HEALTH & FITNESS
THE PARK
LIVING
p t
How Second-Hand
Smoke Affects Pets
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Tamara, odachtaidier9.6146,
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A34
28
nal Tobacco Control. It
showed that 21 percent of
participants were current
smokers and 27 percent
lived with at least one
smoker.
When asked for their
reaction if told that sec-
ond-hand smoke could
harm their pet, 28 percent
of smokers stated that
they would try to quit
smoking and an additional
11 percent would think
about quitting smoking.
Nearly one-quarter (24 percent) of
non-smoking participants who lived
with a smoker responded that they
would ask people in the home to
stop smoking indoors.
Smokers (40 percent) as well
as non-smokers who lived with a
smoker (24 percent)
stated they would be
interested in receiving
information on smok-
ing, quitting and sec-
ond-hand smoke.
Given that 63 per-
cent of U.S. house-
holds (71.1 million
homes) have a pet in
the home, and that
about a fifth of pet
owners are current
cigarette smokers, our findings are
relevant to millions of households in
the United States.
It is important to note that our
survey measured only what people
said they would do. Our team is cur-
rently conducting follow-up research
to see if people will actually quit
or change their household smok-
ing policies when given information
about the dangers of second-hand
smoke to pets.
If information on their pets' health
proves to be a good incentive for
changing behavior, veterinarians
and other pet-care providers may
become new partners in the anti-
smoking movement.
Second-hand
smoke can raise
a pet's risk of
lung and other
forms of cancer.
I Your story continues here...
gWie
at Trowbridge
rom mono-
grammed sweat-
ers and personal-
ized food bowls
to acupuncture and hand-
made treats, Americans
love their pets. According
to the American Pet
Products Manufacturers
Association, total pet
industry expenditures
exceeded $41 billion in
2007.
Perhaps most telling
of humans' devotion for
their pets are the findings from an
American Animal Hospital Association
study, which showed that more than
half of respondents said they would
prefer the company of their pet to a
human companion if stranded on a
desert island. But will Americans go
as far as to kick the
smoking habit for
their pets?
While the harm-
ful health effects of
second-hand smoke
on humans are well
known, most people
don't think about
how second-hand
smoke affects their
pets. Studies indi-
cate that second-
hand smoke can raise a pet's risk
of lung and other forms of cancer,
allergies, eye and skin diseases and
respiratory problems.
Although studies show that sec-
ond-hand smoke harms humans and
animals, there is not a lot of informa-
tion on the proportion of pet own-
ers who either smoke themselves
or allow others to smoke in their
homes. In order to begin to fill this
gap, our research team at the Henry
Ford Health System conducted a
Web-based survey to evaluate the
attitudes and behavior of pet own-
ers around smoking. The survey was
advertised through the Michigan
Humane Society and Pet Supplies
Plus. It was available online for a
six-month period. Nearly 3,300 pet
owners, mostly from Michigan, par-
ticipated in the study.
The study results were pub-
lished in the April issue of the jour-
Sharon Milberger, Ph.D., is interim director
at Henry Ford Health System's Center for
Health Promotion and Disease Prevention
in Detroit. Dr. Milberger lives in Farmington
Hills. Her e-mail is: smilberl@hfhs.org .