Two pet owners filed a class-action lawsuit over Seresto flea and tick collars, tying the product to the death or deteriorating health of their dogs.
The lawsuit, filed by Faye Hemsley of Pennsylvania and Aitana Vargas of Los Angeles against Elanco Animal Health, claims the company misrepresented the safety of the collars.
Hemsley claims that after purchasing a Seresto collar for her dog, he suddenly died five days after his annual veterinary checkup a month after she bought the product.
Vargas said she first purchased a Seresto collar for her dog in March 2020 and a second one in November 2020, but two months later, there was a lump on her dog’s neck near where the collar was placed. The lump was later diagnosed as cancer and had to be removed during an emergency surgery in January of this year.
EPA ISSUED NO WARNING ABOUT POPULAR FLEA COLLAR LINKED TO 1,700 PET DEATHS: REPORT
The lawsuit was filed shortly after a congressional subcommittee asked Elanco to recall the product voluntarily after the Midwest Center for Investigative Reporting and USA Today reported there were thousands of pet deaths and injuries linked to the collar.
The report found that though the Environmental Protection Agency had gotten almost 1,700 incident reports related to the collar, the agency issued no warning about the safety of the product.
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By June 2020, the EPA had gotten more than 75,000 incident reports, almost 1,000 of which involved human harm.
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court of California in Los Angeles and seeks monetary damages and a jury trial.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Elanco for comment on the lawsuit. Elanco previously said the company takes the safety of its product very seriously and investigates any concerns that are related product safety.
