Category Archives: Environment

A Rant in Time, May Save the Environment

Today I’m a little peeved. No, make that really angry.  Nancy Pelosi, the new Speaker of The House is telling everyone she needs a big plane to go from Washington D.C. to California and back because of her position. Now I’m not just a little mad that this will waste taxpayer money, no I’m really mad because this hypocrite who criticized President Bush for his horrible (and it is horrible) environmental track record is going to waste ten’s of thousands of gallons of jet fuel every year because of her position. Hey Nancy, that is just not right.

Al Gore is another one who should talk about the environment while he flies around in a private jet and riding in a gas guzzling limo. I can understand having some privileges in life but holy cow does it have to be so blatant and wasteful? I bet Al Gore’s ecological footprint is the size of a few hundred of us “simple folk.”

If people are going to buy into the whole “save the environment, save the world” issue, our leaders need to step up to the plate and lead by example. Don’t tell me to cut back on my consumption when you waste so much fuel that I couldn’t make up for it if I lived in a cave and never used a bit of energy for the rest of my life.

Lest I sound like a Democrat basher today, the revelation that 87% of Republican Congressmen don’t buy global warming makes me wonder whether we have a mandatory I.Q. test for our representative or whether all you need is a smile, a few million bucks and a friend in some major industry. Hey guys, if you’re right we will be forced to spend money on making our environment better for generations to come and if you’re wrong and we do nothing like you seem to suggest, our coastal cities will be underwater, our environment will be in horrible shape leading to an increase of disease and suffering (and the added expense of dealing with all those sick people) and droughts will wreck havoc with major regions of the world.  Hmmmm.  What should we do?

Never Thought I’d See the Day, but I’m Glad I Did!

If you had told me yesterday that oil giant Exxon-Mobil would begin discussions about how to become a better environmental citizen, especially in addressing the issue of global warming, I would have told you to stop hitting the bottle. Well, surprise surprise, in an article from MSNBC.com they did just that. The company announced they would no longer fund global-warming sceptics and would begin to seriously address their responsibilities when it comes to global warming.

Now I’m under no illusion that this was not just done out of the goodness of their hearts but any move to lower gree-house gases is a step in the right direction. I’m not one to go out and tell everyone to sell their cars and ride bicycles instead but we do need to do our part to help stem the tide. Still, when a behemoth like Exxon starts changing (and we’ll see if they really do), then a very good thing has happened. This is a two thumbs up day for the good guys.

EHP Update – January 2007

Here is a review of the major articles in this months issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

Pilot Study of Urinary Biomarkers of Phytoestrogens, Phthalates, and Phenols in Girls – While this study does not link serious health issues with these ubiquitous chemicals, it does show that many young girls have measurable amounts of these hormonally active toxins. Very disturbing indeed.

Maternal Fish Consumption, Mercury Levels, and Risk of Preterm Delivery – In this landmark study, it was shown that there is a relationship between mercury and the risk of pre-term delivery. Even with low- to moderate-exposure, there was a relationship. The researchers tracked pregnant women’s fish intake from canned, sport caught and fresh purchased. The worst offender was canned fish. If you are pregnant, please do not eat canned fish or any predatory species such as shark or swordfish. If you need (and you do) Omega-3 fatty acids, take supplements.

Environmental Estrogens Induce Mast Cell Degranulation and Enhance IgE-Mediated Release of Allergic Mediators – In an interesting study, researchers suggest that environmental estrogens like DDT, PCBs, bisphenol A and others, may promote allergic reactions in humans. More evidence that these toxins need banning.

A Case-Control Analysis of Exposure to Traffic and Acute Myocardial Infarction – Pollution from automobile and truck traffic is once again linked to an increased risk of developing coronary heart disease and heart attack. If you live near heavy traffic, test for solvents through US Biotek, then use the Bio-ClarityTM Report from Health Director through your health care provider to come up with a detoxification protocol. Your heart will love you for it.

Increased Rate of Hospitalization for Diabetes and Residential Proximity of Hazardous Waste Sites – These researchers found a statistically significant relationship between diabetes hospitalizations and proximity to toxic waste dumps.

