DEAR DR. FOX: You have written about the "empathy deficit disorder" in your columns, and I wanted to alert you to this: Michael Ventura, the author of "Applied Empathy: The New Language of Leadership," wrote a New York Times article on May 4 called "The Dark Side of Empathy."

Here are some excerpts from his article:

“In an interview this year with Joe Rogan, Elon Musk quipped that 'the fundamental weakness of Western civilization is empathy.' He seemed to blame it, in part, for the decline of America’s cultural vitality. ...

“In psychological terms, empathy is not a singular skill -- it comes in different forms. As researchers have shown, affective empathy (the ability to feel what others feel) is distinct from cognitive empathy (the ability to understand what others feel). Many people have both. Others, like narcissists and sociopaths, often possess only the cognitive sort, if they have empathy at all. And this is where things can get dangerous. ...

“Empathy that connects, that builds, that heals requires a code of ethics. It requires restraint. It requires trust. It asks the empathizer not just to understand others but also to honor what that understanding unlocks. When empathy becomes unmoored from ethics, it becomes coercion with a smile.” -- P.S., San Francisco

DEAR P.S.: I appreciate you (and several other readers) alerting me to this article. Ventura’s analysis is highly relevant socially and politically, but I have a fundamental disagreement with his thesis. I do not believe there is a “dark side” to empathy because where there is empathic sensitivity, ethical sensibility arises spontaneously, as per the golden rule. My book “Bringing Life to Ethics: Global Bioethics for a Humane Society” details this connection.

Empathy involves feeling the pain or emotional state of others, while sympathy simply acknowledges others’ pain or emotional state. It is from the latter that sympathetic manipulation and coercion arise, which Ventura mistakenly regards as the “dark side” of empathy -- rather than the empathy deficit disorder evident in pathological narcissists and sociopaths.

CATTLE IMPORTS HALTED AT SOUTHERN BORDER

The USDA has suspended imports of live cattle, horses and bison at the southern border due to the spread of New World Screwworm, which has been detected as far north as Oaxaca and Veracruz, Mexico. When the parasitic fly larvae burrow into animals’ flesh, "they often cause deadly damage" to livestock, wild animals and pets. Rarely, they also affect birds and humans. (Full story: KSHB-TV, May 12)

All imports, traffic and trade of live animals, wild and domesticated -- except for conservation purposes with effective quarantine precautions -- should be prohibited in the interest of public health.

USDA VETERINARY SERVICES STAFF SLASHED

The Veterinary Services unit in the USDA’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service has lost more than 20% of its employees, including 13 of 23 area veterinarians. The staff reductions coincide with ongoing challenges such as the outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza and the threat from New World Screwworm, potentially slowing response times and affecting disease control efforts.

“We won’t know the full impacts of these changes immediately,” said New Mexico State Veterinarian Samantha Holeck. “The important thing is that we work together as a team through all of these challenges.” (Full story: Reuters.com, May 12)

(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: The dismantling of United States scientific research institutions continues. From Nature.com, posted May 8:

“U.S. president Donald Trump’s proposed budget for fiscal year 2026 calls for unprecedented cuts to scientific agencies and targets work in areas including climate change, clean energy and the social, behavioral and economic sciences. The proposal suggests cutting roughly half the budgets of the U.S. National Science Foundation, the U.S. National Institutes of Health, and the Environmental Protection Agency, which on Friday (May 2) also announced plans to dismantle its primary research division. NASA would also lose about a quarter of its funding. Ultimately, Congress -- which is controlled by a majority from Trump’s Republican party -- will decide how the federal budget will be spent.”

During his joint address to Congress in March, Trump declared, “Our country will be woke no longer.” Many see this as a declaration of a war against reason, empathy, social justice, environmental concerns and responsibility.

Seventeen states have now filed a lawsuit challenging Trump’s attempt to stop the development of wind energy. Trump is pushing for more coal mining, and burning, to run data centers for AI and cryptocurrency, bypassing environmental protection laws and threatening endangered species and critical habitats. We need responsible management of AI, but cryptocurrency is ethically questionable altogether. Its transactions consume megawatts of energy and are environmentally harmful.

"One recent study estimates that a single conventional VISA transaction uses 1.5 watt-hours, and a single bitcoin transaction uses 703,250 watt-hours," writes columnist Bruce Saller, citing data from Statista.com. Concerns are being voiced over conflicts of interest in Trump’s promoting cybercurrency and deregulating its oversight while opening his own World Liberty Financial cryptocurrency company, along with American Bitcoin and the $Trump meme coin, during this time of extreme climate change -- references to which he has had deleted from federal documents and websites.

The dissolution of the EPA’s Energy Star efficiency rating system for home appliances is incomprehensible. Some may see this dismantling of government for corporate enrichment as a sign of executive dementia or pandering to vested interests. It is notable that the rich are major contributors to climate change. (See the study "High-income groups disproportionately contribute to climate extremes worldwide" by Sarah Schongart et al., published in Nature Climate Change in May.)

According to another recent study, "52% of people born in 2020 will face unprecedented lifetime exposure to heatwaves" -- even under a conservative projection for how climate change will unfold over the next 75 years. Under a more pessimistic forecast, that figure rises to 92%, compared with just 16% of those born in 1960. The study is among the first to pinpoint the numbers of people who will experience an “unprecedented life” in terms of extreme heat. (See the study "Global emergence of unprecedented lifetime exposure to climate extremes" by Luke Grant et al., published in Nature in May.)

I favor the more pessimistic forecast because climate change will also mean shortages of food and fresh water in many regions, compounded by the precipitous decline of bees and other beneficial insects and wildlife.

