In the past weeks I stumbled across an advertisement for sending a used face mask to a company using dogs to sniff them for lung cancer.
Is if possible for dogs to scent specifically cancer in a used face mask? Or is it like a scam?
Would a dog be able pick up a scent like this after sending this by post (guess it would take a few days) to that company?
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I don’t know, but dogs sense of smell is 10,000 times stronger than a human. I can’t comprehend what that would be like.
Some specially trained dogs can detect cancer, yes.
It works by smelling VOCs (Volatile Organic Compounds).
Given that the ‘V’ in ‘VOC’ is ‘volatile’, I don’t know how long they would remain viable in a used mask.
That would be a question to ask the company. If they say to immediately freeze your mask after use and have some reliable way of keeping the mask frozen until they receive it, I would think it’s more likely to be legit.
If they don’t, I’m not saying it’s bogus, it would just need more investigation.
I watched a documentary on how some dogs become service animals. According to that documentary, they train these cancer sniffing dogs in a similar way to drug or bomb sniffing dogs. They put several samples in boxes, one with cancer and the rest without. They got a reward when they got the right answer. They also sometimes put them in a room with no cancer samples, and if the dog didn’t detect any cancer, they would sit down on a certain block.
Yes. Like some dogs can be trained to smell agricultural products on the conveyer belt at an airport, some dogs can smell cancer. In one notable study, a person was found to be able to smell Parkinson’s disease.
That said, this is almost certainly a scam.
I believe that they can. In 2014 I had testicular cancer. My brother’s dog was the only dog that my wife and I would see on a regular basis. That dog absolutely loved it when we came over, would go bonkers seeing either one of us because it meant all the pets and cuddles. Then one day out of the blue she started to ignore me, like I didn’t even exist. She still loved my wife but wouldn’t even acknowledge my presence. About 3 weeks later I discovered the lump on my testicle. By the time I smartened up and went to a doctor it was stage 3 cancer. After 3 rounds of chemo and 2 surgeries the cancer was gone, I was in remission. The next time I saw that dog she was my best friend again. I don’t know how but she knew I had cancer before I did. The only explanation I have is that to her I looked the same but smelled wrong and that’s why she wouldn’t acknowledge me, maybe in her little doggy brain thought I was an imposter…who knows.