Potential Risks Associated with the Proposed Widespread Use of Tamiflu – Because of the fear of a viral pandemic, the World Health Organization suggested stockpiling hundreds of millions of doses of Tamiflu, an anti-retroviral drug. These authors believe that we need to be aware that because the drug does not easily degrade, if that many doses were to be taken, humans would eventually excrete the active ingredient which will then make its way to the environment. The risk is if birds ingest the drug and begin to breed Tamiflu resistant strains of viruses. This could have horrendous ramifications for people worldwide.

Hair Manganese and Hyperactive Behaviors: Pilot Study of School-Age Children Exposed through Tap Water – My fellow researcher and author, Robert Crayhon, has been a strong opponent of supplements containing the mineral manganese. After reviewing this paper, which shows a relationship between exposure to manganese and hyperactivity, I am becoming more and more convinced of the correctness of his position. I know of a couple who have taken so much manganese over the years that have exhibited very odd, almost psychotic behavior because of it. I suggest that everyone have their water tested through Doctor’s Data for this and other heavy metals and trace minerals.

Environmental Health Perspectives Wrap Up for December 2006

One of my favorite journals is Environmental Health Perspectives whose articles can be downloaded free of charge from their website. It is the one journal I most look forward to reading each month.  In today’s blog, I’ll list the articles which I think are the most relevant regarding human health from the December 2006 issue. Click on the topics you’re interested in and you will be led to the actual article.

Pollutants May Put On The Pounds – (pg A692) – The evidence keeps piling up linking environmental toxins and obesity.

Unidentified Inert Ingredients in Pesticides: Implications for Human and Environmental Health – Caroline Cox and Michael Surgan. This article suggests that all pesticides should have all ingredients assessed for safety and not just the active components.

Global Environmental Change: What Can Health Care Providers and the Environmental Health Community Do About It Now? – Brian S. Schwartz, Cindy Parker, Thomas A. Glass, and Howard Hu – This article is a call to action for health care providers to help educate the public about the risks of global warming.

Whole-Body Lifetime Occupational Lead Exposure and Risk of Parkinson’s Disease – Steven Coon, Azadeh Stark, Edward Peterson, Aime Gloi, Gene Kortsha, Joel Pounds, David Chettle, and Jay Gorell – In this article the authors report on the association of lead exposure to the development of Parkinson’s disease.

Exposures to Environmental Toxicants and Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder in U.S. Children – Joe M. Braun, Robert S. Kahn, Tanya Froehlich, Peggy Auinger, and Bruce P. Lanphear – Here we see direct correlations between exposure to prenatal tobacco and lead and the development of ADHD.

Response Inhibition During Differential Reinforcement of Low Rates (DRL) Schedules May Be Sensitive to Low-Level Polychlorinated Biphenyl, Methylmercury, and Lead Exposure in Children – Paul W. Stewart, David M. Sargent, Jacqueline Reihman, Brooks B. Gump, Edward Lonky, Thomas Darvill, Heraline Hicks, and James Pagano – Low levels of toxins such as PCB, methylmercury and lead are potentially harmful in children (no kidding) is what this article suggests.

Top 100 Science Stories of 2006 – My Opinion

Discover Magazine, one of my favorites, recently (January 2007) published its annual top 100 list of science stories in 2006.  Here is a selection on my top science stories based on their list.

