Catnip is a Placebo
It's a little known fact that "cat nip" in it's natural form is just a weed with no narcotic effects on cats or humans. To get cats addicted to it, however, pet food companies began introducing PCP into the weed in 1956. There is not enough PCP in it to get a human high, but cats are extremely sensitive to the effects of PCP, that combined with their small body size can often be a lethal combination.
Over the past 7 years there have been 33 incidents of cats running through plate glass windows, slicing themselves with blades, and violently assaulting other animals or humans, resulting in the deaths of the cats.
As evidence, I draw your attention to this story: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1349070/posts in which a family cat looses control and attacks its loving companions. What the article fails to mention is the cat had gone down in the basement to "nip out." It was only weeks later when the family found an opened 2 pound bag of cat nip that they realized why the cat became aggressive and homicidal. Every now and then they gave the cat a little, but the cat found and consumed what amounted to a full year's supply of the drug, resulting in the cat's loss of control. Another news report claimed the cat had to be shot twice by the police, an obvious pain killing effect of the PCP.
The pet food companies don't want to do anything about this as the cat nip market accounts for over 2 billion dollars worth of sales, annually, and the FDA refuses to take action stating that it only regulates food and drugs for humans, not animals. The amount of PCP is too negligible to have any affect on humans, so the government refuses to act. This could also have something to do with the $234 million in contributions "big pet food" lobbyists have made to congress over the past 4 years alone.
Over the past 7 years there have been 33 incidents of cats running through plate glass windows, slicing themselves with blades, and violently assaulting other animals or humans, resulting in the deaths of the cats.
As evidence, I draw your attention to this story: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1349070/posts in which a family cat looses control and attacks its loving companions. What the article fails to mention is the cat had gone down in the basement to "nip out." It was only weeks later when the family found an opened 2 pound bag of cat nip that they realized why the cat became aggressive and homicidal. Every now and then they gave the cat a little, but the cat found and consumed what amounted to a full year's supply of the drug, resulting in the cat's loss of control. Another news report claimed the cat had to be shot twice by the police, an obvious pain killing effect of the PCP.
The pet food companies don't want to do anything about this as the cat nip market accounts for over 2 billion dollars worth of sales, annually, and the FDA refuses to take action stating that it only regulates food and drugs for humans, not animals. The amount of PCP is too negligible to have any affect on humans, so the government refuses to act. This could also have something to do with the $234 million in contributions "big pet food" lobbyists have made to congress over the past 4 years alone.
posted by Lew at 9:05 PM
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