In early March 2021, readers inquired about a news story that concerned Seresto pet collars. USA Today and Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting co-published the article. Its headline read: “Popular flea collar linked to almost 1,700 pet deaths. The EPA has issued no warning.”
One reader asked: “I’m interested in knowing if Seresto flea collars are really linked to pet deaths and the EPA isn’t issuing warnings.”
Another reader emailed with an inquiry about whether the products were “causing death” in pets.
The product description for Seresto pet collars claims it offers “continuous 8-month flea and tick protection.” A variety of collars are available for both dogs and cats.
According to the investigation:
“Since Seresto flea and tick collars were introduced in 2012, the EPA has received incident reports of at least 1,698 related pet deaths. Overall, through June 2020, the agency has received more than 75,000 incident reports related to the collars, including nearly 1,000 involving human harm.”
The reporting cited documents from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA); the records were “obtained through a public records request from the Center for Biological Diversity, a nonprofit organization that watchdogs the EPA as part of its work to protect endangered species.”
The EPA
We reached out to the EPA for further information. Initially, we received the following statement from an agency spokesperson:
Under the Biden-Harris…
