DEAR READERS: Most people do not know about pregnant horses being cruelly confined (or repeatedly rounded up) for the purpose of having their pregnancies aborted and their blood drained.

This horrific practice is done routinely for the extraction of hormone-rich pregnant mare serum gonadotropin (PMSG) from their blood. This hormone is produced by collecting a substantial volume of blood from mares early in their pregnancies -- once or twice a week for about 12 weeks. The mares' foals are then aborted, and the mares rebred for another collection cycle.

The Animal Welfare Foundation says, "More than 10,000 mares are exploited in Uruguay and Argentina for PMSG production." Similar "horse blood farms" also operate in Germany, Canada, the U.S. and Iceland, with an estimated 5,000 animals exploited.

PMSG is a hormone that is widely used to enhance reproductive performance and management of dairy and beef cattle, sheep, goats and pigs kept under intensive housing systems. Typically, PMSG is given to young sows to induce early puberty, which in turn triggers a kind of superovulation that results in larger litters. Just after they give birth, sows are given PMSG to immediately induce estrus -- the period of time when a female animal is in heat -- so the cycle can start all over again. This is according to a detailed report by Kena Shah, entitled "The Blood of Pregnant Mares Literally Fuels Factory Farming" (see sentientmedia.org).

Shah notes, "Though it's difficult to track down exact numbers, the drug is omnipresent in industrial pork production in the U.S. and Canada. In Germany, government records indicate that approximately 2.1 million doses of this hormone are administered each year. According to the Association for Animal Welfare in Iceland, blood farmers in the country make a combined $3.4 million USD in revenue."

The inherent cruelty to horses, many collapsing and dying from anemia and repeated abortions, just to boost the productivity of factory-farmed animals for human consumption is an outright international atrocity -- one that is profit-driven in every quarter. It will not end until the veterinary profession, internationally, supports animal protection organizations dedicated to the abolition of such practices.

For its part, the World Veterinary Association has put out a statement saying that it "supports the development and use of alternatives, such as bioequivalent synthetic biologics and therapeutics, to replace the need for using horse blood, serum and urine to derive biologics and therapeutics that treat or prevent various conditions in humans and other animals" (worldvet.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/04/WVA-Position-Statement-on-the-Use-of-Horses-for-Production-of-Biologics-and-Therapeutics.pdf).

Additionally, more consumers must shop with informed compassion, adopting plant-based diets to enjoy the financial and health benefits of vegan meals that cause less harm to animals and the environment. For more details on this issue, go to feeva.fve.org/cms/wp-content/uploads/7.-FEEVA-GA-PMSG-presentation.pdf.

DEAR DR. FOX: Our dog has dry eyes. Our local pet ophthalmologist prescribed tacrolimus drops three times a day in both eyes, along with two other drops in the left eye only (also three times daily).

Only the tacrolimus seems to bother him, as he immediately rubs the eyes with paws and usually closes the affected eye. After two weeks of this, we don't think we see progress, and we are clearly causing the dog discomfort.

The vet says this regimen is needed forever. We have our doubts. You? -- R.H., Red Bank, New Jersey

DEAR R.H.: Tacrolimus is an anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive drug, often prescribed in veterinary medicine to treat dry eye. The ophthalmic drops work to stimulate the tear glands and prevent further destruction of tissue. It may take several days to see benefits, but if it causes your dog extreme discomfort for more than a minute or so, and restraining the dog from pawing and rubbing the eye is not feasible, then discuss an alternative ophthalmic preparation.

Dry eye is common in some breeds, especially those with bulging eyes like Pekingese and French bulldogs, which can lead to corneal ulcers and loss of vision. Sometimes the eyes even pop out of these deformed-by-humans dogs -- a very sad situation, which sound breeding could have avoided.

CALF AND SOW LIBERATION IN NEW JERSEY

I applaud the passage of legislation this July that bans intensive confinement of mother pigs and calves raised for veal in New Jersey with Gov. Phil Murphy signing A1970/S1298 into law. The bill, sponsored by state senators Vin Gopal and Nick Scutari and Assemblymembers Raj Mukherji, Daniel Benson and Carol Murphy, prevents the use of gestation crates for sows and veal crates for calves, and will impose penalties for violators.

