Jeffie Roszel, VMD – study of respiratory damage of 20 New York City carriage horses
Holly Cheever, DVM: In November of 1985, Dr.
Roszel (a cytopathologist) conducted a study on 20 of New York City’s carriage
horses concerning the degree of respiratory damage incurred by the horses in
their heavily polluted environment. This study, which was never published to my
knowledge, was conducted at a time when the horses were restricted to Central
Park, and therefore had much less exposure to vehicular traffic fumes than they
do now in the early 1990’s.
The purpose of the study was to determine if
horses sharing the same urban environment as humans would show the same
pathological changes in their respiratory system. Her results, based on
endoscopy and tissue sampling, showed that, in fact, horses do show similar lung
damage and changes, including a large amount of dust contained on alveolar
macrophages: equine cells migrate more slowly and are less numerous relative to
human cells). There was also a much greater level of mucus production compared
to the lungs of horses kept on pasture.
It would be interesting – or depressing – to
again study lung tissue of New York City ‘s carriage horses how that they are
exposed to a much greater amount to exhaust fumes. Logically, they would show
greater damage, and would therefore illustrate to an even greater degree that
horses should not be driven in areas where they are exposed to high volumes of
vehicular traffic.
Jeffie Roszel, VMD
University of Pennsylvania Veterinary School graduate
Currently: chairperson of the Dept. of Pathology [early 90s]
Oklahoma State University
College of Veterinary Medicine
Stillwater, OK 74078
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