VETERINARY
ASSOCIATES STONEFIELDFriday, March 26, 2004
We received this email message regarding Convection Ovens
This message was passed along to me through another list, so this is not a friend of mine. I would suspect that the convection portion of this oven might have had PTFEs, so we want to take caution with any brand similar to this.
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I got a call from a friend a few days ago, asking for help. Another friend
of hers, Cindy, had three birds, a Moluccan cockatoo, a Noble macaw, and a
cockatiel. On Sunday night the Moluccan suddenly dropped dead, of no
apparent cause. He was playing and acting normal, and dead 20 minutes later.
Monday morning the Noble macaw was found dead when his cage was uncovered.
The cockatiel was fine.
Cindy was out of town, and her husband called her to tell her what had
happened. Cindy called my friend, who in turn called several other people to
pick our brains. The first theory was something in the air. But none of the
usual suspects was present--no candles or perfumes, no household cleaners,
no overheated Teflon, no neighbors spraying chemicals. The next theory was
either something in the water, or bad food, both of which would require
testing.
On Tuesday morning I e-mailed my friend suggesting that they get the
cockatiel out of the house until they could figure this out. Tuesday
afternoon I received the following e-mail from her:
"I called Cindy this morning to tell her what you said about getting Viva
out of the house but they lost her last night. But they think they know the
source. Steve bought Cindy a magic chef convection microwave for Christmas.
They had used the microwave but not the convection feature very often.
Sunday night Steve BBQ'd but it got dark before he finished cooking so he
brought the chicken in and put it into the oven. When it started smoking he
pulled it out and opened the windows. (Now, I set off the smoke alarm half
the time i make popcorn, so this was obviously not ordinary smoke, but they
didn't know that at the time). Viva's (cockatiel) cage was higher up than
Kermit's so it didn't affect her. Yesterday afternoon Steve tore down Kermit
(the Noble) cage and put Viva's cage on that stand. Last night after Steve
left for work Preston (their son) started to heat a burrito in the microwave
and it started smoking. He freaked out and called Cindy. she said to grab
Viva and Phoebe (the dog) and go to the neighbors, but before he hung up the
phone Viva dropped dead.
Needless to say the microwave is now outside the house. but she is going to
pursue it with the company, and Phoebe has an appointment at the vets
tonight.
Steve and Cindy lost all three of their beloved pets to this tragedy. Viva
the cockatiel was 15 years old. The microwave was 6 months old when it
malfunctioned. There is something in this microwave that produces toxic
fumes that are fatal to parrots when it malfunctions. The humans didn't
smell anything unusual, but it killed three birds in a very short time.
If you know someone who owns birds and has one of these ovens, warn them
that it could kill their birds too.
This message was passed along to me through another list, so this is not a friend of mine. I would suspect that the convection portion of this oven might have had PTFEs, so we want to take caution with any brand similar to this.
Joe Arbogast
www.birdsafe.com
ORIGINAL MESSAGE:
I got a call from a friend a few days ago, asking for help. Another friend
of hers, Cindy, had three birds, a Moluccan cockatoo, a Noble macaw, and a
cockatiel. On Sunday night the Moluccan suddenly dropped dead, of no
apparent cause. He was playing and acting normal, and dead 20 minutes later.
Monday morning the Noble macaw was found dead when his cage was uncovered.
The cockatiel was fine.
Cindy was out of town, and her husband called her to tell her what had
happened. Cindy called my friend, who in turn called several other people to
pick our brains. The first theory was something in the air. But none of the
usual suspects was present--no candles or perfumes, no household cleaners,
no overheated Teflon, no neighbors spraying chemicals. The next theory was
either something in the water, or bad food, both of which would require
testing.
On Tuesday morning I e-mailed my friend suggesting that they get the
cockatiel out of the house until they could figure this out. Tuesday
afternoon I received the following e-mail from her:
"I called Cindy this morning to tell her what you said about getting Viva
out of the house but they lost her last night. But they think they know the
source. Steve bought Cindy a magic chef convection microwave for Christmas.
They had used the microwave but not the convection feature very often.
Sunday night Steve BBQ'd but it got dark before he finished cooking so he
brought the chicken in and put it into the oven. When it started smoking he
pulled it out and opened the windows. (Now, I set off the smoke alarm half
the time i make popcorn, so this was obviously not ordinary smoke, but they
didn't know that at the time). Viva's (cockatiel) cage was higher up than
Kermit's so it didn't affect her. Yesterday afternoon Steve tore down Kermit
(the Noble) cage and put Viva's cage on that stand. Last night after Steve
left for work Preston (their son) started to heat a burrito in the microwave
and it started smoking. He freaked out and called Cindy. she said to grab
Viva and Phoebe (the dog) and go to the neighbors, but before he hung up the
phone Viva dropped dead.
Needless to say the microwave is now outside the house. but she is going to
pursue it with the company, and Phoebe has an appointment at the vets
tonight.
Steve and Cindy lost all three of their beloved pets to this tragedy. Viva
the cockatiel was 15 years old. The microwave was 6 months old when it
malfunctioned. There is something in this microwave that produces toxic
fumes that are fatal to parrots when it malfunctions. The humans didn't
smell anything unusual, but it killed three birds in a very short time.
If you know someone who owns birds and has one of these ovens, warn them
that it could kill their birds too.
