http://www.care2.com/greenliving/cancer-in-pets-wildlife-and-fish.html
Cancer in Pets, Wildlife and Fish
It’s not only humans. The beluga whales in Canada’s St. Lawrence estuary are getting cancer, while those in the less-polluted Arctic waters are not. Fish in contaminated waters have tumors, but not those in clean water. Dogs that are exposed to herbicides from chemically treated lawns have more cancers than those that are not. In her book detailing the global reach of environmental pollution, Devra Davis reported that polar bears in the Arctic have major body burdens of carcinogens, and that out of 100 of the Arctic’s largest land-based mammals is reported to be a hermaphrodite. It can’t get much clearer.
The belugas have survived in the world’s northern waters for millions of years, eating octopus, crabs and fish. Now one in four of the st. Lawrence whales is dying from cancer, mostly intestinal. They are also having trouble reproducing. When scientists examined their bodies, the autopsies revealed high levels of polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), which almost certainly came from an upstream aluminum smelter.
In Washington D.C., four blocks from the White House, the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals has almost 4,000 specimens of cancer in fish, amphibians, reptiles and invertebrates collected by the Smithsonian and the National Cancer Institute. Epidemics of liver cancer have been found in 16 species of fish in 25 different polluted freshwater and saltwater locations, while in non-polluted waters, fish with cancer are almost non-existent.’ The same tumors have been found in bottom-feeding fish in industrialized and urbanized areas along the Atlantic and Pacific coasts of Canada.
Cancer in Sea Lions
During the 1960s and 1970s, persistent organic pollutants were dumped in California’s coastal waters, where they bio-accumulated through the food chain. Twenty years later, people started noticing dead and stranded California sea lions. When examined, 20 percent of the sea lions were found to have cancer of the urinary and genital tracts and toxic chemicals in their blubber that had accumulated through the anchovies, squid, salmon and mussels they ate.”
Cancer in Dogs
A study of more than 8,000 dogs showed that canine bladder cancer was associated with their living in industrialized counties, mimicking the distribution of bladder cancer among humans. Between 1975 and 1995 the incidence of bladder cancer in dogs examined at veterinary teaching schools in North America increased six-fold. Scottish terriers, Shetland sheepdogs, wirehaired fox terriers and West Highland white terriers had a higher risk than mixed breeds, suggesting a genetic susceptibility to cancer among the terriers, but not a reason for the increase.
When the researchers interviewed the owners of Scottish terriers with bladder cancer, they found that dogs whose owners had used phenoxy acid herbicides on their lawns were 4 to 7 times more likely to have cancer than dogs whose owners had not. 6 Phenoxy acid is an active ingredient in 2,4-D, a widely used herbicide that has been linked to cancers, neurological impairment and reproductive problems.’
The “cancer in dogs” studies reveal the multifactorial nature of cancer. Their cancer is linked to the use of insecticidal flea and tick dips, but more so if the dogs were obese and lived near another source of pesticides.8 In the terrier study, the researchers found that when the Scotties ate green leafy vegetables three times a week, there was a 90 percent reduction in their risk of cancer.
Danger Ahead
We need to ring all the alarm bells about the accumulation of chemical wastes in the bodies of wildlife. The fire-retardant chemicals known as PDBEs have been found in every fish sampled in San Francisco Bay. They are similar to PCBs in their chemical structure, and the levels found in breast, blood and breast-milk samples of U.S. women are the highest in the world. Is it a coincidence that women in San Francisco also have the highest levels of breast cancer anywhere?
PDBEs have been linked to an array of adverse health effects, including the possibility of cancer. When Sweden noticed a 60-fold increase of PDBEs in human breast milk between 1972 and 1997, it led to a ban throughout the European Union. In the San Francisco Bay area, the level in breast milk is 12 to 300 times higher than it was in Sweden, but the chemical industry has blocked California’s attempts to legislate.
We have to fight back, if we want to regain our health and the health of the world’s wildlife.
Adapted from 101 Solutions to a Preventable Epidemic (New Society, 2007) by By Guy Dauncey, Liz Armstrong and Anne Wordsworth
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90 comments
add your comment »Pat : I also have cats , last August we lost our dog ( schnauzer) as she developed another tumor , this one was not removable . She was 13 and a half. Our first dog ( german shepard) also had cancer of the pancreas.She only lived to age 4 !
