After spot-on application, imidacloprid and fipronil spread over the surface of the skin, where they are incorporated into the superficial epidermis and sebaceous glands, and slowly released via hair follicles. From here, they disperse widely throughout the household environment through pet hair, shed skin and direct transfer. People, especially children, are at risk from these neurotoxins when they pet and snuggle with treated animals.

Significantly, hand-washing resulted in these chemicals going down the drain for at least 28 days after an owner’s spot-on application to their pet, with an estimated 4.9% of imidacloprid and 3.1% of fipronil applied to dogs passing down the drain. Also, bathing the dog and washing contaminated bedding led to environmental contamination. These insecticides have lethal and sublethal effects on aquatic insects that are a vital part of the food chain.

Governments need to take action to prohibit the use of these insecticides on companion animals. (For details, see Perkins, R. et al. Down-the-drain pathways for fipronil and imidacloprid applied as spot-on parasiticides to dogs: Estimating aquatic pollution. Sci Total Environ, 2024 Mar 20; 917:170175; pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38244617/.)

DEAR DR. FOX: I gave my 6-month-old female pug a generic flea/tick/heartworm medication. She has had two episodes of wobble head and listing to the right lasting four hours in the last two weeks. No help at any vet so far. Can I please have a recipe for the milk thistle detox that’s dose-appropriate for her? She weighs 11.1 pounds. -- L.B. and Rosie, Attalla, Alabama

DEAR L.B. and Rosie: If you check my website, drfoxonehealth.com, under the DOGS section you will find a lot of information about the risks of the insecticide mix you gave to your dog and the alternatives available.

I advise 3 mg melatonin before bedtime and around noon for a week, plus a teaspoon of coconut oil in the food twice daily, also for a week. This may cause loose stools but can help the detox process.

Milk thistle has been safely used for years to help the liver detoxify and repair itself. The tincture form is the best to use for dogs, as it may be digested more readily than the dried herb. The typical recommended amount is 1/4 teaspoon per 20 pounds body weight. Give this in a dropper by mouth twice daily for five to seven days.

After three to four days of giving these supplements, I would bathe your dog in a good-quality pH-balanced doggy shampoo, since some toxins may be excreted via the skin when given orally. When topical spot-on insecticides have been given, dogs should be bathed immediately. Regrettably this will contaminate the environment, as has been found when treated dogs contaminate freshwater ecosystems when allowed to go into streams and lakes. This is another reason why these chemicals should be prohibited, in addition to causing seizures in some dogs and even making them aggressive.

(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.)

It is evident to me, as author of several articles and books on bioethics, that the Alabama Supreme Court ruling of personhood for in vitro fertilized (IVF) human eggs, classifying these frozen embryos as “extrauterine children,” is a moralistic decision that is bioethically compromised. This is part of what I see as a politically and emotionally convoluted pro-life sentiment that can cause more harm than good and calls for bioethical revision.

One example is the releasing of unadopted cats from “no kill” shelters to fend for themselves in our communities. These cats suffer and do not live long compared to in-home cats who are properly cared for. It should be a federal offense to release any non-native species, from cats to pet pythons. Euthanasia of such animals would be humane and bioethically and environmentally sound.

Is it ethical for pro-lifers to fabricate legislation that denies women their reproductive rights and limits access to birth control? The closing of abortion clinics has created a humanitarian crisis in many communities where the reproductive rights of women have been taken away by the courts. Incorporating bioethics into our judicial and educational systems may prevent us from falling deeper into the abyss of moralistic determinism and chauvinism. We must recognize that we have a population problem, and abortion is not an immoral but an ethical decision.

Since 2017, the prevalence of undernourishment has been on the rise. The number of undernourished people has climbed from 572 million then to about 735 million today. (concernusa.org/news/world-hunger-facts/)

Infertility and demand for IVF may be due, in part, to endocrine-disrupting pesticides and other chemicals that have been increasing in the environment and our food and water over the past half-century. Their effects on wildlife, alligators in particular, are well documented. (See Louis J. Guillette et al. Alligators and Endocrine Disrupting Contaminants: A Current Perspective, American Zoologist, Volume 40, Issue 3, June 2000, Pages 438-452; doi.org/10.1093/icb/40.3.438.)

These and other chemicals can also cause infertility, birth defects and cancer. Cognitive impairment and nongenetic susceptibility to Alzheimer’s disease are linked to diesel and petrol air pollution from vehicular traffic with fine particulate matter (PM 2.5). (See Christensen GM. et al. Association of PM 2.5 Exposure and Alzheimer Disease Pathology in Brain Bank Donors -- Effect Modification by APOE Genotype. Neurology, Feb. 21, 2024; doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0000000000209162.)

Our rising population of over 8 billion is displacing many other species -- with some, like the great whales, condors, chimpanzees and elephants, now on the verge of extinction. A declaration of personhood for these and other endangered species, and protection under international rule of law, would be more relevant than the Alabama law. I see IVF as a bioethically questionable biotechnology applied as a money-making corrective of the dysbiosis we have brought upon ourselves and to life on Earth. Being pro-life should not be self-serving, human-centered moralistic sentimentalism but rather serve as an ethical basis for civil society to incorporate respect and protection for all creatures great and small.

