Is there a financial reason why certain groups want people to stop using pine and cedar and use another product?
From NJ HRS summer 2000 newsletter
"Donate to HRS by Saving Yesterday’s News UPCs!"
" NJ House Rabbit Society is part of a savings program offered by the Yesterday’s News litter company."
Hmmm perhaps there is.
Check out the back of a bag of alternative litters, many have printed on the bag a reference to the phenols that softwood litter contain and that their alternative litter is much safer. Problem is these alternative litters have not undergone testing to see if they affect HME or respiratory function. It seems that the alternative litter companies are taking full advantage of the pine/cedar scare to increase their market share. Keep in mind that most of these alternative litters are also much more expensive than shavings.
Petbunny site Pine/Cedar with reprints of some of the studies and commentary. Good reading as the commentator points out that the studies cited do not show what so many say they do.
HRS article "The Dangers of Softwood Shavings" George Flentke, Ph.D.
"The phenols in the softwood (pine and cedar) shavings causes changes in the liver's enzymes."
Those changes are not a sign of damage as already reported. I hate that this is stated by so many but they neglect to mention that the "changes" are part of the normal function of the body. I believe that putting it this way easily leads people to misinterpret what actually happens.
"The second objection to softwood shavings exposure as a cancer risk is less concrete. Epidemological studies in humans point to increase risks in people who work in saw mills, but the issue of volatile phenol involvement is not clear. Cedar shavings have caused increased risk for cancer in certain rodents, but in many ways this work was skewed by the nature of the experiment. Thus the evidence is, at best, only suggestive."
Again with the sawmill studies, but there is a big difference in environment between sawmills and a small animal with processed shavings in a cage tray or litterpan. Basically the author hasn't found a link between cancer and shavings use in small animals.
HRS again:
Listed under references for "Pine/Cedar Shaving Toxicity" the HRS lists the following:
"1.Rabbit Health Newsletter (Nov. 1991) cites U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services, National Institutes of Health pamphlet No.86-23 titled "Guide for the Care and use of Laboratory Animals" A quote is listed as saying: "Aromatic hydrocarbons from cedar and pine bedding materials can induce the biosynthesis of hepatic microsomal enzymes (Vesell, 1967; Vesell, et al., 1976;
Cunliffe-Beamer et al. 1981."
Rabbit Health Newsletter was published by an HRS chapter manager and more importantly the partial quote they use has been explained in my article. This section was what prompted me to research pine and cedar as I wondered what exactly "biosynthesis of hepatic microsomal enzymes" meant and was that bad. A classic example of how to mislead people by using scientific terminology.
Respiratory toxicity of cedar and pine wood: A review of the biomedical literature from 1986 through 1995 Written by Jeff Johnston, doctoral candidate in epidemiology, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hil
The above internet post is often referred to by opponents to pine/cedar use, however it appears that it was written by a student, wonder what his grade was. Again all it does is refer to studies done in sawmills on occupational hazards. Another paper that has not been published in any toxicology or pharmaceutical journals. If all this information from Johnston and HRS and others is accurate then why have they not had their articles published in scientific journals? All it boils down to is a bunch of people giving their opinion of published studies and interpreting them (or mis-interpreting) as they wish.
-WHAT'S THE SCOOP? or, What's Wrong with Cedar Shavings? by R. Kelly Wagner
The only merit in this article is that she lists excerpts from some of the studies, otherwise it's just a rehash of the above mentioned articles and studies that discuss occupational asthma and allergies, again nothing to show there could be a danger in using cedar or pine as small animal bedding. She does discuss her own experiences with people who have allergies to cedar or pine and how when they changed litter they stopped sneezing. It seems the danger of pine and cedar really only applies to owners and rabbits who happen to be allergic to them.