More on Mercury

The controversy surrounding the use of Thimerosal, best known for its use as an ethyl-mercury-based preservative found in infant vaccines and pregnancy shots, to autism and other developmental disorders has led many families to question whether the potential risks associated with early childhood immunizations might outweigh the benefits. Yet according to a news release issued by the National Autism Association, a study posted in Environmental Health Perspectives (EHP) appeared to diminish the damage Thimerosal can have on children.

The study involved some 40 monkeys who were fed either methyl-mercury or given shots of Thimerosal in doses comparable to those given in vaccines to human infants. It was found that the ethyl-mercury contained in Thimerosal was cleared quickly by the body, while methyl-mercury – widely hailed at the worse of the two – persisted much longer. What does this really mean? Ethyl-mercury was much more damaging because it crossed the blood-brain barrier more quickly than methyl-mercury.

Deceptively, EHP framed the results in a misleading, positive light (see http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2005/7712/abstract.html). To say that ethyl-mercury clears the blood faster and is therefore less toxic than methyl-mercury is dishonest by means of omission – attempting to deflect attention from the frightening fact that ethyl-mercury makes its way to the brain much faster than methyl-mercury and can be trapped there for years.

Much higher amounts of inorganic mercury were found in the brains of infants injected with Thimerosal than those with methyl-mercury (up to 71% vs. 10%). Infants’ brains exposed to Thimerosal contained at least twice the amount of inorganic mercury as those tainted by methyl-mercury.

Getting the Heavy Metals Out of Your Body

The following was extracted from an article by Stewart Drage, a British dentist, sent to me by one of our Canadian readers. Because I have modified his text significantly, to make it more generalized (less focused on teeth/fillings) and more reader friendly, I felt I could no longer leave it as black text, yet the ideas are still basically his. This format is intended as instructions to detox from heavy metals (mercury in particular). Use this at your own discretion.

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The body produces its own substances to fight heavy metals and toxins, namely glutamine synthetase and metallothionine. Unfortunately, when an excess of mercury is present, these systems might be overpowered. The obvious course of action is to remove the source of the poisoning and to rid the body of any remaining mercury by careful detoxification.

Sulfur combines readily with mercury, enabling the body to excrete the resultant combination. An organic form of sulfur, called MSM (methylsulphonylmethane), is helpful to your general health as well as binding with the mercury. It is also cheap, unlike some of the other chelators. One route of excretion is through the kidneys, but because mercury can accumulate in the kidneys, you need an active week and a kidney clearance week (i.e., this detox is a two-week cycle). Take ¼ teaspoon of MSM crystals, dissolved in a cup of warm water half an hour before breakfast each day for seven days, along with approximately eight glasses of water (preferably filtered) per day. This is all that is required during an active week (you might also get this effect by taking MSM capsules three times a day for a week - I take them combined with Glucosamine to help rebuild joint components), but you should also consider the following additions. During a kidney clearance week, I suggest one capsule of multivitamins, twice daily, half an hour before food and once capsule of potassium citrate three times daily with food, each for seven days. Potassium citrate is an excellent “flusher.” Do not take the MSM during the kidney clearance week.

You should take chlorella continuously during both weeks, because it is very effective at clearing toxic metals through the bowel. Start with one capsule, three times a day, then slowly increase the dose until taking four capsules, three times a day, continuously. Two months should be the minimum time for this regime. Once you are at that level, proceed with this detox.

Note: Many people become very sensitive to tiny amounts of mercury following detoxification, a problem known as the “secondary immune response.” I have read about people who have successfully completed a course of detoxification, but reported being violently ill on two occasions following restaurant meals. It came out that, on both occasions, he had eaten seafood, which was never a problem before, but seems to contain quite high levels of mercury now. The body was apparently remembering that awful poison and trying to get rid of it as quickly as possible. There are other people who, for some strange reason, react against chlorella following detox. It might be that the chlorella was raised in a toxic watery (i.e., mercury-laden) environment. Another explanation might be that it was causing the body to detox faster than it was able to excrete. Experiment with your own safe level and back off if you have any reaction.

