Our companion animals are in dire need of our help due to the worst crisis of pet food contamination in American history. Many people helplessly witnessed their beloved animal companion suffer and die, unnecessarily, because of this tragedy.  We have trusted these companies and the government to no avail. It is time to band together and make sure our companion animals are protected and never again have to suffer because of oversights, carelessness and allegedly malicious greed. Everyone is affected by this crisis.  How we deal with the health and food safety requirements of our companion animals impacts human health and food safety as well as our national security. The same dangerous ingredients found in the pet foods are also showing up in human food and are suspected in pharmaceuticals, vitamins, supplements, etc. These toxic poisons made their way to chickens, fish, and pigs and more evidence is surfacing every week. These same suspected companies deal with more than just pet food. You do not need to be a pet owner to see that the urgency to protect our animals also relates to our country's safety. Senator Durban drafted a bill that was introduced on May 1, 2007.  Unfortunately, we believe it is ineffective in its present form and will not prevent such a crisis from happening again.  Compromising this bill is compromising the future safety of all our animals. Several experts provided valuable input including Jay Edelson of Blim & Edelson, LLC who wrote imperative suggestions that could amend this bill and would secure the safety of all pets. We call on Congress to enact the following key reforms to secure the safety of all pets.          Require pet food companies to properly label their food, including all ingredients and the manufacturer of the food.          Prohibit the testing of potentially contaminated pet food on live animals          Require pet food companies to conduct safety tests on any ingredients from foreign countries          Require companies to conduct independent lab tests on food that has received a significant number of complaints about its safety from the public.          Establish government and public reporting requirements for pet food companies when pet food is potentially dangerous or contaminated          Give the federal government mandatory recall authority over pet food.          Require pet food manufacturers to maintain adequate insurance.          Require pet food companies that violate labeling, reporting or recall requirements to pay actual damages, including emotional distress damages, if their food causes illness or death, with additional damages for services animals such as seeing eye dogs.          Create a centralized database operated by the federal government to collect complaints about potentially dangerous pet food.  Until the necessary quality and safety mechanisms are voted into place, this kind of crisis will be repeated.   By current law, animals are only considered property. However, they have fewer rights because there are fewer laws protecting animals than property.  It is our responsibility to come to their aid. The animals depend upon all us for their protection.  We call upon the public, the animal community and all major animal organizations to back this amendment. Thank you, Shane and Sia Barbi, The Barbi Twins Amy Nelson Jennifer Pryor Shannon Keith Americans for Animal Protection and Legislative Enforcement United www.AAPLEUnited.org