LUNG CANCER RESEARCH

Press, Volume XCVII, Issue 28742, 13 November 1958, Page 23

LUNG CANCER RESEARCH

Dogs Smoke In Experiment (N.Z. Press Association—Copyright) ST PAUL (Minnesota), November 11. Cigarette-smoking dogs were being used in a lung cancer research experiment a doctor reported last night. Only one luhg gets the cigarette smoke. If the smoke causes harm, Dr. Samuel Hunter said, it should show up only on the one. smoking lung. While Dr. Hunter said he is “excited” about prospects of the tests, he added it was far too early to know what conclusions may be reached. He said the experiments, which began in August, have “real possibilities.” The tests are being conducted at St. Joseph’s Hospital, where Dr. Hunter is Director of Research. He is also on the University of Minnesota faculty as assistant professor of surgery. While dogs seldom have lung cancer, they do not srrtoke cigarettes either. Dr. Hunter said he felt that if smoke is harmful, it may cause changes in the lining of the dogs’ smoking lung. The big problem so far has been in perfecting the techniques. Surgery on the dogs to enable the experiments is so drastic that the dogs have died of pneumonia in a few weeks. Dr. Hunter said he now believes he has the answer to that. Instead of doing the surgery in one day, it will be done over a period of several days. To be used for the experiments, dogs must be given an additional windpipe. They breathe normally through one, the nonsmoking lung. The other windpipe is led out from the second lung to a one-way valve, and a cigarette. When the animal breathes, smoke is inhaled into that lung. “It seems to me this is the only way of getting an answer as to whether smoking causes lung cancer,” Dr Hunter said. “With one lung smoking and the other not smoking, we should learn a lot.”