Tainted pet food vs. lead-paint toys

[canuck31003]

I read this article on Time.com that I find a little befuddling—not because it’s poorly written but because I can’t quite fathom why so many more people were interested in the tainted pet food story rather than lead-paint toys. I guess I’m not a pet person.

Here are some selected quotes from the article:

“Mattel recalled almost 2 million toys worldwide for lead-based paint and other contamination issues. In response to the news, searches for the term "toy recall" spiked, nearly doubling the two-year average for all product recall searches… the Food and Drug Administration found that contaminants in hundreds of brands were causing cats and dogs to fall ill. Searches for pet food-related recall issues were over seven times that same two-year average, over double the number of toy recall searches.”

“Google News indicates that there were over 9,750 online news stories concerning the toy recall while the pet food recall has generated over 77,500 news stories.”

I wonder how many pet owners there are compared to the number of parents—could that explain the disparity between “pet recall” and “toy recall” searches? Perhaps the sheer number of media reports could be the root—more news reports regarding the tainted pet food kept the story in the public eye longer and hence more people conducted more searches for information? That begs the question why news media ended up reporting so much less on lead-paint toys.

Whose health is more important, pets or children? I’m sure if asked straight out the answer would be overwhelmingly the latter. Nevertheless, if you go by online searches I’m wrong and in the minority.

Humans are confuuuusing.

[GoTeamGirl]

Children's health is more important, but it's likely that more people have pets. Parents of children usually have pets for their children's sake, and non-parents might have pets because they don't have children, or just really like animals.

I have two dogs and a cat (and a bird, but bird food has not been recalled) as well as a younger sister, so both stories would be important in my, and my parents' case.

[Cloud23465]

I know this is going to effect the market where I work in of imports, Chinas numbers arn't as big in the market as they used to be though. There acutally only about 30% now from what used to be 50%-60% just a few years ago so it shouldnt be to bad... but there really loosing consumer confidence in everything right now.

[campy]

With respect to the levels of interest, consider this fact: All pets eat, but not all children play with toys. My children (26 and 23 years old), for example, are in charge of their own safety now.

[Fireand'chutes77]

With respect to the levels of interest, consider this fact: All pets eat, but not all children play with toys. My children (26 and 23 years old), for example, are in charge of their own safety now.

Maybe the discrepancy has to do with timing - did the pet food story break first?

[Cloud23465]

With respect to the levels of interest, consider this fact: All pets eat, but not all children play with toys. My children (26 and 23 years old), for example, are in charge of their own safety now.

Maybe the discrepancy has to do with timing - did the pet food story break first?

Pet food recall was back in May I think so... yeah that broke first.