The
Pooper Scooper
Dogs sniff out diabetic crisis
and cancer
Throughout the course of human/domesticated dog history, humans have
harnessed the sniffing power of the dog to find explosives, drugs,
criminals and missing people. Humans can now add "cancer sniffer-outer"
and "Diabetic coma preventer" to the list of dog jobs.
Mark Ruefenacht, founder of Dogs4Diabetics and a diabetic himself first
realized dogs could be trained as diabetic alert dogs, when Benton, a
Labrador puppy and guide dog in training awoke him in the middle of the
night.
Ruefenacht theorized that a dog can smell the chemical imbalance in a
diabetic.
"If a machine can do it, I can train a dog to do it," Ruefenarcht told
the San Francisco Chronicle. Five years later, he pinpointed the scent
common to Type 1 diabetics experiencing low blood sugar.
According to www.dogsfordiabetics.com, their dogs have been trained to
identify, and more importantly, act upon the subtle scent changes that
hypoglycemia (low blood glucose) creates in body chemistry, changes
undetectable to their human companions.
Are there no limits to what a dog can detect via scent? Dogs are
currently used to warn of epileptic seizures, low blood sugar and heart attacks.
The idea that dogs can sniff out diseases such as cancer is not
unreasonable. Tumors produce organic compounds released
into the atmosphere through breath, sweat and urine which even in small
quantities have distinctive odors that are detectable to dogs.
Scientists have recently studied a dog's ability to detect melanoma,
prostate, lung and breast cancer--all of which have yielded promising
results.
Dr. Larry Myers told MSNBC that part of what makes a dog's sense of
smell so sophisticated is its ability to smell multiple layers of
chemicals. "If (they were identifying) just a single chemical, medicine
might have picked up on it. The dog may be doing something a little
better."
Dogs' cancer sensing abilities could prove useful in catching early
onset of disease. "It's going to be very useful for large-scale screening of
populations," says Myers. "And it's certainly going to be effective in
third-world countries that don't have the resources to do sophisticated
(laboratory) tests."
SOURCES: McCullough, M. Integrated Cancer Therapies, March 2005; vol 5:
pp 1-10. Pine Street Foundation: "Diagnostic Accuracy of Canine Scent
Detection of Lung and Breast Cancers in Exhaled Breath." News release,
Sage Publications.
San Francisco Chronicle. Guide Dog flunkies earn kudos in their
second life as diabetes coma alarms. Sam Whiting Sunday, November 5,
2006
www.dogsfordiabetics.com
Is there a doctor?or dog?in the house? Molly Masland. MSNBC.
Wed., Nov. 17, 2004
|
