Pet Turtles, Salmonella and the Ban No One Knows About

October 30th, 2009. By Hunter West

There’s a ban on small pet turtles? 

Really? 

Okay, so the ban is only on pet turtles less than four inches in diameter. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) enacted the ban after reports surfaced that children were putting the cute little things in their mouths. However, it wasn’t a choking hazard that seemed to drive the ban. 

No, it was the fact that children became sick after coming into contact with their pet turtle in such an intimate fashion. 

Sick with salmonella from turtles.  

Turtles carry salmonella, it seems—originating in their feces, according to a recent MSNBC report. So children, by placing the baby turtles in their mouths, were coming into direct contact with salmonella. 

So they were banned 34 years ago. 

Just the small ones, mind you. In 1975.

Oh, you didn’t know either? Join the club. Few consumers know about the ban—and fewer vendors appear to be enforcing the ban, or complying with it. According to MSNBC small turtles continue to be sold illegally over the Internet, as well as from street vendors, at flea markets and even in pet shops. 

Owning a pet turtle isn’t illegal; just the small critters. And yet, what child do you know that pesters Mom or Dad for a big, strapping pet turtle? No, they all want the itty-bitty turtle and they won’t take no for an answer. 

Thus the demand for the diminutive turtles is healthy. And they are being sold despite a 34-year-old ban that no one seems to know about, let alone enforce. 

The greatest concern remains the salmonella that appears to be inherent with turtles. 

“It’s very easy to think of turtles as being a very gentle and nice pet,” but many carry salmonella without showing any signs, said Julie Harris, a scientist at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in Atlanta and the lead author of a report looking into the problem.

Salmonella in turtle feces can end up on their shells and body and can spread to people who handle them. 

According to the American Veterinary Medical Association (AVMA), that represents a lot of people and a ton of turtles. The AVMA estimates that the number of pet turtles of all varieties nationwide doubled from 950,000 in 1996 to almost 2 million three years ago. 

The current concern began to percolate in 2007, when a teenage girl from Union County, North Carolina went for a swim in her backyard pool with two pet turtles and one friend from South Carolina. Both girls soon developed bloody diarrhea, vomiting, fever and stomach cramps. One of the teens developed kidney failure and was confined for eight days in a hospital. 

Salmonella bacteria traced to those turtles matched salmonella later found in three other North Carolina children. Other cases turned up elsewhere, many involving direct contact with turtles. 

Illnesses from the same kind of salmonella turned up coast to coast through January 2008, including 12 people in California, 10 each in Pennsylvania and Texas, and nine in Illinois. A total of 34 states were affected in the largest salmonella outbreak of its kind, linked to pet turtles.

No deaths have been reported, but many children required several days of hospital treatment, Harris said. 

“Everyone from pediatricians to other public health professionals needs to really stress that reptiles and especially turtles are a source of salmonella infections.” 

The CDC report appeared in the October issue of Pediatrics. 

The good news is that there are experimental efforts afoot aimed at breeding pet turtles that would be free from salmonella. Cleansing turtle eggs with antibiotics failed, as that just lead to strains of antibiotic-resistant bacteria. Now they’re looking at washing turtle eggs in disinfectant. 

The turtle industry, which reportedly has tried in recent times to have the ban that no one seems to know about overturned, feels it has been unfairly saddled with the stigma of salmonella together with harsher restrictions, than producers of human foods. 

However beyond that, regulators need to focus on getting the message out to the public as to what is banned and what is not. But it has to be done right. Stepping up enforcement and public education of the ban, unless it’s done properly, will only lead people to believe that ALL pet turtles are banned. Not so. It’s just the small ones. 

But ALL turtles, as well as other reptilian pets can and do carry salmonella, according to the CDC report. 

Turtles and all things reptilian are exploding in popularity right now. While it’s hard to control what happens in the flea market, online or with the underground breeding industry, pet shops in particular need to perhaps do a better job of educating consumers on just what they’re buying, together with the risks. 

It starts with enforcement. So step up to the plate on this one, FDA. You’ve had 34 years to think about it, and your response is as slow as…well…

Tags: FDA, Salmonella, Turtles

This was posted on Friday, October 30th, 2009 at 9:20 am and is filed under Food Illness, Personal Injury . Feel free to respond, or trackback. Read our comments policy.