DEAR READERS: Here is an excerpt from the 2025 Policy Book of the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association (uscattlemen.org):

“WHEREAS the gray wolf management under the Endangered Species Act has proven to be detrimental to livestock producers; and WHEREAS the gray wolf population has exceeded predetermined levels; THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED USCA supports efforts to fully remove the gray wolf from consideration under the Endangered Species Act.”

Like the extermination of Indigenous peoples in centuries past, this attitude toward wolves is a sad reflection of ignorance, fear and prejudice. And it is sadly in service to the environmentally damaging beef industry. The U.S. also imports beef from Brazil, where the cattle industry plays a major role in destroying the Amazon forest. (See my post here: drfoxonehealth.com/post/a-beef-about-beef-boycott-long-overdue.)

While the price and consumption of beef are on the rise in the U.S., the beefeaters of today are major contributors to climate change -- along with this entire industry. The atavistic capitalists of agribusiness and other industries contributing to the climate crisis are roundly confronted by Michael Grunwald in his 2025 book, “We Are Eating the Earth: The Race to Fix Our Food System and Save Our Climate.” What is good for the Earth is good for us, and eating beef, as Grunwald asserts, is not.

My friend Jeremy Rifkin said much the same in his 1992 book, “Beyond Beef: The Rise and Fall of the Cattle Culture.” That was 33 years ago! How slow we are to change for the sake of the Earth and the animals, as well as for our own health.

EDUCATION OPPORTUNITIES WITH VAFAW

The Veterinary Association For Farm Animal Welfare connects veterinarians around the world to improve the care, health and well-being of farmed animals. Webinars hosted by VAFAW on topics such as pain mitigation and humane end-of-life practices have drawn an international audience. For more details, go to vafaw.org.

GETTING TO THE SOURCES OF HEAT WAVES

From Nature.com: "Climate scientists have been attributing storms, droughts and heat waves to global warming for two decades. Now, they are tracing the chain of responsibility all the way back to the producers of fossil fuels. A study published in Nature shows that around one-quarter of the heat waves recorded over 2000–23 can be directly linked to greenhouse-gas emissions from individual energy giants. The findings could provide fresh evidence to support lawsuits seeking to hold companies accountable for their impacts on the climate."

See the full study: "Systematic attribution of heatwaves to the emissions of carbon majors" by Yann Quilcaille et al., published in Nature in 2025.

RECOVERING CIVILIZATION VIA ANCIENT GREEK PHILOSOPHY

Many readers will appreciate this post by Dr. Evaggelos Vallianatos, a former EPA employee and whistleblower, calling for the establishment of a neo-Platonic and Aristotelian Academy in these times of conflict and ecological and socioeconomic crisis. See the essay here: radiofree.org/2025/08/28/do-we-need-a-platonic-aristotelian-academy.

DOGS CAN GET, AND POSSIBLY SPREAD, COVID-19

“Due to close contact in shared households, pet dogs may be at increased risk for contracting the SARS-CoV-2 virus from infected individuals in the same household,” researchers wrote in Virus Research. SARS-CoV-2 antibodies were found in 68% of dogs living in households where someone had had COVID-19, compared with an overall seroprevalence of 12.2% among dogs in general.

Seropositive dogs showed no signs of infection and had been brought to a veterinary clinic for other reasons. (Full story: Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy, Sept. 9)

(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 appreciate your postings about the risks of the COVID-19 mRNA vaccines, and you make it quite clear you are not an anti-vaxxer.

I wanted to share this study with you from one of my contacts here in the U.K.: "Vitamin D status and outcomes for hospitalised older patients with COVID-19" by Vadir Baktash et al., published in the Postgraduate Medical Journal in 2021.

A brief excerpt: “There appears to be an association between increased COVID-19 incidence and mortality and countries with an increased prevalence of vitamin D deficiency. Vitamin D plays an important role in the modulation of the immune system through promotion of anti-inflammatory cytokines and down-regulation of pro-inflammatory T cells. The occurrence of an inflammatory ‘cytokine storm’ during COVID-19 has been associated with poorer outcomes and increased disease severity.”

Also, see this news item from May 2024: "Guernsey cardiologist calls for investigation into COVID-19 vaccine over possible side effects." (Link: itv.com/news/channel/2024-05-10/cardiologist-calls-for-investigation-into-covid-19-vaccine.)

An excerpt from the story above: “In the year of the COVID pandemic but before the vaccine, there were five cases of myocarditis in Guernsey, which is inflammation of the heart. In 2021, the year of the rollout, these figures increased to 25, and in 2022, cases remained higher at 22. However, in 2023, when fewer vaccines were given, the figures dropped to 11.” -- E.P., Wales, U.K.

DEAR E.P.: I appreciate this additional information about these genetically engineered COVID-19 vaccinations and their side-effects, along with more supportive data on the protective benefits of vitamin D. In a future column, I will post more information about this essential vitamin, since many people are deficient.

Magnesium deficiency is also widespread, and can affect mood and social behavior because it is involved in the synthesis of the “bonding” hormone, oxytocin. More people taking magnesium supplements and eating magnesium-rich foods, such as spinach, pumpkin seeds, lima beans and brown rice, could possibly lower the incidences of depression and violence.

People receiving immunosuppressant medications may be more vulnerable to vaccinosis (adverse vaccine reactions).

