Micro-Chip Implants Linked to Animal Cancer

From AP News, via Yahoo!:

http://thnlnk.com/yahoo/Chip.implants.linked.to.animal.tumors/890

Published in veterinary and toxicology journals between 1996 and 2006, the studies found that lab mice and rats injected with microchips sometimes developed subcutaneous "sarcomas" — malignant tumors, most of them encasing the implants.

We got Ruki micro-chipped. This is disturbing because if every vet should have known TEN YEARS AGO that these microchips are causing cancer.

Understand, though, that the experiments were done on lab mice and not on dogs. Lab mice might be more prone to cancer than other animals, and some of the tests found the cancer incidental to other tests--so they don't know whether the mice were going to develop the cancerous growths anyways.

But this is definitely something to ask your vets about when considering micro-chipping in the future.

More from the article:

• A 1998 study in Ridgefield, Conn., of 177 mice reported cancer incidence to be slightly higher than 10 percent — a result the researchers described as "surprising."

• A 2006 study in France detected tumors in 4.1 percent of 1,260 microchipped mice. This was one of six studies in which the scientists did not set out to find microchip-induced cancer but noticed the growths incidentally. They were testing compounds on behalf of chemical and pharmaceutical companies; but they ruled out the compounds as the tumors' cause. Because researchers only noted the most obvious tumors, the French study said, "These incidences may therefore slightly underestimate the true occurrence" of cancer.

• In 1997, a study in Germany found cancers in 1 percent of 4,279 chipped mice. The tumors "are clearly due to the implanted microchips," the authors wrote.

Caveats accompanied the findings. "Blind leaps from the detection of tumors to the prediction of human health risk should be avoided," one study cautioned. Also, because none of the studies had a control group of animals that did not get chips, the normal rate of tumors cannot be determined and compared to the rate with chips implanted.

Still, after reviewing the research, specialists at some pre-eminent cancer institutions said the findings raised red flags.

Permethrin: Bio Spot and Zodiac Spot On

So I got fed up with paying $15 a pop for Frontline--and additionally am still worried about putting that toxic stuff on my puppy! So I looked into alternatives. The Petco carries Bio Spot, which has permethrin in it, and that's like $6 a pop. I then checked out the store where I buy Ruki's Innova, and they also only carried Zodiac, which also is made of permethrin.

Permethrin is an insect repellant. For humans, we used to use DEET. Now, you can buy permethrin as a clothing treatment. It's an insecticide, whereas DEET is a repellant. Permethrin kills insects on contact. But you don't want to get too much on your skin.

So I thought: Permethrin is safe enough for some kind of human use, and it's a *lot* cheaper than Frontline. I should give it a shot.

Until I did some research:

"Farnam's Bio Spot Flea & Tick Almost Killed Our Dog."

Apparently, a substantial number of dogs experience severe allergic or harmful reactions to permethrin, some of them experiences seizures from exposure.

Now, I know this isn't all dogs--and there are a lot of dogs out there. And my food vendor uses it and recommends the product. But is it really worth the risk? I decided no, and have been sticking with Frontline. I have decided, though, to use a lower dosage. Ruki's 37 lbs, but she's a bulldog, so has less surface area than your typical 22+ lb dog. So I use the "up to 22 lbs" dosage, which is half the dose of the 22+ lb product. And we won't use it at all during the winter.

I can see that we probably took the same chance when we first applied Frontline, but it appears to be the best of the pack. I wish there were a safer product, but it looks like there just isn't. If you want your pets free from fleas, ticks, and the problems and diseases associated with them, you need to use these chemicals, and it looks like Frontline's the safest (but most expensive) one out there.

Here's another article from the National Resource Defense Council, generally about flea/tick treatments, and the kinds that are being banned from the market:

Pet Products May Harm Both Pets and Humans

The simple truth, however, is that the poisons in many of these products are not safe, either for pets or humans. Government regulation of these products has been sketchy, and testing of their impact in the home has been inadequate. The result is that many of the products sold by the millions in grocery, drug and pet supply stores, even when applied as instructed on the box, can cause serious health consequences to pets and humans.

The main culprits are products that rely on a family of chemicals called organophosphates. One of these, tetrachlorvinphos, is still found in stores. Six others were removed from the market, one by one, from 2000 through 2006: chlorpyrifos, dichlorvos, phosmet, naled, diazinon and malathion. Many pet owners may still have leftover supplies of products containing these chemicals in their homes. They were used in brands marketed under a variety of names, including Alco, Americare, Beaphar, Double Duty, Ford's, Freedom Five, Happy Jack, Hartz, Hopkins, Kill-Ko, Protection, Rabon, Riverdale, Sergeant, Unicorn, Vet-Kem, Victory and Zema. Another family of chemicals, called carbamates, is also of potential concern. The two most common carbamate chemicals used in pet products are called carbaryl and propoxur.

Out of the Crate

Other interesting news: A week or two ago, soon after Ruki's 1-year birthday, we decided to give something new a try. We decided to let her sleep the night outside of the crate.

And you know what? No problems at all. I was, as I am prone to be, nervous and could barely sleep that night, listening for her every move. But she did nothing. She got up once and finished her bowl of water. (I call her Night Drinker because she barely drinks during the day, never in the morning, but at night she goes to town on the water.) The next morning, she roused when we started walking around, and it was good times for all.

So a day or two after that we graduated her to spending the day out of the crate. And you know what? She was fine. The day before, I was at home, so I kept an eye on her to see what she did during the day. And now I can tell you--insight into the life of a bulldog:

She sleeps.

And so nowadays, she sleeps all day, but on her bed, not in the crate. She also doesn't need to pee during lunchtime, which saves us on a dog-walker while I'm at school--though I'm at home 2-3 times during the work-week.

