
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, June 20, 1990                   TAG: 9006200432
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL                    PAGE: A3   EDITION: EVENING 
SOURCE: 
DATELINE: WASHINGTON                                LENGTH: Short

WAR DOGS EXPERIENCE HIGH TUMOR INCIDENCE

Dogs exposed in Vietnam to the same chemical sprays as U.S. soldiers developed almost twice as many tumors of the testicles as military dogs that served only in the United States, federal investigators report.

In a study published today in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute, researchers said the increased number of testicular cancers among canine veterans of Vietnam may predict the development of such tumors among American servicemen who served in the same country.

Howard Hayes, a National Cancer Institute researcher, and his coauthors examined autopsy records for dogs that served with American troops in Vietnam from 1968 to 1973 and compared these records with those of military dogs that served only in the United States, Japan, Korea and Thailand.

Hayes said the dogs serving in Vietnam had 80 percent more testis tumors of all kinds than did dogs that served only in the United States.

-Associated Press

by CNB