  1. The World Melts the Masses Mobilize (their #4) – To me, global warming is one of the most important issues of the day. The evidence is growing, but action by the world’s governments is nowhere near where it has to be to avoid disaster.
  2. Alternative Energy (their #1) – This issue dovetails into my #1 as we need to lower our dependence on fossil fuels as fast as possible. That would be both good for the environment as for our economy.
  3. RNA Flouts Rules of Heredity – (their #5) – Epigenetics, a topic I have blogged about in the past, shows us that while our DNA is important, our environment may be more critical when it comes to developing disease. This understanding may very well change the face of medicine and health in the coming decades.
  4. Fast-Food Fats Prove Health Hazard (their #14) – The tidal wave of pressure to remove trans fats from our food supply is certainly welcome to those of us concerned with health issues. To quote Dr. Walter Willet, “Trans fats are clearly toxic to humans and have no place in human diets.” Fake science Fox News? I think not.
  5. Global Warming Leaves Its Marks (their #20) – Yes, two global warming stories in my top 10. This one shows many of the real devastating consequences of our environmental disaster. To those who deny its existence, please open your eyes and reflect on what is happening. If you are right, we waste some money, if you are wrong, our world is headed for a magnitude of disaster not seen since the last mass extinction 60 million years ago.
  6. New Tests Help Chemotherapy Hit the Mark (their #34) – As many of you know, I work in the lab interpretation business so this intrigues me to no end. Imagine that instead of just guessing which chemotherapy drug to use for a person, there could be a test to determine which would be best for them. Wow, the concept of biochemical individuality being used in medicine. What a shame its taken so long.
  7. Low-Fat Diet A Bust? (their #53) – Low-fat diets may not be as beneficial as was once thought. It is more important to eat the right fats than to eliminate fats. Stop eating trans and lower the intake of saturated fats is the way to go. Thank God medicine is realizing something many of us in the nutritional field have known for a long time.
  8. Polio’s Return Traced to Lapses in India (their #60) – Being a Rotarian, polio eradication has long been one of our organizations goal. This devastating disease must be stopped at all costs. Continually monitoring the outbreaks and educating the populous about the availability of a vaccine against polio is critical into making this disease a thing of the past.
  9. Tissue Engineering Triumph: Lab-Grown Bladders (their #2) – Being able to grow organs outside the body will have dramatic ramifications. While the initial success was based on a small trial, this form of research may save millions of lives in the future.
  10. Stem Cell Setbacks Inspire New Methods (their #15) – Despite not achieving much success with stem cells in the past, these failures did not dispel the belief in continuing research. No, it has spawned new techniques and more public funding which now seems to be paying off. There seems to be ways of harvesting stem cells without using embryos, something which should please many of the opponents of this type of research.

Well, I hope you were interested in my list.  I really suggest you get Discover this month. It is well worth it.

Researching Environmental Health Issues – Part Deux

Want to know who’s polluting in your neighborhood? Want to know where the biggest polluters for each toxin?
What the worst pollutants are? Scorecard.org is your home for all that information and more.

Looking for data relating to health, mortality and morbidity? The Center’s for Disease Control is the place to go.

To access the latest in information about pesticides go to Beyond Pesticides which contains a veritable clearing hour of data.

Health and Environment.org is a veritable treasure trove of information relating health and toxins.

Want to find the foods highest in Tryptophan, B6 and Zinc but are low in Glycine, Manganese and Starch? Go to NutritionData.com and search to your hearts content.

For those of you who want to research the periodic chart, here is one of the best on the web posted by the University of Minnesota.

Want to know the scoop of everything lipids?  Go to LipidMap.com for all the real information about fatty acids.

NHANES is the US government databank known as National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey. Lots of information relating to health and nutrition.

And finally, for a great website dedicated to science, try LiveScience.com.

Hope my two latest blogs help you learn more about the important issues surrounding health and the environment.

Researching Environmental Health Issues

The first stop for anyone interested in the field is the home page of the highly respected journal –  Environmental Health Perspectives – This journal is funded by the NIH and because of that, every article is available free online in Adobe PDF format.

The Environmental Working Group is a non-profit organization made up of scientists, engineers, policy experts and lawyers who research issues relating to the environment and health. They have reported on issues relating to Teflon®, cosmetics, perchlorates, bisphenol A, phthalates and many more. They have published numerous reports like Skin Deep, Body Burden, and Body Burden II. Every person who is interested in this field should read these three reports.

In the field of environmental toxin cleanups, it is well known that certain bacteria have an affinity for certain toxins.
THe database provided by the University of Minnesota has hundreds of toxins and the species of bacteria that break them down. One of my theories is that some people’s persistent infectious state is due to these bacteria’s affinity for these toxins which are found in everyone’s blood stream and adipose tissue.

