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If Dogs Can Smell Cancer, Why Don't They Screen People? (scientificamerican.com)
An anonymous reader shares an excerpt from a Scientific American report: Dogs can be trained to be cancer-sniffing wizards, using their sensitive noses to detect cancerous fumes wafting from diseased cells. This sniffing is noninvasive and could help diagnose countless people, which begs the question: If these pups are so olfactorily astute, why aren't they screening people for cancer right now? Here's the short answer: Dogs do well in engaging situations, such as helping law enforcement track scents or guiding search-and-rescue teams in disaster areas. But sniffing thousands of samples in which only a handful may be cancerous is challenging work with little positive reinforcement. Moreover, it takes time and energy to train these pups, who, despite extensive preparation, still might miss a diagnosis if they're having a bad day, experts told Live Science.
Dr: Please step right into this room full of adorable puppy dogs.
vs
Dr: Please step into this room FULL OF BEES.
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And humans of course have almost as good of a nose as a dog
Citation absolutely needed sir.
Not quite. I have two SAR (Search and Rescue) dogs, and they are able to able to smell things we just plain can't. One dog can cover a 40 acre plot of land and find every human within about a half hour. He's found a dozen people (live and dead), and in many cases, places where ground-pounders and police already cleared. Our other dog is a sent-specific trailing dog and will follow the scent that a human leave along a trail for miles.
In all cases, during training and live searches, the handler has no idea where the subjects are. There is no indication that they can follow -- they lead us.
So -- read up. Your tests are bull shit.