And she still *shivers* when we get home around 5 p.m.--she stands there in the middle of the living room staring at us, looks like she's not moving, then you realize she's shaking all over, like she's about to explode. That's her greeting to us. Shivery, ready to explode with excitement and joy. That's our Ruki.

Pyoderma

A few days ago, all of a sudden, we noticed that Ruki's fur looked... Bumpy. It looked like maybe she slept on it wrong. So when I reached down to smooth out her fur, I felt bumps. And I freaked. I dug around under the fur, but couldn't really see anything. I eventually found very small, pinkish bumps--all in all maybe 20 of them, each maybe 1/2 a centimeter in diameter, about an inch or so apart from each other.

I figured that maybe it's just an allergy, and so decided not to worry about it. But then we couldn't sleep because we *were* worried about it. We wondered: What might she be allergic to? We fed her some table scraps recently... Was it the soy in the soy sauce? I just Swiftered... Was it that? Were they fleas? We've been having centipede problems... Was she being bitten by centipedes?

After a day or so, I then noticed that some of the bumps were turning into scabs. I never saw her scratch them--they don't seem itchy--and she doesn't seem to mind when we root around, looking for them. So it doesn't look like she's bothered by these bumps under her fur, nor the scabs.

So we took her to the vet, Fresh Pond Animal Hospital. The vet said they weren't fleas or bug bites, and probably not allergies. Just "pyoderma"--a generic term for bacterial skin infections. Might be allergy-related, but who knows? He said it might be seasonal, too. And that we should watch out next fall and see if it re-occurs.

So then he charged us an arm and a leg for some antibiotic pills, some oatmeal-based shampoo, and some non-smelly fish oil to help with her "dry fur." Thieves praying on the ignorant, I tell you. But what can we do? We're at the mercy of their expertise.

Now, it appears that all's well. She's fine--she always has been. It's more that we were worried that she was dying. Hopefully it will all go away soon.

Slow Steps for Greening Our Lives

So we've been in the slow process of greening our lives. One of the big problems stems from our living in an old apartment in an old city: there's already so much built-in inefficiency that we can't do anything about.

Maybe this then gives us greater imperative to do what little we can to reduce our impact. And so here I'll catalog the steps that we've found to be feasible given our lifestyles and housing circumstances.

Install CFLs. CFLs are cheap enough these days and easy to get. We even get brighter light with a lower wattage. For example, I replaced the 60 W incandescents in our standing lamps with 23 W or 25 W CFLs--equivalent to 100 W incandescents. They're brighter and now use less than half the electricity.

Insulate, weatherstrip. Insulate for all seasons. In the summer, it keeps the cool in; in the winter, it keeps the cold out.

Use less water. I filled three 20 oz. plastic Diet Coke bottles with water and placed them in the toilet tank. This reduces my water usage with each flush by half a gallon. Not so bad. We also follow the "if it's yellow (but not too yellow), let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down" rule. Turn off the faucet while your soaping your face or brushing your teeth. When doing dishes, I wet all the dishes, turn off the water, soap everything up, then rinse all the dishes at once.

Use more green cleaning products. I'm stil a bit wary of using non-Lysol-type cleaning products when cleaning up after cutting meats, etc. But for everything else, I use green cleaning spray.

Use dish rags instead of paper towels. Honestly, I use paper towels when I want, but I at least try to use the washable dish rags when I can--and when they're hygienic.

Use corn-based biodegradable poop bags. I know there are a lot of biodegradable poop bags out there--but when they all go into the landfill, there's not enough sun and water for the darn things to actually decompose. So I buy the corn-based ones: at least I'm not using oil to make plastic, and I'm supporting a company that implements eco-friendly production methods.

Unplug all power cords and switch off power strips when we leave for vacation.

Re-use paper. I always bring home and re-use any paper that's only printed on one side. I have an ink-jet, and that lets me use used paper. (Laser jets tend to have lots of trouble with used paper.) I also make little notepads by cutting used paper in quarters and eights and then stapling them into pads of 10-odd sheets for notes and to-do lists.

Use rechargeable batteries. I also have a Tivoli radio which runs on an internal rechargeable.

Buy organic and fair trade. Honestly, right now we only regularly buy organic eggs and coffee. When we can--financially--we'll buy other things organic and fair trade, but honestly it's tough when they're so much pricier.

Don't buy bottled water. Occasionally, we'll buy it out of convenience--for carrying, etc. But at home, we just use tap water, through a Brita filter.

Replace your shower head. I screwed off the old shower head and replaced it with a more efficient shower head that uses less water. Not a big deal. And then when we move out, I take it with me. Neat.

Ideas for Things to Do:

Have more house plants. These clean the air. Then I can also collect rain water or gray water to water them. Occasionally, throw used coffee grounds in for fertilizer.

The Towel Burrito

The great book "The Dog Bible" by Tracie Hotchner made a recommendation of a home-made dog toy: the towel burrito. I actually made one out of an old t-shirt, folded in half long-ways, and then rolled up and duct-taped tight. Ruki loves it. She can play tug, chews on it, throws it around, and plays chase with it. Best toy money can't buy!

Links for First-Time Home-Buying in Cambridge

So we're also looking to buy a place in Cambridge. Here's where I'm going to put a list of useful links for the process.

• First-Time Buyer Education Programs from the City of Cambridge


• First-Time Home Buyers' Guide to Taxes - From Boston.com and Bankrate


• First-Time Home Buyers Blog - from Move.com and Realtors.com


• How Much of a Mortgage Can You Afford? - from Fannie Mae.


• How much house can I afford? - from Yahoo! Real Estate and LendingTree.com.