The Children’s Health Environmental Coalition’s site is filled with information about individual toxins like phthalates, mercury, and dioxin. It is also filled with lots of news and tips on how to live in today’s toxic environment.

How many times have you been asked “What is the safest fish to eat?” At Ocean’s Alive, you can download the latest information about fish eating safety.

Back Posting Again

For those of you who wonder where I’ve been in recent weeks the answer is, all over the place.  On October 28, 2006 I was lecturing in Baden-Baden, Germany and my talk was called “Modern matrix medicine: toxic loads and excretion therapies.” The crowd of health care practitioners from around the world numbered between 350-400. I would like to thank Heel GMBH and the International Society for Homeopathy and Homotoxicology for inviting me to their annual event.

From there I went to the meeting of the American College for the Advancement of Medicine (ACAM) in Rancho Mirage, California and when I got back, it was into the hospital to get my Achillies tendon repaired along with removing a nasty bone spur.  While I expected to be down for a few days, little did I realize how much I would need the support of pain killers to deal with the aftermath of some pretty extensive surgery.

So, now that I’m somewhat recovered, my topics over the next few weeks will include the following topics:

  • The influence of BigPharma on patient advocacy groups
  • Recent research into treatment options and prostate cancer
  • Is angioplasty really that effective?  Or worse, can it be harmful?
  • Growing evidence on the effects of environmental toxins on obesity
  • Neurological damage caused by industrial chemicals
  • Obesity, an American phenomena or world-wide epidemic?
  • The development of a lab competency testing protocol
  • Books that inspire, educate and provoke thought
  • Resources to research environmental health issues
  • Trivia, opinions and straight from the hip comments

I am looking forward to the coming weeks of information sharing.

Mercury in Fish and Diabetes – A Link Found?

Reearchers in South Korea are suggesting that methylmercury,the form found in fish, may damage pancreatic cells which may lead to diabetes in humans.  While the work is in its early stages, it should make everyone sit back and review their dietary intake of fish, especially those found highest in mercury. To get a handy mercury guide for safe fish consumption go to the Sierra Club by clicking the link.

What was also interesting about the report was how N-acetyl cysteine (NAC) was protective of the pancreatic cells exposed to methylmercury.  Using personalized lab testing may be helpful in determining whether this supplement may be beneficial for you.

Mercury and Forest Fires

According to Merritt R. Turetsky from Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan, mercury that has been released into the atmosphere from industrial sources, has a great affinity for organic materials such as peat and rich forest soils.  This is important as whenever a forest fire burns, mercury is released back into the atmosphere.  Previous research had suggested that this release was a paltry 23 tons in the Northern Hemisphere (as compared to industry dumping of 4,400 to 7,500 tons) but the new calculations made by Dr. Turetsky et al have put that figure at a more robust 340 tons annually.

Let’s put this into prospective.  If we think about the fact that about 200 milligrams are lethal to humans (goes up and down dependent on a number of issues like genetics and environment as well as the type of mercury) and if we release say a mid-range number of 5,500 tons of mercury into the atmosphere, what kind of number are we really talking about?

5,500 tons of mercury translates to 24,250,549 kilograms which then breaks down to 24,250,848,840,337 milligrams.  This is 24 and a quarter trillion milligrams. Now if we estimate that the total human population is about 6.5 billion, this means that we are pumping 3791 milligrams of mercury per human being into the environment.  That is 18 times the lethal dose.  Now of course, most people don’t get exposed to that much mercury but we also have to understand that this is a bioaccumulative toxin.  It keeps building up in our systems over the years.

Let’s look at another reality.  If we take a guess that we are only going to come in contact with 1% of that mercury, how long before we hit the lethal dose? In only 5.4 years we will be exposed to the lethal dose.  Of course, we do excrete mercury as we get exposed, some better than others.  Let’s now suppose that we excrete 75% of that mercury (it’s probably less).  We would then have accumulated the lethal dose in 21.44 years. If we excrete 90% then we would hit that level in 54 years. Frightening isn’t it?