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I would like to introduce you to the work of this wonderful charity, Cancer and Bio-detection Dogs (CBD) which was formed just over two years ago. Their work seeks to establish and develop the extent to which the olfactory ability of dogs can be used to diagnose and identify disease and life threatening conditions in people. Their dogs truly save lives, many on a daily basis.

The concept of dogs being used in detection work is not a new one. Dogs are used at customs to check for illegal substances and explosives. They are used in the fire brigade to find survivors and on the front line to detect land mines. More recently, seizure alert dogs have been trained to alert an epileptic to an imminent seizure, giving up to 45 minutes warning. To do this, dogs are thought to be reacting to very subtle body language, such as a squint, or a change in scent of the patient.

CBD is a new charity made up of two different sections. One is research investigating the potential of dogs to assist medics in the detection of cancer, the other is training Medical Assistance Dogs for people with Type 1 Diabetes and Epilepsy amongst other conditions. In both of these dogs are trained to detect disease by odour or smell.

Cancer gives off a group of odours, which is called an odour signature. Cancer cells divide differently compared to healthy cells. In the division, the cancer cells give off different substances, which emit Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs). VOC's fall into the urine, so the dogs are trained to detect VOC in urine, indicating that the patient has cancer. CBD's first study was completed and published in BMJ in 2004. The dogs were effective between 41% and 56% of cases. CBD currently plan to work on different cancers including breast, mouth and prostate.

The other side to the charity is the rapidly growing work of training Medical Assistance dogs. Their main area is to help people with brittle Type 1 Diabetes, who have little or no awareness that they are becoming hypoglycaemic. They have 10 people-dog partnerships including a lecturer in Mathematics at Durham University who previously collapsed twice a week before they placed a dog with him. His dog now is alerting him to a forthcoming hypoglycaemic episode. This is almost certainly done by odour; the dog smells his hand before alerting.

CBD has 15-20 puppies and dogs living with foster families who will be ready for their advanced training and placement at around 18 months old. They have a long waiting list of people who have applied for dogs, and those lucky enough to have received one do not have to make a financial contribution. The charity relies solely on donations. The volunteers who give their time to CBD are incredibly enthusiastic and know that their work makes a real difference, actually saving lives! For more information: http://medicaldetectiondogs.org.uk/index.php