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Assembly Bill 2474, which went into effect in California on Jan. 1, has a different name in Lauren Ward's household—Angus' Bill. Her family's six-month-old puppy, Angus, had to be euthanized in 2000 after suffering from antifreeze poisoning.
But Ward didn't let the death of her beloved pet fade into memory. After discovering that antifreeze has a sweet taste despite its toxicity, Ward contacted local politicians, looking to make a change. She finally entered her proposal into the "There Oughta Be a Law" contest sponsored by Assemblyman Joe Simitian and won. Due to her actions, most antifreeze in the state must now carry a bittering agent.
"I think it's great," says Walter McCall, veterinarian at the Campbell Pet Clinic on Winchester Boulevard. "The law just may save some lives."
In 2000, Angus licked a green stain in a parking lot. "I generally don't allow my dogs to move around, but it happened just in the time it took me to find my purse and shut the door," says Ward. Within hours, the puppy was sick, and days later, it was on dialysis and going blind in the care of a veterinarian at UC Davis.
The family made the choice to euthanize the puppy, and when specialists listed the probable causes of Angus' condition, Ward could immediately pinpoint the culprit: antifreeze.
"That stuff will destroy livers and kidneys. And by the time people realize something is wrong and get into a vet, the damage has already been done," McCall says.
He says that although he used to see the problem a lot in the past, fortunately, the number of incidents has dropped dramatically.
"We don't see much antifreeze poisoning here these days," he says.
However, Ward says, "All it takes is a little drip."
Simitian's office quotes manufacturer Sierra Antifreeze, which estimated that 90,000 pets and animals die each year in the United States from ethylene glycol-based antifreeze ingestion.
"I went online and looked up statistics, and I was aghast when I read that just a quarter of a teaspoon of antifreeze kills a cat," Ward says. "I couldn't believe there weren't regulations against something so poisonous." She began calling around to the offices of various elected officials, including then-Gov. Gray Davis.
Her only lead came when she spoke to Simitian's staff, who encouraged Ward to enter the assemblyman's inaugural "There Oughta Be a Law" contest in 2000.
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