Man's best friend is to be trained to sniff out the leading cause of cancer in British men.

Researchers from Cambridge University, England and the city's renowned Adenbrookes hospital are to apply for funding for a trial to use dogs to detect signs of the cancer, which affects over 20,000 British men a year, in urine.

"We will train the dogs to distinguish the odor of urine from men with malignant prostate," Dr Barbara Sommerville, who is leading the research, told the Sunday Times newspaper.

The 12-month trial will involve alsatians and labradors, with the dogs' success rate recorded at the end of the training.


http://www.cnn.com/2003/HEALTH/04/26/dogs.prostate.reut/index.html

It's sounds like a positive thing...I guess, I just have the most problem (within myself) being consistent.
I believe animals shouldn't be used; yet, even I draw lines, based on my personal perceptions (or maybe justifications?) of what is "okay."
For example, I find it wonderful and very fascinating that some animals, such as dolphins, have an affinity for humans -- they don't fear them, in general, and have actually made the first move of friendship, for lack of a better word -- but I object to using them, for example, by the military to go on missions, which, basically result in maritime war tactics.
I suppose I struggle with, "when does it become using?" Is it ever really companionship/friendship/learning?
Of course this leads to counters about dogs which have been bred into domestication and are now nothing close to what they originally were...It's our responsibility now to take care of them, since we made them dependent on us...
So that's a different scenario.
But what about groups whose mission is to learn about the creatures around us? Without, for example, shooting with a tranquilizer and examining a big cat, how would we know what we do know about them? Uhh, I don't know.
Sorry, I guess I rambled a bit :)