Fwd: smoking cats

[Guest guest]

I thought the vets on the list might find this useful. It is always nice

to know what a major etiological factor might be in a disease. I wonder if

people thought the main damage from smoking was caused by the introduction

something we would call a toxin in TCM terms or mainly from the phlegm

congelation that occurs when the heat scorches the lungs. And the

subsequent qi and fluid stagnation throughout the body due to impaired

lung depurative downbearing. Nicotine is a toxin in the modern sense in

that it is a deadly poison. However it does not cause cancer. The

various " tars " in cigarette smoke are the direct mutagenic cause of cancer.

But are known mutagens in any way equivalent to toxin (du) as the term

is used in TCM. Chip and Jason have given us a lot to think about

regarding the wen bing topic of lurking heat. I wonder what the source

texts have to say about this application of toxin.

 

It would seem to me that diseases that involve " toxin " in TCM usually have

quite extreme symptoms. Thus if one was coughing blood in later stage of

lung cancer, perhaps one might use herbs like da qing ye. But what would

technically call for the use of such an herb in early stages that might

just involve dyspnea. Are there any classical signs of toxin in the early

stages of the disease that would warrant this approach from a purely CM

perspective. I always had the same concern working on AIDS patients. Now,

on the other hand, I will play my own devil's advocate. A number of

herbs have been shown to have special activity against cancers. San Leng

and E zhu, the blood movers and bai hua she she cao, the resolve toxin

herb are a few examples. Would or do people use herbs like bai hua she

she cao even in the absence of abscesses, sores, ulcerations, heat

stangury or dampheat jaundice?

 

------

Smoking, Cancer, and Cats

Larry Dossey, MD

 

Good medicine, including prevention, isn’t just for humans. It’s for

pets too. Nowhere is this truer than where cigarette smoking is

concerned—not because pets smoke, but because their owners often do. One

of the perennial concerns of cat lovers is that their pet will develop

leukemia or lymphoma, which are notorious killers in felines. We’ve

known for a long time that smoking causes cancer in humans; evidence

now suggests that smoking is related to cancer in cats too.

 

This is the conclusion of researchers at the Tufts University School of

Veterinary Medicine in North Grafton, Mass. They surveyed the home

environments of nearly 200 cats that were hospitalized at the school’s

veterinary hospital, 80 of which had malignant lymphoma. If the cats

had spent considerable time living with a smoker, their lymphoma risk

doubled; and those cats with the longest exposure to in-home smoking

had a four-fold risk of contracting lymphoma. Most of the cats’ cancers

were in the nasal or gastrointestinal tract, which would fit an

inhalation model of cancer causation, or the possibility that cats might

swallow smoke particles lodged in their fur when they groom themselves.

 

Prior studies have demonstrated increased health problems in the spouses

and children of smokers from passive, second-hand smoke. To this list,

we can now add smokers’ pets.

 

References

Bertone ER, Snyder LA, Moore AS. Environmental tobacco smoke and risk of

malignant lymphoma in pet cats. American Journal of Epidemiology.

2002;156(3):268-273. Raloff J. Cigarette smoke can harm kitty, too.

Science News. 2002;162(8):125.

 

 

 

 

Chinese Herbs

 

 

" Great spirits have always found violent opposition from mediocre

minds " -- Albert Einstein

[Guest guest]

Nicotine is a toxin in the modern sense in

that it is a deadly poison. However it does not cause cancer

>>>Todd

Nicotine may also have beneficial effects

Alon

[Guest guest]

, " Alon Marcus " <

alonmarcus@w...> wrote:

 

> Nicotine may also have beneficial effects

 

I am sure it does.