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Kabin
Konteyner
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You're welcome.
My current campaign is to get rid of those white plastic liners in cans. Last year I lost two cats to pancreatic cancer. I've had (or they had me) cats since 1970 and these were the first I lost to cancer. Tempest liked to lick plastic bags. It was the handles, and I thought it was the salt from human hands she liked. It seemed harmless. She died from pancreatic cancer. The good news is that she was only sick for a few days. The vet told me, based on the bloodwork that there was nothing that could be done. I told her that I was not going to try to explain chemo to a cat... Humans could think about it but that is their choice. Tempest put down her head and passed peacefully. And gave me a lesson about letting go.
We have too many chemicals in our environment and I don't even want to begin talking about genetically modified food. I walked into a science class where I was teaching 10 years ago and the teacher had a lesson on the board about the benefits of GMO. I asked if Monsanto had paid for the textbooks? He was young and didn't get the question. He was in the reserves and got called up to go to Bosnia so we didn't have the opportunity to continue the conversation. We are are destroying our environment. And the greed of corportations are doing it. But, don't get ME started...
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Kabin
Konteyner
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PCB's, dioxins, "Agent Orange." One and the same toxin that likely is the leading cause of cancer in the world. A dead cell isn't so bad as an alterd cell that what is caused by dioxin. The man made toxin has nothing in nature that can break it down so it bio-accumilates. Every baby born will recieve 90% of its mothers total body burden in brest milk. I have done 20 years of reasearch on the subject in relation to a 20 year Federal Lawsuit in which a polutter illegally dumped it into the water for years. The Courts rather then order clean up allow the polluter to escape responsibility. Your dogs, marine animals, and all living things are ALL IMPACTED. Corporate greed wins out.
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My pet rat died of lung cancer, and my pitbull/rottweiler mix dog died of bone cancer.
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it is sad to read this, we need to be aware of this and make others aware before it is too late, soon it may be, for so many have suffererd already, both human and animal.
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We have to learn to worship God, and all that he is including his creation, here is something that might tell if we don't.
A nightmares tale!
There within the tomb, the temple, their God he be,
Bones of yesteryear remind us cruelly,
Vespers had consumed, Gods kingdom,
Hell had they accused, so ruefully,
Still, there on the altar gold plates, silken laced,
Whereupon, ego, selfishness and greed where placed,
And the chalice of the blood consumed,
The devil had embraced,
God’s treasures though had squandered all
Insects, butterflies, and nematodes,
And all that God had made large and small,
Bones and skeletons had left, that filled the steeple tall,
A whisper still remained, like Noah’s ark a bird had flew,
It did not sing no more, singing now did rue,
Nothing left to sing about, this world now bare,
No one left its joy to share it knew,
Like a ghost from distant space he stood,
A golden robe, his arms in priestly motion,
As he had in times of yore,
Blessing all with priestly lotion, as he always would,
This apparition did I see, and ran to flee, away,
On Mount Ararat I found a spot,
Among the bones and timber lost,
In haste and fear did pray,
©Jasmin Horst E.P. Seiler,22/03/2009
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We are slowly destroying our beautiful planet and all our wonderful animals. We are polluting our air, polluting our oceans and polluting our earth. We are also slaughtering endangered species, domesticated pets, & millions of other beautiful creatures of our planet. The more petitions we sign regarding the above issues, the more we are spreading the message that we are NOT going to accept this any longer. We are being heard, but we must be HEARD more. I have donated for animal welfare, environmental issues & human rights issues, signed every petition I can and I will continue to do so. We MUST change the attitudes of people across the globe. I feel we have only just begun & touched the tip of the iceberg, but this is a start and we must continue.
From one who really cares
SALLY D.
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Yes, man is not only poisoning ourselves off the planet, we are taking along innocent animals. Kind of like a Noah's Ark from the darkside.
There are ways to prevent and treat cancer in many of our animal friends. Here is the protocol I developed for dogs (it can be adapted for many other animals too):
http://www.tbyil.com/Dogs_Natural_Cancer_Protocol.htm
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