There are a few other things to be avoided at this time, if at all possible. The obvious ones are the “terrible trio”: sugar, caffeine, and alcohol. Caffeine seems to be the worst offender for detoxers by some margin, but as always, use moderation and common sense. I don’t want to make life intolerable, so just take it easy on these substances for a while. Pork is also surprisingly unhelpful in detox procedures. When blood samples were taken from people thirty minutes after eating pork, ‘ghost’ cells were evident. These are red blood cells that have lost their hemoglobin, and the result is a feeling of fatigue. The spleen works overtime to pump out more red blood cells so that the tiredness doesn’t last long, but overproduction of red blood cells might also strain the system. Try also to avoid fruit and fruit juices during detox. They are a little harsh on the system during this time, particularly oranges and grapefruit.

Dietary protein provides another detoxifying agent by binding with heavy metals. Surprisingly, vegetable protein is less effective in its ability to detoxify. The dimensional forms of vegetable and animal protein molecules are slightly different, both doing similar, but not identical jobs. One doctor states that he has never been able to completely cure a vegetarian. The natural anti-oxidant vitamins, A, C and E, as well as the micronutrient selenium, all play a vital role. Selenium is a very effective detoxifier of heavy metals and adequate levels must be maintained. A note here about vitamin B-12. It has been found to be a “methylator,” instantly converting the mercury ions into methyl-mercury. Avoid vitamin B-12 while detoxifying, although the other B supplements are not a problem. (If you normally take a multivitamin that contains B-12, temporarily suspend that during the detox week and use individual vitamins instead.)

Vitamin C is probably the most effective of this group. Its primary use is to activate your own detoxification chemicals. Glutamine synthetase activates two glutamine molecules to join on either side of a mercury atom, binds tightly to it and allows its excretion. Research back in the 1930s showed that vitamin C combines with lead for excretion in the urine and the same thing probably happens with cadmium and mercury.

The suggested items here (MSM, chlorella, Selenium, vitamins, A, C and E, are all available at your local health food store. If you cannot communicate your intent to the store clerk, print this page and take it with you.

Study Suggest Bad Corn Caused Birth Defects in the Rio Grande Valley

February 10, 2006 – by Associated Press

HARLINGEN, Texas — Contaminated corn may have caused an increase in babies born with rare birth defects in the Rio Grande Valley in the early 1990s, according to a new study.

Scientists have been searching more than a decade for the cause of a surge in babies in the region with neural tube defects, abnormalities of the brain and spinal cord that arise in the first weeks of pregnancy.

In one south Texas county, there were six cases in six weeks of babies born with rudimentary or missing brains. (?) Overall, a high rate of neural tube defects was found among almost all border counties.

Residents and lawyers had blamed pollution, and General Motors and other U.S.-owned factories paid $17 million without admitting wrongdoing to settle a lawsuit accusing their border factories of poisoning the air.

But no chemical links to the disease were ever proven, and Texas health officials began suspecting Fumonisin, a toxin in corn mold. Experts had noted a high concentration in the corn harvest just before the outbreak. Some Texas horses died from brain disease caused by the toxin.

According to the February issue of the journal Environmental Health Perspectives, researchers now have a study that looks at the relationship between [corn] tortilla consumption, Fumonisin and neural tube defects. Laboratory data have pointed to a link, but until now, researchers have lacked human studies.

The study found that pregnant women who ate 300 to 400 corn tortillas a month during the first trimester had more than twice the risk of giving birth to babies with the defects than did women who ate fewer than 100 tortillas.

Blood samples indicated that the higher the level of Fumonisin, the greater the risk of neural tube defects.

Tortillas are an inexpensive dietary staple along the Texas-Mexico border, and studies suggest that the average young Mexican-American woman along the border eats 110 a month. (This, to me, is another indicator that the poorer the person, the worse their diet is likely to be these days in terms of health quality.)

"I don't know that we can ever go back and definitely say that it was Fumonisin," said Lucina Suarez, director of epidemiology and disease surveillance for the Texas Department of State Health Services. But given this and other research, she said, "It certainly looks that way."

David Miller of Carleton University in Canada, one of the world's experts on the toxin, said there was still no direct human evidence that the toxin caused the birth defects. He said more study was needed because the mold can still taint the corn supply and many diets are largely made up of corn tortillas. "We need to know the answer to this question," he said.