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for your recent essay on Pope Francis. I found it to be heartening, even though the topic of environmental destruction is so very distressing.

I noticed that in my paper, your column sits on top of an ad for our local Humane Society, which promotes animal adoption. I’ve decided to contact their offices and help pay for their advertising costs when it is paired with your column.

I’ve often felt that I should be more involved with local shelters, but I am the type who would want to bring every abandoned dog home with me, so I have avoided their offices. Maybe helping with their advertising bills is a good way for me to contribute.

Again, thank you for your essays, as they are truly thought- and action-provoking. -- B.V., Mount Vernon, Washington

DEAR B.V.: I appreciate your sensitivity and initiative. We can all do something to help our neighbors, and that includes the domestic and wild animals in our communities. So many are at risk from extreme climatic events. I am putting water out for the wildlife around my property, as Minnesota faces an unprecedented heatwave and drought.

Companion animals are at risk from rising care costs and rental housing restrictions, leading to shelter surrenders or abandonment. Many shelters across the U.S. are full.

A common response is to choose to live in denial because empathy hurts. This is a defense mechanism, but one that is ultimately self-limiting. Doing nothing, thinking others will deal with such issues, can feed guilt in those who feel for others.

Civil society has many challenging tasks in these times: combating racism, housing the homeless, helping immigrants, and protecting the rights and well-being of Indigenous peoples and native species (whose protection the Trump administration, under the Endangered Species Act, is eliminating). But we can all do something within our communities to help, including supporting local animal shelters and wildlife rehabilitation centers. We can also take action on our own properties. For example: My lawn is gone, replaced with a rewilded, pollinator-friendly assortment of indigenous plants!

(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: The highly pathogenic H5N1 influenza virus is the genie in the bottle of CAFOs (concentrated animal feed operations) around the world. And now, it has been released and is spreading, impacting egg, poultry and dairy production. It is also killing all manner of wildlife, both terrestrial and aquatic, and may mutate and infect pigs next -- and potentially millions of people.

Over 995 dairy cow herds and at least 70 humans have been affected so far, including cases of severe disease and the first reported H5N1-related death in the U.S. (For details, see sciencedirect.com.) In a Bluesky thread accompanying her interview on “60 Minutes,” virologist Angela Rasmussen argues that if H5N1 bird flu becomes a pandemic in humans, it could be more deadly than the COVID-19 pandemic, particularly if U.S. government agencies such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention are stripped of funding.

As the deadly pathogen rips through dairy herds and poultry flocks, more than 100 federal scientists who track bird flu, including vaccine and food safety experts, have been laid off by Trump's so-called Department of Government Efficiency. This egregious mistake should be immediately rectified.

Considering the prohibitively expensive measures of implementing effective biosecurity for all CAFOs (including fur farms), as well as these facilities' significant contributions to climate change and the suffering of confined and crowded animals, they should be phased out. This was detailed in my book “Agricide: The Hidden Farm and Food Crisis That Affects Us All” back in 1986, and many other voices have spoken out against CAFOs in the decades since. Now is the time of reckoning.

My newest book, “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives,” provides documentation of why the operators of CAFOs should rapidly transition to more humane and ecologically sound animal husbandry practices, backed by consumers changing their dietary choices.

BEES DISAPPEARING AGAIN IN NORTH AMERICA

An April 16 New York Times article by Ivan Penn, entitled “The Bees Are Disappearing Again,” mentions many factors causing bee colony collapse. This is a major concern, since bees pollinate about 100 food plants upon which we rely. But one contributing factor to the demise of bees and other insects that was not mentioned in this article is the impact of nonionizing radiation from telecommunications systems and orbiting satellites.

Honeybees can detect the Earth’s magnetic field using iron granules in the abdomen that serve as magnetoreceptors. (See the study "Magnetic Sensing Through the Abdomen of the Honey Bee" by Chao-Hung Liang et al., published in Scientific Reports in 2016.) Studies have shown that long-term exposure to certain frequencies, like those used in Wi-Fi, can impair a honeybee’s ability to find its way back to the hive. This could potentially impact foraging and colony productivity, communication, navigation and larval brood development. (For details, see beeculture.com/electromagnetic-radiation-part-1.)

The documented global decline of other insects that provide vital ecological services and food for other species warrants international attention, with closer consideration of the impact of nonionizing radiation from telecommunications systems. (See the study "Electromagnetic radiation as an emerging driver factor for the decline of insects" by Alfonso Balmori, published in Science of the Total Environment in 2021.)

This decline in insects may well be linked with the recently documented decline in birds in many parts of the U.S. (See the study "North American bird declines are greatest where species are most abundant" by Alison Johnston et al., published in Science in 2025.)

PANDEMIC TREATY FINALLY COMES TO FRUITION

From Nature.com:

"Members of the World Health Organization have finalized the first global pandemic accord -- a series of measures to prevent, prepare for and respond to pandemics. The treaty -- three years in the making -- lays out the broad outline of a ‘pathogen access and benefit sharing’ system, which grants pharmaceutical companies access to scientific data such as pathogen samples in return for more equitable sharing of drugs, vaccines, and diagnostics during a pandemic."

President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the negotiations, leaving “a gaping hole,” said health law and policy scholar Lawrence Gostin. But ironically, it might have made the agreement easier to reach: “This is the world reacting to Donald Trump, determined to show that multilateralism and global solidarity still are important, as well as the rule of law.” (See the article at nature.com/articles/d41586-025-00839-0.)

(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.)