adjustments.

00:31:56.825 --> 00:32:05.746
And then also just go to our letter writing campaign on the website as well and write to the FDA, write to Congress, to say we want to see more from you.

00:32:05.746 --> 00:32:10.923
We want to see you fighting for our little furry friends, like we're tired of having to do it all on our own.

00:32:11.694 --> 00:32:12.734
Yeah and yeah.

00:32:12.734 --> 00:32:34.183
And if people out there have not heard about truthaboutpetfoodorg, that is a source for me for sure to go because you can really get some specific, concrete information, because I'm constantly rethinking or questioning what I'm giving my pets and then it's like, okay, I got to go out and look at what's the latest list, what's the brand I should be looking at, what's the ingredients I should be looking at.

00:32:34.183 --> 00:32:41.588
So that's definitely a great source of information and I don't want to end the show on a bummer, but I do want to address the issue.

00:32:41.588 --> 00:32:54.998
You know, are there specific, like personal anecdotes or stories that you would want to share, kind of talking about the theoretical or it's not theoretical, it's fact, but we're not talking about a specific pet that has been impacted?

00:32:54.998 --> 00:33:04.790
Are there stories included in the report or in your research that you've seen the impact on particular pets of this problem with plastics?

00:33:05.515 --> 00:33:20.518
Yeah, I think the most startling one and the one when it comes to maybe not a specific pet, though is that dementia linked to rats, like if, if we're, if we're seeing this ingestion of placid leading to alzheimer and dementia like symptoms in rats.

00:33:20.518 --> 00:33:23.924
That's an issue not just for our pets.

00:33:23.924 --> 00:33:32.705
Like you know our pets, that that's terrible and that's really sad if they come across this disease and they contract this disease and they start behaving differently.

00:33:32.705 --> 00:33:39.640
But that also means that it's likely gonna, you know, become an issue for you and your family as well you and your human family as well.

00:33:39.640 --> 00:33:42.085
Pets are sentinels for humans.

00:33:42.085 --> 00:33:44.278
Our animals are sentinels for us.

00:33:44.278 --> 00:33:58.198
If it's affecting them and their shorter lifespan, maybe we should pay a little bit more attention and realize, if it's affecting them and the 15 years they get to live on this planet, what's going to happen to me in the 85 that I hopefully get on this planet?

00:33:58.819 --> 00:34:14.277
Yeah, and anybody that has dealt with dementia in their pets and you know it's interesting that you know years ago let's say 20 years ago probably even a shorter timeframe than that, but let's just say 20 for argument's sake nobody was talking about dementia in senior pets.

00:34:14.277 --> 00:34:28.947
And it's like, on one hand, yes, we've created things that help our pets live longer, and at the same time it seems like more and more you're seeing things in the news or studies or what to do about, you know, when your dog is sundowning.

00:34:28.947 --> 00:34:32.804
I mean, there's just like that term didn't exist for pets years ago.

00:34:32.804 --> 00:34:34.288
And so why is this suddenly?

00:34:34.288 --> 00:34:36.101
Why is this suddenly an issue?

00:34:36.101 --> 00:34:40.643
And it's like, okay, now we can see a source for this, for this possibility.

00:34:40.844 --> 00:34:56.483
You know, if you figured, like you said, 15 years on the planet, but at 15 years I've been eating plastic along the way then you know there might be a way that we could prevent that, because any pet parent who's gone through that or is going through that with their senior pets, it's terrible.

00:34:56.483 --> 00:35:03.487
It's misery for the pet, I'm sure, but it's misery for everybody in the household to see the pet decline like that.

00:35:03.487 --> 00:35:06.382
So if there's something that I could do about it with my pets.

00:35:06.382 --> 00:35:08.056
I would certainly want to take that action.

00:35:08.838 --> 00:35:15.278
Yeah, I mean the goal in my household is to make sure they live the best life they possibly can, whatever that means and like.

00:35:15.278 --> 00:35:15.659
For us.

00:35:15.659 --> 00:35:25.726
That's moving away from Placid, that's giving them as much love as we can while they're still here and just paying as much attention to them as humanly possible, which I think my wife and I do a pretty good job of them.

00:35:25.726 --> 00:35:28.322
Watching her currently cuddle the dog on the couch.

00:35:28.322 --> 00:35:33.545
So at least one of the dogs the other ones hiding away, but she, she lets her alone time a little bit more.

00:35:38.594 --> 00:35:39.157
Right, so are there any other?

00:35:39.157 --> 00:35:42.088
So you had mentioned the high level kind of international work that you're doing.

00:35:42.088 --> 00:35:49.668
Are there any other things on the horizon for earthdayorg in relation to this issue with pets, any other initiatives that you're working on?

