Lawn chemicals linked to dog cancer in new study

Your perfect lawn might be cutting the life of your beloved dog short. Dogs are ingesting and inhaling the herbicides that people put on their gardens and lawns, a new study in the journal Science of the Total Environment has found.  

Even more worrisome is that the dogs can transfer the chemicals to their owners. 

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The news is troubling because herbicides are already linked to bladder cancer, according to Discovery News.

"In the case of dogs," author Deborah Knapp of Purdue University's Department of Veterinary Clinical Sciences told Discovery News, "they could directly ingest the chemicals from the plant, or they could lick their paws or fur and ingest chemicals that have been picked up on their feet, legs or body."

Aware of the growing body of research linking herbicides to health problems, some community groups have already tried to put a stop to lawn chemicals. In the city of Sturgeon Bay, for example, a group called the “Members of Safe Lawns of Door County” is circulating a petition urging the city to rethink its lawn policies.