From:
sukie crandall
Date: 2005-04-14 02:22:05 UTC
Subject: possible genetic damage affecting the immune systems
To: ferret-list <ferret-list@cunyvm.cuny.edu>, ferrethealth@smartgroups.com
Message-id: <2c7311fe5c576aeaa966fbe8166c01ff@optonline.net>
I don't know if second hand cigarette smoke can do this and it needs to
be verified it direct smoking itself can, but as we all know, ferrets
are used in tobacco studies due to multiple vulnerabilities they share
with us, so places like Pubmed have a load of smoking studies using
ferrets.
This is a study on possible immune system genetic damage to the
children of smoking mothers which carries into the next generation and
appears to be cumulative so that if both the grandmother and mother
smoke the effects are increased:
http://www.sciam.com/article.cfm?chanID=sa003&articleID=0003E087-E020
-125A-A02083414B7F0000
It is always best for ferrets to not be around cigarette smoke, anyway,
and certainly not around the butts which can poison them, but if the
effects of second hand smoke turn out to be able to genetically alter
the lines then breeders need to take that into account. Just one more
reason for smokers to take precautions like smoking outside.