I was one of the first to document the plight of veal calves in the early 1980s, in my visits to veal producers in New Jersey and other states to determine how sows and their piglets were being raised and handled. My advocacy drew media and public attention to such widespread mistreatment.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I am a 74-year-old retired lawyer living in south Florida. I read your recent column, "Is Mentioning the World's Overpopulation Now Taboo?"

I have been concerned about overpopulation since my undergraduate college days, inspired by Paul Ehrlich, but it seems like no one has been interested in it since the '90s. I don't get it. Worse, most media commentary is centered around the "crisis" of not enough people being born to maintain and support the growth society, and its environmental consumption, we seem to require.

I don't think Homo sapiens is equipped to continue for much longer; we will become another extinct branch on the evolutionary tree. But before we are finished, look out, fellow life forms. -- D.A., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR DR. FOX: Great article you wrote about the population issue -- with one big flaw: It is not a NEW taboo, but rather a very old one. But since nobody wants to offend the "church," which, in its all-knowing wisdom, posits that overpopulation is good, everybody remains silent -- while the Earth burns. -- S.L., West Palm Beach, Florida

DEAR D.A. AND S.L.: I feel very much the same way as you on this critical issue. Mother Nature's "retribution" to rectify what amounts to a planetary infestation of Homo sapiens is self-evident. All of this is clearly spelled out in a 1992 message from the Hopi people, delivered to the United Nations in a speech by Thomas Banyacya (an event in which I participated -- read the statement on my website: drfoxonehealth.com/post/the-hopi-message-prophecy).

Albert Schweitzer also encapsulated this message in his assertion that, "Until he extends the circle of his compassion to all living things, man will not himself find peace."

Books such as Paul Ehrlich's "The Population Bomb" (published in 1968), Frances Moore Lappe's "Diet for a Small Planet" (1971), Rachel Carson's "Silent Spring" (1962) and the Club of Rome report "Limits to Growth" (1972) helped galvanize public concern and sparked several nonprofit organizations dedicated to addressing these concerns. But they did not turn the tide.

I still have faith in the powers of reason and sound science and our survival instinct being enlightened by understanding that our well-being is inseparable from that of other creatures who sustain the natural environment. This fact is a core element of the One Health movement.

LONE STAR TICK CAN CAUSE SERIOUS ALLERGIC REACTION

A bite from a Lone Star tick can make consumers allergic to beef, dairy and gelatin, triggering the so-called "alpha-gal syndrome." Symptoms include a rash or hives; dizziness; fatigue; difficulty breathing; lowered blood pressure; stomach pain; swelling of the eyelids, lips, throat and/or tongue; joint pain; and generalized inflammation.

The condition may be under-diagnosed, and the CDC estimates up to 450,000 people across the U.S. have been affected by this allergy. This is yet another reason to go vegan!

AIR-DRIED FOOD: IMPROVING NUTRITION FOR DOGS' HEALTH

Air-dried dog food is made by gently drying the raw ingredients using high-velocity air, humidity and minimal heat. To learn more about this relatively new class of highly nutritious dog food -- and, in my professional opinion, a safer alternative to the BARF/raw food craze -- read this excellent synopsis in Animal Wellness magazine: animalwellnessmagazine.com/the-benefits-of-air-dried-dog-food.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)

DEAR READERS: I wonder how many municipalities in Minnesota and other states are poisoning their communities, with various herbicides being sprayed along public walkways, roadsides and parks for purposes I find, as a veterinarian and biologist, at best highly questionable.

On May 19, 2023, while walking my dog beside Basset Creek in Golden Valley, Minnesota, I saw some flags posted with the warning: “Keep children and pets off until May 19.” As I bent down to read what had been sprayed, a Monarch butterfly landed a couple of feet away on a young milkweed plant. Both may soon be gone, one from the herbicide and the other from starvation.

The flag notation indicated that Vastlan and AquaNeat had been sprayed on the plants beside the creek.