Ron Riley, a Fumonisin expert with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, said there appeared to be some connection between [corn] tortilla consumption and neural tube defects, but more study was needed.

Another Safe Recipe

Buttermilk Ranch Dressing (safe stuff on your salad)

1/2 cup sour cream

1/4 cup buttermilk

1/4 tsp. onion powder

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

1/2 tsp. dried parsley

1/2 tsp. dried dill

1/4 tsp. salt

Combine all ingredients in a small bowl and mix well. Cover and refrigerate for an hour or so before using to let flavors meld. Makes approximately 3/4 cup dressing.

Editor’s Note: While this recipe should be considered as generally mycotoxin-safe (a Phase II food), those of you who are trying to lose weight should note that there is a reasonably large fat content here and, as with all things, use it in moderation (i.e., don’t pork out just because we said it is safe). J

Misc BS

1. Congress just passed a bill (the vote was 283-139) that will remove some state-required safety labels from food products. This bill has yet to go to the senate and it could affect hundreds of warnings, including arsenic in bottled water, lead in candy (what’s lead doing in candy?!?), allergy-causing sulfites, some mercury levels (it nullifies about 200 existing state laws). The bill overrides all state warnings and allows only those that are directed by federal law. The rest of the story is available at:  http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11734532/. My big beef with this bill is not so much that they think this is good (it is advantageous only to the food producers), but that it is one more step by the federal government to overrun states’ rights, which is clearly in violation of the United States constitution. Of course, they don’t believe in that part anyway (Fuhrer Bush is quoted as saying, “It’s just a goddamned piece of paper!” – that full article will be sent to you at your request), so if you want to complain to your Senators (too late to influence your ignorant Congress critters), simply tell them you demand to keep the local labels because you desire to be an “informed consumer.”

2. The United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has decided that two child deaths were caused by chelation therapy, which is used to treat lead and mercury poisoning; also often used for autism. Chelating agents are chemical compounds, injected or given orally, that latch onto metals in the body and carry them out through urine or feces. Both children were treated with a product called Endrate. I do not know the validity of this report (this was on national news) – I mean, is this really what gave these kids cardiac arrest, or is the FDA just trying to eliminate one more thing that stands in the way of their Big Pharma buddies having total monopoly over the killing of people via drugs?

3. The FDA also said in their annual report that, as of September 30, that 65% of the 1,231 so-called “post-marketing” drug studies that companies had pledged to carry out were still pending. Drug companies have yet to even begin the follow-up studies they agreed to undertake once their medicines were on the market. Those drugs received expedited approval from federal regulators on condition that the studies be carried out, and they aren’t doing what they promised. See the full story at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11657071/

4. Wal-Mart Stores Inc. will start selling a store-brand version of the popular low-calorie sweetener Splenda in its U.S. super centers by the end of this month. They tested their own version of the sweetener (sucralose) under the brand name “Altern” last year and they expect to make a bundle on this. Don’t buy this crap. It is a neurotoxin. More at: http://money.cnn.com/2006/02/16/news/companies/walmart_splenda.reut/

5. A new soybean oil is said to be healthier. Bull! The FDA began requiring manufacturers to list trans fat content on food labels this year and, as a result, demand for the new soybeans is beginning to outstrip the supply. Apparently there is so much demand that food companies have recruited farmers to grow more of the new beans. The new soybeans contain lower levels of the acids that make food stale or rancid, meaning their oil does not need hydrogenation, the process the creates trans fats. Most soybeans contain roughly 7% linolenic acid. The new varieties contain 1-3%. The big problem, as I see it, is that this new soybean oil contain as much as 100x the level of harmful omega-6 fats (most people get all the O6 fats they need in their daily diet, making this an overdose), far in excess of the average American’s intake of the beneficial omega-3 fats. This new soybean oil also does not eliminate the estrogen issue. Don’t eat this crap!