00:35:50.355 --> 00:35:55.838
Yeah, we have a letter writing campaign to the FDA directly calling for them to start paying more attention.

00:35:55.838 --> 00:36:02.061
That's on our website as well, just kind of calling for them to have a regulatory body that's actually set up to regulate.

00:36:02.061 --> 00:36:07.487
And then also we're paying attention to the different legislation that's coming out.

00:36:07.487 --> 00:36:16.083
Not that people don't want to get political and things, but there is some legislation, something called the PER Act, that kind of makes it seem like this is a great idea.

00:36:16.083 --> 00:36:17.146
We have this pet thing.

00:36:17.146 --> 00:36:18.518
It's labeled the per act.

00:36:18.577 --> 00:36:32.663
It sounds great, but once you start digging into it you realize it's just to benefit the pet food industry and kind of weed back on the you know, the oversight body we currently have and made sure that they could just kind of run off and do whatever they want.

00:36:32.663 --> 00:36:45.496
And in my perspective, it's the job of the government to protect its people at least that's the thought here in terms of who we vote for and things and it protects people and protect their pets.

00:36:45.496 --> 00:36:51.599
And if we enact these things that just allow manufacturing companies to do whatever they want, that's the opposite.

00:36:51.599 --> 00:36:58.224
That's benefiting a small group of people, you know, and then affecting the rest of us on this country.

00:36:58.224 --> 00:37:00.583
So that's another thing we're paying attention to.

00:37:00.775 --> 00:37:07.469
So we're going to go out and we're going to talk to our legislators and our representatives to make sure that they're doing what's right for us and what's right for our pets.

00:37:07.469 --> 00:37:18.809
And then we're just calling out the FDA as well, and then we'll be negotiating that treaty, which hopefully by the end of this year we'll have it signed and it'll be comprehensive and exactly what we want.

00:37:18.809 --> 00:37:23.451
And if it's not comprehensive and what we want, we're going to keep pushing them to negotiate further.

00:37:23.451 --> 00:37:28.126
So it could lead into 2025, 2026, but we're in it for the long run.

00:37:28.126 --> 00:37:29.280
So we're looking forward to it.

00:37:29.954 --> 00:37:35.804
Well, I know I definitely appreciate your work on all of our behalf as pet lovers and pet parents, on all of our behalf as pet lovers and pet parents.

00:37:35.804 --> 00:38:06.429
And you know, for pet parents that are listening, you have a tremendous amount of control over what comes through your front door into your home, what goes into your pet's mouth, what goes on their body, what goes in their body in other ways, and so you know we can do our part by taking that control, and that will then have that ripple effect of basically voting with our dollars, or lack thereof, for organizations that aren't providing safe alternatives for our pets.

00:38:06.429 --> 00:38:10.304
And that's something that you can start doing immediately, starting today.

00:38:10.304 --> 00:38:23.460
Do, like I did, go out and look at your pet toys, get rid of the ones that aren't safe, especially the older, like the older, the plastic product probably the worst that it is, because the whole BPA thing was never even considered back then kind of thing.

00:38:23.460 --> 00:38:29.865
So you know it's, it's something that we, that we do have control over, and you know we can at least impact our own pets.

00:38:29.865 --> 00:38:33.943
And then we've got Earth Day, looking out for the, the bigger picture along the way.

00:38:33.943 --> 00:38:42.755
So we really again, really appreciate that.

00:38:42.775 --> 00:38:43.978
Well, aiden, thank you so much for being on the show today.

00:38:43.978 --> 00:38:59.748
I'm so glad that Earth Day reached out because it wasn't on my radar from the standpoint of let's do an episode on this, but once I dug into that report it's like we have to do an episode on this, just to at least encourage people to start looking at this issue and taking control of what they can control.

00:38:59.748 --> 00:39:02.985
So thanks so much for being here and giving us your time and information today.

00:39:03.695 --> 00:39:07.302
Thank you so much for having me Really appreciate it and really appreciate the work you do as well.

00:39:07.925 --> 00:39:08.186
Awesome.

00:39:08.186 --> 00:39:15.925
Well, make sure you give your pets a big hug from us at Starlight Pet Talk, and for those of you listening, we will see you next week.

00:39:15.925 --> 00:39:37.490
Thanks for listening to Starlight Pet Talk, and, for those of you listening, we'd appreciate a rating on Apple, or if you'd simply tell a friend about the show.

00:39:37.490 --> 00:39:38.572
That would be great too.

00:39:38.572 --> 00:39:48.842
Don't forget to tune in next week and every week for a brand new episode of Starlight Pet Talk, and if you don't do anything else this week, give your pets a big hug from us.