Dog Toys - the Unregulated Market

Posted by Clare Bristow

dog-with-ball The latest report by ConsumerAffairs.com has highlighted that there is no regulatory control of dog toys (or any pet products) in the United States - I don't know what the situation is in other countries.

According to a spokesperson from the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) the FDA does not regulate dog toys, nor are they aware of any Government agency that has such regulatory powers.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) can only regulate those pet products that are shown to put consumers at risk.

Why is lack of regulation a concern? Currently the acceptable levels of toxins for dog toys appears to be based on human data.

"If you're dealing with a teacup-size dog you can't assume that what's safe for a 20-pound child is safe for a three- to ten-pound dog" said a spokesperson for ExperTox, the laboratory that recently tested Chinese made dog products for ConsumerAffairs.com.

That's common sense isn't it? So why aren't there guidelines on the acceptable level of toxins in pet products? I think the answers are that nobody has given much thought to it before, it's too expensive to do the research, and who's going to raise the question anyway?

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