DEAR DR. FOX: Thank you for voicing the truth with dignity and grace. I am not sure if the intended hearts are reached or if you are preaching to the choir, but you are a light in the darkness. -- B.R., Boynton Beach, Florida

DEAR B.R.: I deeply appreciate your words of support for my attempts to give the facts, backed by sound science and reason, and to address the ethical, spiritual and existential crises we all face in these times.

All religious traditions, along with secular civil society, can promote the hallowing covenant of loving-kindness toward all sentient beings. All grief, despair and vengeance should be transmuted into empathy, healing and creativity.

The equalitarian ethic of loving-kindness will help us cause less harm and collateral damage to other species when dealing with predators and “pests” that can damage crops and spread disease. In healthy biodiversity, we are more secure, and pests and pestilence better contained -- as I document in my 2025 book, “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives.”

This covenant is an evolutionary step out of anthropocentrism into ecocentrism and the empathosphere. We must embrace our connectivity with our living planet, Gaia, and the interdependent life community of plants, microorganisms, fungi and animals that define, sustain, inform and reflect our humanity. The evident collective insentience at our present stage of evolution, and related political and ideological polarization, is at a critical point, touching all our lives and determining how we chose to live, vote and die in war or peace.

I have given up on using ethical arguments and reason to encourage better care for animals and protection for the wild. After a half-century of advocating for animals and the environment -- via countless books, academic and popular articles, public debates, demonstrations and conferences -- these efforts have made little difference. In fact, conditions are worse, as we all bear witness to the consequences of climate change, loss of biodiversity and extinction of species and Indigenous peoples.

We are only truly free when we trust life, relinquish control and recover our feral spirit of mindful empathy. Homo sapiens, at its current collective state of evolution, is in the chrysalis of anthropocentrism. I therefore think that addressing human health and welfare issues from a spiritual perspective will break through this self-centered worldview for the common good -- which includes the economies and well-being of every nation.

Evolution is revolution -- and it is nonviolent because it involves empathy and compassion-in-action.

(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: Your post on mRNA vaccines, like Pfizer’s and Moderna’s that saved lives during the COVID-19 pandemic, failed to acknowledge the benefits over the risks. I know you are not against tried-and-true vaccines for people and animals, and while this class of vaccines is new, it holds great promise -- in my opinion as a registered nurse (now retired). -- L.B., Cleveland, Ohio

DEAR L.B.: Vaccinations are of great value in preventing highly communicable diseases such as smallpox, mumps and measles in children, and rabies, distemper and parvovirus in puppies, but the precautionary principle must be applied. In my opinion, companion animals and children alike are being over-vaccinated, and science-based revisions in both sectors must be ongoing.

I wish all health care professionals would spend a little time and read about the adverse reactions to mRNA COVID-19 vaccinations. A good place to start is with the study “Serious adverse events of special interest following mRNA COVID-19 vaccination in randomized trials in adults” by Joseph Fraiman et al., published in Vaccine in 2022.

Some additional concerns raised by researchers include the following:

-- The spike protein of the COVID-19 virus, present in widely used vaccines, can cause harm to different people in different ways. The adverse effects of vaccinations for some people, along with long COVID, cannot be denied.

-- The contamination of these genetically engineered mRNA vaccines has been reported. A plethora of DNA fragments is an issue of concern.

-- Persistent post-vaccination symptoms (sometimes classified as “post-COVID-19 vaccination syndrome,” or PCVS) resemble those of post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 (PASC). Cardiac, vascular and neurological symptoms often emerge shortly after vaccination and persist for months or years, mirroring PASC.

References for all of these issues are provided in my post here: drfoxonehealth.com/post/preventing-pandemics-like-covid-19-and-other-animal-to-human-diseases.

These problems aside, there is growing public distrust and administrative chaos in the U.S., along with a growing anti-science sentiment. We are seeing renewed outbreaks of measles, especially in children, which can be fatal or cause permanent neurological damage and other health problems. Such outbreaks could have been prevented if the anti-vaccination movement had not gained traction in recent years -- led by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who is now in charge of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. This is unforgivable for all involved.

In June, Kennedy fired and replaced all members of the CDC’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices. The new members announced plans to review the CDC’s child and adolescent immunization schedules, an action that leaders in the American Academy of Pediatrics said is an effort to sow distrust in vaccines.

Health care professionals do not universally agree on the risks and benefits of particular vaccinations in any age group. The World Health Organization advises vaccinations for pregnant women, for the high-risk immunocompromised and for the elderly, but Kennedy has stated that pregnant women and healthy children do not need to be vaccinated. Then again, many schools mandate it.

Florida officials recently announced that the state would phase out all mandates for childhood vaccines. The same day, the Democratic governors of Washington state, Oregon and California announced that they have created an alliance to establish their own vaccine recommendations because they believe the Trump administration’s politicization of the CDC is putting Americans’ health at risk.

It is little wonder that members of the public, parents especially, are confused.

Kennedy should resume funding the World Health Organization, reinstate staff at the CDC and leave the vaccination issue to the experts. He should get on with banning azo dyes in breakfast cereals and establishing nutrition education programs in all schools. All public spaces should receive improved ventilation systems, treating incoming air with sanitizing ultraviolet light.

His agency, along with the EPA and the USDA, needs to better regulate pesticide use and act against the gross overuse of glyphosate. And the U.S. must join other countries to stop the manufacture of plastics and the burning of fossil fuels.

As I emphasize in my book “One Health: Veterinary, Ethical and Environmental Perspectives,” many public health authorities are overly reliant on vaccinations but do not simultaneously promote other factors of disease prevention, such as sanitation, nutrition education, food safety, and water and air quality.

(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.)