Secondhand Smoke, Nicotine Poisoning Health Threats to Pets

On Friday, Oklahoma State University detailed in a press release the serious health risks posed to pets and other household animals exposed to secondhand smoke. It's well understood that secondhand smoke is attributed to the health problems and deaths of thousands of Americans every year, but much less attention has been paid to the impact secondhand smoke is having on the lives of the nation's pets.

Dr. Carolynn MacAllister is an Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service veterinarian. She says it makes sense that secondhand smoke would be harmful to dogs, cats and birds living with smokers. She said: "There have been a number of scientific papers recently that have reported the significant health threat secondhand smoke poses to pets. Secondhand smoke has been associated with oral cancer and lymphoma in cats, lung and nasal cancer in dogs, as well as lung cancer in birds."

In 1992, Dr. John Reif, a professor of epidemiology at Colorado State University (CSU) and the department chairman for environmental and radiological health sciences conducted a study entitled "Passive Smoking and Canine Lung Cancer Risk." In 1998, he lead a second similar study. According to Smoke Free Society, Dr. Reif said: "These studies are really the first to make us aware of secondhand smoke on animals. They are the first of their kind."

During the 1998 study, the researchers took into consideration the number of smokers in the home, how many cigarettes were smoked in the home each day, how much time the dog spent in the home, and the age, sex, size and skull shape of the dog. The study found that a dog exposed to secondhand smoke in the home is 1.6 times more likely to develop lung cancer than a dog that isn't exposed.