Tort & Liabilities for Pet Losses

[Doctorgori]

Remember the whole contaminated dog food thing from China?
f https://www.fda.gov/animal-veterinary/recalls-withdrawals/melamine-pet-food-recall-2007

Anyway, I wonder if aquarium product mfg’s can be held to a similar legal standard and will this reflect in product prices as a pass through cost?
Related: is aquarium livestock a product or pet like a dog or cat?
Is killing a $1000 maxima clam via a fraudulent product the same as poisoning a dog through a fraudulent/tainted product?
I think these are valid relevant questions given recent events. If anyone has any thoughts or legal insights, please chime in
added thought: politics, legalities, and hobbies don’t mix well, but some liability discussion is long overdue, not sure if this format suits it or not

 

[cotofl02]

I am not sure you could meet the same burden of proof that they could with the tainted pet food. I was actually working in the industry when the pet food problem hit (on the retail side not the manufacturing side). There was a long period where people were having these issues with their pet and no one knew the cause. It took a lot of necropsies being performed before they could see a trend and nail down the cause. Aquatic systems are a lot more fragile than dogs and cat’s especially when dealing with invertebrates, a lot of times things go sideways and you have no idea what the issue is. So then your left trying to pin the cause on a single product and it may be next to impossible to come to the conclusion that it’s causing widespread deaths. Maybe worth exploring but you could end up just spinning your wheels. Just my $.02.

 

[fish farmer]

I am not sure you could meet the same burden of proof that they could with the tainted pet food. I was actually working in the industry when the pet food problem hit (on the retail side not the manufacturing side). There was a long period where people were having these issues with their pet and no one knew the cause. It took a lot of necropsies being performed before they could see a trend and nail down the cause. Aquatic systems are a lot more fragile than dogs and cat’s especially when dealing with invertebrates, a lot of times things go sideways and you have no idea what the issue is. So then your left trying to pin the cause on a single product and it may be next to impossible to come to the conclusion that it’s causing widespread deaths. Maybe worth exploring but you could end up just spinning your wheels. Just my $.02.

And everyone is a "home vet" when it comes to this hobby. Does anyone call up the local Fish Health Pathologist when their fish get sick?

 

[blaxsun]

And everyone is a "home vet" when it comes to this hobby. Does anyone call up the local Fish Health Pathologist when their fish get sick?

It's also because more than a few experienced reefers know more than their local fish health pathologist... But I think if a company distributed a falsely labelled product (especially a cancerous causing one) without the proper warnings, they're not going to be able to dodge that.

 

[fish farmer]

It's also because more than a few experienced reefers know more than their local fish health pathologist... But I think if a company distributed a falsely labelled product (especially a cancerous causing one) without the proper warnings, they're not going to be able to dodge that.

I was more referring to the documentation that might come from losses through a professional service than 5,000+ hobbyist saying I killed my fish with this food when it "may" have been something else and there is no necrospy.

 

[Doctorgori]

I am not sure you could meet the same burden of proof that they could with the tainted pet food. I was actually working in the industry when the pet food problem hit (on the retail side not the manufacturing side). There was a long period where people were having these issues with their pet and no one knew the cause. It took a lot of necropsies being performed before they could see a trend and nail down the cause. Aquatic systems are a lot more fragile than dogs and cat’s especially when dealing with invertebrates, a lot of times things go sideways and you have no idea what the issue is. So then your left trying to pin the cause on a single product and it may be next to impossible to come to the conclusion that it’s causing widespread deaths. Maybe worth exploring but you could end up just spinning your wheels. Just my $.02.

agreed and that’s a salient point: “my $1000 clam just died and Dr. Tim’s was the cause” but I’m not expecting CSI Miami to come a runnin to do an episode..
I dunno, I’m not comfortable with this reality of legalize infecting my hobby, but we gotta talk about it at this point

 

[Doctorgori]

It's also because more than a few experienced reefers know more than their local fish health pathologist... But I think if a company distributed a falsely labelled product (especially a cancerous causing one) without the proper warnings, they're not going to be able to dodge that.

Yup, which brings up the whole truth in packaging thing. Unlike bad motor oil, you can fix a machine but you can’t resurrect a dead biological organism just yet. moreover finding cause and effect from a death is different than troubleshooting a machine. Way too many variables involved…
Still smoking guns from poisons and toxins do exist, it’s just a cost component in the discovery…
^^ I count 4 post all 4 relevant, this thing is a medusa with lots of surface area to discuss