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Stealth Poisons: What evil lurks in the minds of men?

Well,as the Shadow knows, tons of evil. And a lot of it is in the form of the production of environmental toxins which not only injure us - but our offspring, our offspring's offspring and the future of the world as we know it. The scariest part of this horror story is that, for the most part, we are not consciously aware of the environmental toxins slowly and insidiously building up in our brain and nervous tissue, our heart and joints and our reproductive organs. As we la-de-da our way through life, ugly things are happening inside our bodies with neither our consent nor our knowledge.

Unfortunately, we cannot escape environmental poisons or what Sherry Rogers M.D. calls the "Paradoxical Plague." (Pain Free in Six Weeks, Dr. Sherry Rogers, Prestige Press, 2002). Environmental poisons break all rules of epidemics or plagues in that they are 1) disguised as expected diseases of aging 2)Have hundreds of thousands of causes (ie. all the many different types of chemicals) rather than one cause (eg. the rat in bubonic plague).

This Paradoxical Plague also 3)kills with a variety of symptoms and may take decades to manifest into outright illness 4) takes out everyone - weak or strong - whereas plagues usually prey on the weakest and 5) this chemical plague requires a total load of factors to conquor it whereas other plagues usually have one simple cure (eg.the Salk vaccine for polio.) Stealth poisons are insidious and pervasive. They hide in all the good things in life, like food, water and fresh air. (Fresh and air are fast becoming an oxymoron. . .) and they come in so many forms - pesticides, heavy metals, volatile organic hydrocarbons - that it is hard to keep up with them all.

Toxins get into our body and steadily accumulate over time, and only when they reach a certain level, do they produce symptoms that will grab your attention. However, in keeping with the stealthiness of environmental toxins, you won't think that the cause of your symptoms is chemical overload, because when you run to your M.D. she will call your particular combination of symptoms something like lupus or irritable bowel or fibromyalgia or RA or CFS or whatever category your bunch of symptoms fits best into. She will then treat your SYMPTOMS (what an M.D. does best) rather than trying to determine the CAUSE of your symptoms (what I and others who treat naturopathically do best).

Typically, what the body cannot detoxify - the typical scenario in our bloated chemical environment - is dumped into fat storage. Interestingly, this is why when significantly overweight people diet and lose weight, they often feel bad and may even notice a strange, metallic odor in their sweat and on their breath.

When I put patients on an environmental detox, I warn them of certain uncomfortable symptoms: They may be plunged into an unusual(for them)depression or anxiety or restlessness, because guess what? Your brain is one big fatty organ and as toxins are being released from neuro-storage sites, different mental symptoms can occur. Blessedly, only momentarily as I am quick to reassure patients.

What turns little boy fishes into little girl fishes? These chemicals are called endocrine disruptors which mimic or disrupt hormones and are usually estrogen-based. These include organochlorine pesticides, dioxins, PCB's and industrial additives in paint, detergents, tin cans and plastics.

Styrofoam cups? Contain styrene and plasticizers. They are dumped directly into your bloodstream and are dispersed post haste to every organ in your body.

- Xylene is in gasoline and glues

- 1,4-dichlorobenzene is in home deodorizers, mothballs, bedding and clothes.

-Formaldehyde is in particle board and new furniture.

- Cadmium is in air pollution including the incineration of municipal wastes, auto exhaust, cigarette smoke and is implicated in many chronic pain disorders.

- Arsenic can cause burning, numbness and tingling and is pervasive in our environment from cigarettes, paint, pesticides, fungicides, porcelein dental work and wood preservatives. It is sprayed on wine grapes and is found in shell fish who absorb it from the bottoms of rivers and bay basins. I don't eat shellfish anymore.

- Mercury and other heavy metals like arsenic and cobalt can cause CHF which is the endstage of all heart disease. NB. This is potentiated by the Cocksackie B virus which seems to make the heart muscle more permeable to heavy metals including mercury.

- Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons: A group of 100's of chemicals which are everywhere and are "so potent in causing cancer that only ONE dose is given to animals in order to create research rats with cancer." (Dr. Rogers, Pain Free, P. 149.

- Persistent Organic Pollutants (POPS) or the "chemicals that just won't go away." ( Children's Health Environmental Coalition HealtheHouse, www.checnet.org/HealtheHouse). POPS are carbon-based chemicals that do not break down in our environment and are stealthily carried by air currents, are in our tap water and accumulate in our foods. They cause immune dysfunction, birth defects, reproductive health disorders, endocrine and nervous system abnormalities and cancer. What are they?

1) DDT. Banned in the US many years ago, but in an unconscionable act of great stupidity and greed, we EXPORT DDT to other countries like Mexico for use on their crops who then IMPORT their canteloupes etc. back to us. Go figure.

2) Aldrin, Dieldrin and Insecticides: Used for crops like corn, cotton, canteloupes, spinach, soybeans and sweet potatoes. Banned in the US in the 70's, but read above under DDT.

3) PCB's (polychlorinated biphenyls): Has many industrial uses in electrical transformers, paint additives, plastics. Banned in the 70's but they remain in waste sites and pollute everything.

4) Dioxins: Industrial by-products created during the production of chlorine-based chemicals and PVC plasitics, the bleaching of paper and textiles. They are everywhere.

5) Lindane: Used for seed and wood treatment, an insecticide and as a spray for food crops. Also used for the treatment of head lice.

Now that I have you all moving to a chemical-free yurt on a 10,000 foot mountain top. . .! I moved to the Rocky Mountains west of Boulder almost two years ago. I had quite a rocky time (no pun intended) of it for about a year as many of the chemicals were being released from my new house construction. For protection during that time I did a lot of careful ozonating, opening of windows and doors and inner chelation. But now, I feel that where I live - at 8,300 feet - is perhaps the healthiest, freshest, least contaminated place I have ever lived. Next time: How to protect ourselves from environmental toxins.

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