FDA Recalling Horse Drug

The government has ordered a nationwide recall of a horse drug sold over the Internet called Miracle Leg Paint, because it contains mercury that is poisonous to horses and people.

Horse owners who have purchased the product should not use it. Instead, they should contact local waste-management authorities to determine how to destroy it without endangering animals, people or waterways, the Food and Drug Administration warned.

Miracle Leg Paint, marketed by Equine Miracle Corp. of Grapeland, Texas, contains a mercuric chloride blistering agent.

An old folk remedy for lameness and other horse leg ailments was to irritate the horse’s skin with that or similar chemicals, on the theory that the blister would cause disease-fighting blood cells to descend on the area and help the original leg ailment, said Dr. Stephen Sundlof, FDA’s veterinary medicine chief.

Only later did scientists discover mercury is toxic, and people who get mercury-containing agents over much of their skin can become seriously ill and even die, he added.

An Alabama veterinarian called the FDA on April 30 to say he had autopsied a horse whose owner had applied Miracle Leg Paint. While there is no evidence the product played a role in the horse’s death, it did spark an FDA investigation.

Equine Miracle Corp. agreed to recall the product on Thursday.