From: "Rich Gauszka" 

http://abcnews.go.com/US/story?id=2975912&page=1

March 23, 2007 - The president of pet food maker Menu Foods, which last
week issued a recall of 60 million cans and pouches of pet food after a
rash of animal sickness and death, said today that the company would
reimburse pet owners who can trace their pets' illnesses to the company's
products.

 Earlier today, New York State veterinary health investigators announced
that the pet food responsible for pet deaths around the country was
contaminated with the rodent poison aminopterin.

Investigators, meanwhile, are looking into whether the rat poison came into
the United States on an ingredient used in the recalled food. ABC News has
learned that Menu Foods bought wheat gluten, the only ingredient changed in
its plants, from China. That possibility raises questions about the safety
of pet and other food products in the United States. The chemical can cause
kidney failure in dogs and cats, said Donald Smith, dean of Cornell
University's College of Veterinary Medicine, during the conference.

Scientists at the state's food laboratory in Albany, N.Y., made the
discovery a week after Menu Foods issued its recall.

"This is one step in a long process that will lead us to know what has
happened and how it has happened," Smith said.

Aminopterin is not registered for use as a pesticide in the United States,
and it has been known as a potential source of birth defects in humans.

Interestingly, trials are under way to test the chemical's effectiveness in
the treatment of certain types of cancer.

ABC News first reported that the rodenticide may have been present in the
wheat that was imported from China and used by Menu Foods, according to a
source close to the investigation.

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