Pets vs People

I heard today that there is a class action against some petfood company for tainted food that has caused harm to some pets. I decided to do a little research and discovered this on the cbcnews website for March 20, 2007.

"Another big pet-food manufacturer is accused of selling tainted food in Canada that has allegedly killed some animals and made others sick, CBC News has learned.
A $50-million class-action lawsuit was filed Tuesday in Toronto against Royal Canin — a multibillion-dollar French company that supplies the Canadian pet-food market."

Now, I believe it is sad that animals are being harmed but there is another statistic that amazes me for the silence surrounding it.

"In Canada in 2002, there were 1631 chronic disease deaths among adults aged 69 years and younger attributed to alcohol consumption... There were 42,996 years of life lost prematurely in Canada due to alcohol consumption in 2002, 28,890 for men and 14,106 for women. In Canada in 2002, there were 91,970 net chronic disease hospitalizations attributed to alcohol consumption among individuals aged 69 years and younger.
Conclusion
With rising rates of alcohol consumption and extensive high-risk drinking, both chronic and acute damage from alcohol are expected to increase. Attention is needed to 1) create effective policies and interventions; 2) control access to alcohol; 3) reduce high-risk drinking; and 4) provide brief interventions for high-risk drinkers."
From http://www.cdc.gov/pcd/issues/2006/oct/pdf/05_0009.pdf

Why is it that I don't hear of any class action suits against beer and alcohol companies who are causing such incredible numbers of human deaths and diseases? Is it possible that we value our pets more than people? Have we become that decadent? What kind of insanity has us in its grips that we could be so indifferent to the human pain and suffering caused by big tobacco and big booze but get right into class action lawsuits for our pets who may have been damaged by their tainted food?
I really don't get it. And I don't know whether to be angry or sad or some strange mix of both.
Listen to the concluding comments in the cbcnews article on the $50 milllion dollar class action lawsuit....

The company recalled some of its products last summer and offered to pay a portion of Grixti's $40,000 veterinarian bill, Rochon said, but his client is not satisfied.
Rochon also said he is considering filing another lawsuit after getting calls from angry pet owners who allege their animals got sick or died after eating Menu Foods products.
"From what we can tell, there's a segment of the pet food supply here in Canada that just doesn't have adequate quality assurance associated with it and that's a big concern," he said.
Royal Canin wasn't available to comment on the lawsuit.
Menu Foods has also refused to return calls since allegations surfaced Monday that its food had killed a cat in Canada.

A cat died in Canada and lawsuits emerge. 1631 people died in Canada in 2002 due to alcohol related illnesses. I don't think any class action lawsuits are being filed. GO FIGURE.