are vets smarter than doctors?

Minx, 44, quit a social smoking habit 15 years ago when she moved to a country town with her family. She had enjoyed good health all of her life until a routine X-ray following a sudden respiratory problem that she thought was related to local crop-dusting revealed a small lung cancer.


"Since moving to a country town I've often thought that the local vets are a whole lot smarter than any city doctor I once knew," laughs Minx. "I've learned things from vets that make good sense when applied to us, and a lot of people around here just don't need doctors."

"Take cancer, for instance," says Minx. "You'd think from all the stuff on the Internet that it's something only human beings get and is caused by lifestyle factors such as smoking (lung cancer), drinking (pancreatic cancer), eating meat (stomach cancer), etc. Right?"

"Wrong! All types of animals get all types of cancers just like we do, and while the anti-smokers may say that lung cancer in animals such as cats and dogs is caused by passively breathing their owners' cigarette smoke, what do they say about lung cancer in sheep, for example?"

"Yep, sheep get lung cancer just like we do and when was the last time you saw a sheep dragging on a fag or passively sucking up side-stream cigarette smoke?"

"Check out an article called 'Retrovirus-induced ovine pulmonary adenocarcinoma, an animal model for lung cancer' and you'll see that a virus is involved which induces lung cancer in sheep that has striking analogies to human lung cancer."

"A virus, it makes sense doesn't it?" sighs Minx. "Cancer has been around since time immemorial, long before tobacco was discovered - it's a natural reaction when our immune system can't cope - but when is anyone out there in the human lung cancer world going to pay attention to cancer research in animals when it's so convenient to blame it all on a smelly habit like smoking that may be current or, in my case, 15 years old?"

"People who've never smoked get lung cancer, too – in fact, 60% of lung cancer patients are non-smokers or ex-smokers like me who quit many years ago," says Minx. "So, if there's a virus around here that caused my lung cancer then I want to know about it – and so should everyone, wherever they are."

"I've got kids to protect, and so does everyone else."

"I'm now wondering whether moving out of the city was a wise thing to do," says Minx. "I love the life, but I guess being close to farm animals and agricultural pollution exposes us to risks that may be worse than those we left behind in the city."


"I was lucky that the cancer was operable, and no chemotherapy was required afterwards," says Minx, "but it was a huge operation, very painful, and the whole thing was made worse by some of the medical professionals attending me who never let up reminding me in so many ways that it was all my fault, that I should never have smoked when I was younger."

"I can accept that I may be more susceptible than a non-smoker to respiratory problems because I once smoked, but I really cannot believe that a short history of social smoking 15 years ago is wholly responsible for my lung cancer," says Minx. "In fact, the more I read about all sorts of cancers the more I believe that something other than lifestyle factors is responsible for them."

"What's more, it kind of defeats the purpose of quitting smoking when people like me still get lung cancer," shrugs Minx. "I wanted to give up smoking and it was no big deal for me to quit - we were starting a healthy new life in the country - but for heavy smokers who really enjoy the habit then my story is only going to give them a good reason to carry on smoking, knowing that they are doomed whether they quit or not."

"In fact, that's exactly what my crazy heavy smoking girlfriend in the city said to me, and reluctantly I had to agree with her because if something else causes lung cancer then why should she quit doing something she enjoys and obviously needs to do in order to keep her sane?"

"I'm certainly not advocating that smoking is a good thing or harmless - I hate the smell of cigarettes now and sure don't want my kids to take up the habit - but a distinction should be drawn between something that smells bad and something that is the sole cause of lung cancer."

"If the anti-smoking medical establishment really wants to protect us from lung cancer - rather than stopping us from smoking smelly cigarettes as they line their pockets with kickbacks from the pharmaceutical companies pushing quit smoking products - then it should pay more attention to cancer research in animals."