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Somewhat more charitably…

Causal misattribution.

They both got cancer because they both eat meat with too much of some kind of carcinogenic toxin in it, because they are both poor and live in a polluted area or at least area with poor food standards.

That also correlates with the ignorance, but still an attempt to craft an explanation: never had the chance to get well educated, else they’d know cancer is not … contagious, broadly transmissable.

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Marketsnodsbury@lemmy.zip ⁨9⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago

else they’d know cancer is not … contagious, broadly transmissable.

I read an interesting [NYT article](https://www.nytimes.com/2026/07/22/science/contagious-cancer-catfish.html) the other day about the discovery of a high rate of skin cancer in catfish in a lake bordering Vermont and Quebec. By looking at the DNA of the catfish and of the tumors, scientists discovered that the DNA of the tumors didn’t resemble their host like you’d expect, but did resemble the tumors found on all the other fish. They realized they were looking at the first transmissible cancer found in fish. The article noted that contagious cancer has also been found in Tasmanian devils, clams and, yes… [dogs](https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.1247167).

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- sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨5⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  That… is indeed interesting.
  
  I was vaguely aware that… there are some known instances where cancer actually is transmissable, but usually only in the context of pregnant mother to child.
  
  But… this… … well, shit.
  
  … I guess its not actually possible to 100% rule out ‘my dog gave me colon cancer.’
  
  Still seems quite unlikely… but maybe not strictly completely impossible?
  
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DarkCloud@lemmy.world ⁨23⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
You pervert misunderstandings.

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- sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Its a tough jog, but somebody’s gotta do it.
  
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AscendantSquid@lemmy.world ⁨22⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
It’s not the point at all, but can dogs be poor? Like, their human can be poor, but does that then apply to the dog too? Applying a financial status to a dog feels weird, it’s not like it can open a bank account.

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- Tm12@lemmy.ca ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  Maybe dogs can’t be wealthy, but some eat/live really well.
  
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  - HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world ⁨15⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
    a lot of people’s pets eat better than they do
    
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- sp3ctr4l@lemmy.dbzer0.com ⁨21⁩ ⁨hours⁩ ago
  I mean strictly speaking, yes, it is odd to describe a dog directly with human socioeconomic descriptors.
  
  But yeah, I meant it as ‘the dog is owned by a poor human’.
  
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