Legal personhood has been signed into law in New Zealand for the Whanganui River and the Te Urewera. Now Maori and Pacific leaders are proposing the same for whales as a further step to protect the environment, according to Aaron Smale. (For details, go to newsroom.co.nz/2023/09/18/maori-and-pacific-leaders-propose-legal-personhood-for-whales-at-un/)

The quest to have the courts recognize the legal personhood of elephants, chimpanzees and other self-aware animals in the wild and in captivity has been going on for decades. It was, in part, sparked by attorney Christopher D. Stone’s 1972 book "Should Trees Have Standing?". We have been slow to recognize that as contributors to the health of the oceans, whales are of far greater value than their meat and oil, and that our own well-being is dependent upon the health of the oceans. So, out of enlightened self-interest, all nations should recognize the personhood of whales and protect them from further harm.

PREVIOUSLY BANNED NEUROTOXIC PESTICIDE, CHLORPYRIFOS, NOW BEING USED AGAIN

Posting from Earthjustice, Dec. 19, 2023:

“The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) announced that the agency will not challenge the November ruling of the 8th Circuit Court of Appeals that overturned EPA’s rule banning the use of the neurotoxic pesticide chlorpyrifos in food. This means that a handful of chemical companies, including Gharda Chemicals, which filed the challenge against the EPA’s ban, can sell this toxic pesticide again, even though it is linked to learning disabilities and behavioral disorders in children.

According to EPA, alfalfa, apple, asparagus, cherry, citrus, cotton, peach, soybean, strawberry, sugar beet and wheat, which is more than half of the chlorpyrifos uses, will be allowed to have chlorpyrifos again. Studies done by Columbia University and others have linked chlorpyrifos exposure to neurodevelopmental harm in children. (bit.ly/3wNIRmd)

"Very small exposures to chlorpyrifos can cause irreversible harm to the developing brains of children, resulting in impairments like decreased IQ, autism and hyperactivity," Erin Fitzgerald of Earthjustice notes.

We should all wonder why it is still permissible for farmers to put poisons in their produce that we consume and that kill beneficial insects and soil microorganisms. It is not an overstatement that this loss of biodiversity is ecocide, and the use of such chemicals, homicide.

(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: Small dogs with long snouts have the longest life expectancy of pure breeds, while flat-faced dogs have the shortest, and small breeds are generally longer-lived than large, according to a study of 584,734 dogs across 155 breeds in the U.K. The study, published in Scientific Reports, found the median life span across breeds is 12.5 years, pure breeds have a slightly longer life expectancy than mixed breeds, and female dogs live slightly longer than males. (See McMillan, K.M., Bielby, J., Williams, C.L. et al. Longevity of companion dog breeds: those at risk from early death. Sci Rep 14, 531 (2024).)

HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS OF DOGS AND CATS EUTHANIZED IN THE U.S. LAST YEAR

Many animal shelters and facilities in the U.S. are so overcrowded that more than 359,000 dogs and 330,000 cats were euthanized last year, according to the animal advocacy group Shelter Animals Count. “Unlike cat adoptions, which continue to increase, dog adoptions have essentially flatlined,” said Executive Director Stephanie Filer. (Full story: USA Today, Feb. 20)

DOMESTICATED RABBITS: ECO-FRIENDLY PETS

Pet rabbits can be trained to use a litter box, they eat hay and discarded vegetable parts instead of meat, and their droppings can be used to fertilize gardens. As prey animals, many rabbits do not like to be lifted, but they may be happy to be stroked while on the floor, they can learn their name and come when called, and are active in the morning and at twilight and sleep during the day and at night, which fits many household schedules. But they must have a safe place to nestle, social interaction, proper food and regular veterinary care. (Full story: The Washington Post, Feb. 20)

My immediate neighbors are part of a network of rabbit rescuers who adopt thousands of rabbits every year that were sold as baby Easter bunnies, but grew up with people who did not know how to properly care for them. As a result, they are dropped off at animal shelters or simply abandoned.

THE RIGHTS OF PLANTS

In the 1901 edition of "Erewhon," Samuel Butler added a chapter on vegetable rights that reiterates Charles Darwin’s findings and parses their implications: If plants truly are conscious, intelligent beings, then how might human authors narrate their presence? And how should this new understanding of vegetal being affect humans’ interactions with plants?

For an interesting discussion, see this review article: Vegetal Being in Samuel Butler’s Erewhon: The Narrative Challenge of Nineteenth-Century Plant Science, Mary Bowden, ISLE: Interdisciplinary Studies in Literature and Environment, Volume 28, Issue 3, Autumn 2021, Pages 966–985, doi.org/10.1093/isle/isaa185.

AN INITIATIVE FOR COMPANION ANIMALS SET BY MEXICO ALL COUNTRIES SHOULD EMULATE

A new law in Mexico gives state and local governments 180 days to set up public veterinary clinics and start providing free preventive pet care, such as spaying, neutering, vaccinations and deworming. The clinics must also provide emergency and appropriate sick-pet care, but they may charge for that care. (Full story: Mexico News Daily, Feb. 1)

(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.)