You should think about protecting your pets from secondhand smoke. According to researchers at Oklahoma State University, secondhand smoke has been determined cancer-causing for household pets, such as dogs, cats, and birds

"There have been a number of scientific papers recently that have reported the significant health threat secondhand smoke poses to pets," says Dr. Carolynn MacAllister, an Oklahoma State University Cooperative Extension Service veterinarian. "Secondhand smoke has been associated with oral cancer and lymphoma in cats, lung and nasal cancer in dogs, as well as lung cancer in birds."

The news about smoking just keeps getting worse and worse. When we will get the hint?

You might think, like many people do, that smokeless tobacco products are safe alternatives to cigarettes. Wrong.

According to researchers at the University of Minnesota Cancer Center, smokeless tobacco users are exposed to higher amounts of carcinogenic molecules than cigarette smokers. In a study of 182 users of chewing tobacco or oral snuff and 420 cigarette smokers, they found snuff users were exposed to higher levels of 4-(methylnitrosamino)-1-(3-pyridyl)-1-butanone (NNK) than smokers. NNK is a human carcinogen known to produce lung cancer. In laboratory animals, it also contributes to cancers of the pancreas, nasal mucosa, and liver.

Published in the August issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, this study serves to remind us that there is only one safe alternative to smoking -- not smoking.

Cancer of the esophagus is one of the fastest rising cancers in the United States -- but the common screening test, both expensive and risky, is not widely used. Thankfully, a newer option, around since the mid-90s, is quicker and easier and is catching on around the country.

Trans-Nasal Esophagoscopy (TNE) is the better option, and it works like this: a doctor numbs the nose, inserts a thin, flexible tube -- no bigger than a pencil -- through the nostril and into the esophagus, removes a bit of tissue for biopsy purposes, takes a few pictures, and pulls the tube back out through the nostril. The patient gets to watch it all on a monitor and gets to depart from the procedure with no ill effects.

Traditional esophagus cancer screening involves a similar tube that is inserted through the mouth. Due to the gag reflex, patients are sedated. While there are often no complications from the procedure itself, the intravenous sedation can cause problems.

"You don't need those risks to see what's going on," says one doctor, who reports that esophageal cancer responds very well when caught early by tools like TNE.

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has announced a new warning labeling change regarding bevacizumab (Avastin) a cancer drug currently in use to treat colorectal cancer, that state an increased risk for a brain-bleeding condition and potential nasal septum perforation that can create a hole in the nose for those patients being treated with Avastin. The rare brain-capillary leak can trigger headache, seizure, blindness and other vision and neurological problems.

The FDA has published a letter sent by Genentec to healthcare providers notifying them of the new warnings, available as a pdf document.

In the meantime, Avastin's drug maker Genentech has asked for FDA approval for the drug in the treatment of advanced lung cancer and breast cancer.