Results of one study about Vastlan's active ingredient, triclopyr choline, suggest that it may be more difficult for dogs to excrete triclopyr compared to other animals. Always take steps to minimize your pets' exposure when using pesticides. Triclopyr is low to moderate in developmental toxicity and moderate in reproductive toxicity. Details of the risks of this herbicide are available at npic.orst.edu/factsheets/triclopyrgen.html#

AquaNeat contains 5.4 pounds per gallon of the active ingredient glyphosate, in the form of its isopropylamine salt. Many scientists have documented the worldwide public and environmental harms of Monsanto/Bayer’s glyphosate, widely marketed as Roundup.

Multimillion-dollar settlements have been reached over exposure of Roundup users who developed non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma. New research from the U.C. Berkeley School of Public Health shows that childhood exposure to the world’s most widely used weed killer, glyphosate, is linked to liver inflammation and metabolic disorder in early adulthood, which could lead to liver cancer, diabetes and cardiovascular disease later in life.

(See Brenda Eskenazi et al, 2023 Association of Lifetime Exposure to Glyphosate and Aminomethylphosphonic Acid (AMPA) with Liver Inflammation and Metabolic Syndrome at Young Adulthood: Findings from the CHAMACOS Study, Environmental Health Perspectives, 131:3, CID: 037001; doi.org/10.1289/EHP11721).)

Glyphosate is highly toxic to many aquatic species, and applying Vastlan and AquaNeat next to Basset Creek is an affront to common sense, sound science and public responsibility. It is notable that at the end of the road where I live is the Minneapolis Clinic of Neurology, which has its extensive lawns regularly sprayed with Roundup.

Spot-spraying these herbicides on “invasive” plants such as sting nettles should be reconsidered. Many such plants provide food for insects, and nettles have medicinal and nutritive value -- they can even be made into cloth!

Herbicides may play a significant role in the proliferation of prions in deer, causing chronic wasting disease, and are a recognized factor in the genesis of chronic neurological disorders in humans, such as Parkinson's disease.

The good news, reported by Jennifer Bjorhus (Star Tribune, May 29, 2023, "Roadsides about to get wild again"), is that, modeled on a similar prairie program in Iowa, the Minnesota Department of Transportation will rewild roadside ditches along state and interstate highways with native vegetation for birds, butterflies, bees and other pollinators. All states should follow this initiative and prohibit routine weed-spraying and haymaking to help in biodiversity recovery and habitat restoration.

The widespread use of herbicides, especially by conventional agriculture and agroforestry, is decimating natural biodiversity -- plants that sustain pollinators and other beneficial insects and the reptiles, birds and bats that feed on them. These and other petrochemically derived pesticides have been found in rainwater and the waters we drink and bathe in. Time to clean up shop or ship off!

SOME DOGS’ BRAINS MAY BE GETTING LARGER

Domesticated animals' average brain size is nearly always smaller than that of their wild ancestors; the average brain volume of wolves is 24% larger than that of domestic dogs. But the average brain size of dogs that are the most genetically distinct from wolves is larger than that of ancient breeds, according to a study published in Evolution. Researchers say that dogs' brains are growing as they evolve through selective breeding, possibly driven by the demands of the complex human-made society in which they now live. (Full story: Psychology Today, June 13.)

Perhaps in a few generations, some dogs will verbally communicate more fluently with us, their word comprehension and associated attentiveness becoming even more astounding. As for our own brains, they are being “rewired" in childhood by interfacing with the internet/cyberspace, and reset therapeutically with mushrooms and herbs!

All things are connected, and I trust that artificial intelligence may expand our limited brains so we cause less harm, better serving the common good and the good of the commons as responsible planetary stewards.

(Send all mail to animaldocfox@gmail.com or to Dr. Michael Fox in care of Andrews McMeel Syndication, 1130 Walnut St., Kansas City, MO 64106. The volume of mail received prohibits personal replies, but questions and comments of general interest will be discussed in future columns.

Visit Dr. Fox’s website at DrFoxOneHealth.com.)