The other day I received an email from a friend who has been very instrumental in getting smoking off airplanes.  The following will hopefully make those of you who are still determined to ignore the proof of the danger of smoking and the second hand smoke they subject everyone to, including their pets, more aware & give you the best reason in the world to quit this horrible addiction.  The following was written by Barry Karlin.

Barry Karlin is a researcher with the World Health Organization and has spent most of his adult life studying threatening diseases around the globe.  Tobacco, he says, is one of our greatest threats next to AIDS.

Barry was traveling in Utah's Brice Canyon National Park when he saw a woman smoking in her car.  Unfortunately, there were two little white Poodles in there with her.  In essence, they were being held hostage and being subjected to her smoke.  We all know how sensitive animals olfactory senses are.  Can you imagine what these poor animals were going through.  Cigarette smoke is ugly stuff.  It's made up of 4,000 chemicals, 43 of which are carcinogens.  Hundreds of studies have shown the dangers of second-hand smoke for adults and children.  What about pets who also share the home of a smoker?  Think about it?  Indoor cats, like small children, don't have a choice when it comes to breathing in cigarette or cigar smoke.  Cats also ingest particulate matter while grooming and you know the smoke gets into the fur.  Remember how your clothes smelled when you were around people who smoked?  Yuck!  And some dogs find a discarded butt a tasty treat.

As it turns out, a small but steadily growing body of research suggests Karlin's gut feeling was right on target.  Lymphoma is the most common type of cancer in cats and is now being linked to second-hand smoke, according to a study published last fall in the American Journal of Epidemiology.  Researchers found that cigarette smoke was a key environmental factor that triggered lymphoma in 80 out of 180 cats between 1993 & 2000.  The study concludes that smoking in the home will double the chance of your cat developing the deadly disease.  After five years of exposure, a cat's risk is tripled.  Add another smoker in the house and a cat is four time more likely to have cancer than a cat in a smoke-free home.

Dogs don't fare well either.  Dogs that inhale cigarette smoke are three times more likely to develop lung or nasal cancer than their counterparts in smoke-free homes, says Dr. John Reif, DVM, who has spent many years studying the effects of environmental pollution on animals.  "We already know second-hand smoke causes lung cancer in humans and it also appears that there is a cancer risk in animals", says Dr. Reif, who is on faculty at Colorado State University's School of Veterinary Medicine.  Reif's research identifies risk with breed.  Long-nosed dogs, such as Collies, are more likely to develop nasal cancer because smoke and carcinogens are filtered in the nose and exposed to more tissue.  In short-nosed dogs, such as Pugs, Boxers or Boston Terriers, carcinogens head straight to the lungs.  If the woman with those Poodles in Utah knew what she was doing, perhaps she would feel more motivated to beat her addiction.

Karlin, who coordinates a tobacco education program for the county, highly recommends smokers try calling "Quitline, a toll-free service offering support counselors, funded by the Colorado Department of Public Health.  The number is 800.639.QUIT.

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I would like to add my two cents worth.  Every person I know that has animals are terrific human beings.  If they thought there was anything that would help their animals to live longer, they would do it.  Unfortunately some of these people are smokers and their addiction is often stronger than their love of their pets.  They make all sorts of excuses.  They even go outside to smoke, or say they do.  I know how strong tobacco addiction is.  I use to smoke so don't tell me you can't quit.  Of course you can.  You just have to have a good enough reason.  There's just too many ways to kick this addiction nowadays.  Face it, your hooked but your not the only one who is effected here.  Think about that sweet baby that loves you more than it loves itself.  They depend on us to give them the best we have to give and if that means doing something that will not only benefit them but will very likely add years to your life, it's the right thing to do.

Carole (Mom Dog) Sanders