Post by Willow on Apr 21, 2004 13:17:12 GMT -5
Lawn Chemicals Linked to Dog Cancer - U.S. Study
Tue Apr 20, 5:55 PM ET Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study that links lawn chemicals to bladder
cancer in Scottish terriers could help shed light on whether they
cause cancer in some people, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Purdue University researchers surveyed 83 owners of Scottish terriers
whose pets had recently been diagnosed with bladder cancer for their
report, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine
Association.
"The risk ... was found to be between four and seven times more
likely in exposed animals," said Larry Glickman, professor of
epidemiology
and environmental medicine in Purdue's School of Veterinary Medicine.
"While we hope to determine which of the many chemicals in lawn
treatments are responsible, we also hope the similarity between
human and dog genomes will allow us to find the genetic
predisposition
toward this form of cancer found in both Scotties and certain
people."
Glickman and his colleagues earlier found that Scotties are about
20 times more likely to develop bladder cancer than other breeds.
"These dogs are more sensitive to some factors in their environment,"
Glickman said in a statement. "As pets tend to spend a fair amount
of time in contact with plants treated with herbicides and
insecticides,
we decided to find out whether lawn chemicals were having any effect
on cancer frequency."
The National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) says about 38,000
men and 15,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year.
Humans and animals often share genes that can predispose them to
cancer.
"If such a gene exists in dogs, it's likely that it exists in a
similar location in the human genome," Glickman said. "Finding the
dog gene could save years in the search for it in humans and could
also help us determine which kids need to stay away from lawn
chemicals."
Glickman's team plans to survey children, as well as dogs, in
households
that have treated lawns and compare the chemicals in their urine
samples with those from households with untreated lawns.
"It's important to find out which lawn chemicals are being taken
up by both children and animals," he said.
Tue Apr 20, 5:55 PM ET Add Science - Reuters to My Yahoo!
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A study that links lawn chemicals to bladder
cancer in Scottish terriers could help shed light on whether they
cause cancer in some people, U.S. researchers said on Tuesday.
Purdue University researchers surveyed 83 owners of Scottish terriers
whose pets had recently been diagnosed with bladder cancer for their
report, published in the Journal of the American Veterinary Medicine
Association.
"The risk ... was found to be between four and seven times more
likely in exposed animals," said Larry Glickman, professor of
epidemiology
and environmental medicine in Purdue's School of Veterinary Medicine.
"While we hope to determine which of the many chemicals in lawn
treatments are responsible, we also hope the similarity between
human and dog genomes will allow us to find the genetic
predisposition
toward this form of cancer found in both Scotties and certain
people."
Glickman and his colleagues earlier found that Scotties are about
20 times more likely to develop bladder cancer than other breeds.
"These dogs are more sensitive to some factors in their environment,"
Glickman said in a statement. "As pets tend to spend a fair amount
of time in contact with plants treated with herbicides and
insecticides,
we decided to find out whether lawn chemicals were having any effect
on cancer frequency."
The National Cancer Institute (news - web sites) says about 38,000
men and 15,000 women are diagnosed with bladder cancer each year.
Humans and animals often share genes that can predispose them to
cancer.
"If such a gene exists in dogs, it's likely that it exists in a
similar location in the human genome," Glickman said. "Finding the
dog gene could save years in the search for it in humans and could
also help us determine which kids need to stay away from lawn
chemicals."
Glickman's team plans to survey children, as well as dogs, in
households
that have treated lawns and compare the chemicals in their urine
samples with those from households with untreated lawns.
"It's important to find out which lawn chemicals are being taken
up by both children and animals," he said.