While some of us struggle to keep our pets flea free during the economic crises, others are taking advantage and scamming us with products that are not legitimate through the Environmental Protection Agency (E.P.A.). Counterfeit Advantage® and Frontline® products have been available to us on the Internet with cheap prices, and now the newly released PetArmor™ is being seized.
Simply put without a bunch of legal hype, every pesticide sold in the United States must pass through the E.P.A., then issued a registration number. This number is printed on the outer package and on each unit. A leaflet is also enclosed in the package with warnings and information about proper use.
Outer packaging of counterfeit products can be identical to legitimate products because they are easy to copy and print. The inside, is what you should look at closely. There will a leaflet, like the ones we find in everything else including our own medication. The vials are made a certain way, all text is in English, state the E.P.A. registration numbers, warnings and expiration dates. The United States Environmental Protection Agency’s Fact Sheet on Retailers and Counterfeit Pet Products explains, and shows exactly what to look for with possible variations for both Advantage® and Frontline®. I have included a photo of Advantage® that I got from Canada.
Question: Is it not the same product even though it comes from a different country?
Answer: No. The final judgement of BAYER HEALTHCARE LLC, v. NAGROM, INC., lists seventeen differences between the registered United States and the U.K. Advantage®.
PetArmor™ is a brand new product claiming it is the same as Frontline® only a lot cheaper. I almost grabbed a box, but decided to research it first. The company is having problems, the U.S. Court ordered seizure of the product over patent issues in June 2011.
August 23, 2011 Update
Pet Armor™ is allowed to remain on the shelves! According to the recent release from FidoPharm, "PetArmor Plus can be used safely on their pets as these legal issues are unrelated to product safety or performance."
I found a statement on a forum that this product is made in India. I did not find any proof of this. It is manufactured by FidoPharm™, a trademark of Velcera Inc. FidoPharm™ manufactures and distributes out of Pennsylvania according to the EPA registration information. Their EPA registration number was issued January 10, 2011.
I am not sure why the public dislikes this product on consumer forums, nothing about this product appears to be shady. The only thing I had trouble with, was finding information about the ingredient panel. I had to blow up an image to get the ingredient amounts. It is a fairly new company, with pet folks running it, and the website for Velcera Inc. is not even completed yet.
Now that you are aware of the counterfeit products, when you get tempted to order cheap flea drops on the Internet, ask them if it has an E.P.A. number. If it does not, then you need to decide wether or not to take the chance of getting a safe product.
Sources
United States Environmental Protection Agency. “Retailers and Counterfeit Pet Products.” Fact Sheet (2004): PDF file.
United States District Court, D. Kansas . "BAYER HEALTHCARE LLC v. NAGROM, INC.." Google Scholar. United States District Court, D. Kansas, 07092004. Web. 15 Jul 2011.
Dow Jones. "Sanofi: US Court Orders Seizure Of Pet Drugs Made By Cipla, Velcera." NASDAQ.com. NASDAQ OMX , 06302011. Web. 15 Jul 2011.
Kegley, S.E., Hill, B.R., Orme S., Choi A.H., . "Product Name on Label: Petarmor for dogs." PAN Pesticide Database (2010): n. pag. Kegley, S.E., Hill, B.R., Orme S., Choi A.H.. Web. 15 Jul 2011.
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