6. Stay as far away from Girl Scout cookies as you can. In the war of Girl Scout cookies, flavor is a weapon of mass-consumption. Taste is just one of the reasons the Council of the Girl Scouts decided to go with a variety of Thin Mints that contain trans fats, the man-made fat recently targeted by the FDA. The 300-plus Girl Scout councils nationwide buy their Thin Mints from two companies: Little Brownie Bakers in Louisville, Ky., and ABC/Interbake Foods in Richmond, Va. More at:

http://www.bakingbusiness.com/newsfinder.asp?Action=UserDisplayFullDocument&orgId=535&docId=l:355401017&topicId=14401&start=2&topics=single

7. The federal government declined to alert the public about suspect ground beef or to even request a recall after a salmonella outbreak in 2004 that sickened at least 31 people nationwide, according to a report by the federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The report, made public this past week by food safety advocates, said the USDA traced illnesses in nine states: Colorado, Kansas, Minnesota, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Wisconsin, as well as Washington, D.C., to a national supermarket chain and a single meat processing plant. Gee, folks, if it had affected another 70 people, would that make it a pandemic like this silly bird flu? More at: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11734028/

8. From Popular Science, January 2005: Researchers in Wales, while testing commercial foods labeled as “organic,” discovered that fully 40% contained ingredients derived from genetically modified plants. This result underscores the difficulty in keeping modified and non-modified foods from mixing, either through air-borne pollen, or (the most likely suspect) being mixed together in grain storage silos.

9. More humor from Mike Adams. This article is funny and true, but the way he presents the truth is what makes it funny (the same data could be presented in such a way as to make you cry). Sample this: “I'm not making this up. Taurel claims that really good drugs are being delayed in the approval process because -- get this -- too many people are concerned about their side effects. Gee, I suppose if we all just agreed that heart attacks, strokes, muscle wasting, liver damage, kidney failure, brain fog, nutritional deficiencies and death were of no consequence, then we could get all these drugs approved lickity split!” Read the whole article at: http://www.newstarget.com/019309.html

10. The FDA has just approved a device to treat depression that is a surgically implanted vagus nerve stimulator (produced by Cyberonics Inc.). It had only one clinical trial and it had no apparent effect on depression. This caused many FDA scientists to repeatedly recommend rejecting it. In spite of those recommendations, Dr. Daniel G. Schultz, director of the Center for Devices and Radiological Health at the FDA, kept its application moving up the ladder and eventually decided to approve it. Full story at: http://www.goupstate.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060217/ZNYT04/602170385/1051/news01

I think that Dr. Mercola has been posting about this story for a few months now. It is, without a doubt, a great example why you simply cannot trust the FDA to protect you from corporate greed because they are actually part of the system that promotes it. How is this device any different than many of the over-priced drugs that have been approved, yet do not fix the problem? It is just another device (like the drugs) that, in no way, shape, or form, treats the cause of the problem, yet it allows some company to earn millions or billions of dollars. If patients want access to truly life-sustaining therapies, they are forced to pay the price, which in many cases means emptying their bank accounts, even if the drug or device is useless. Isn’t that the perfect approach from a corporate perspective? In fact, there’s no reason for most drugs (or devices) to treat the true cause of any medical condition at all. Doing so would merely eliminate future potential income from selling more band-aid drug treatments (or, in this case, useless implants). The best way to guarantee repeat business is to never give your patients anything that will cure them. Sigh…

Reader Q&A

Q: You seem to quote Mike Adams a lot, yet in the last issue, you played down the bird flu epidemic and from what I’ve read, he seems to think it is something to be feared and we should all be protecting ourselves (he has made numerous articles on this lately). Why don’t you believe that when you seem to believe most of the rest of his stuff?

A: Mike is a nice and relatively normal naturopath. J But in this case, follow the money trail. The allopathic doctors are spreading the panic because they, and the pharmaceutical companies, stand to make a great deal of money by keeping people sufficiently afraid that they will come get a shot. Mike, dear person that he is, is selling a naturopathic solution to the same problem and a book on how to beat the bird flu. Both factions are making a profit from your fear. The claim, by both sides, is that this bird flu is only one genetic mutation away from becoming a global pandemic that will kill tens of millions of people (one article I read suggested a couple billion worldwide). I do not believe in the fear factor, but in simple logic (and I have no product for you to buy). Throughout human history, thousands of things have been only one mutation away from the total annihilation of our species, but they did not happen. Oh yes, and margarine, as nasty as that is, is only one molecule away from being plastic. But it is not plastic. And the bird flu is currently killing less people than anything else on the planet, so why all the panic? Profit is clearly their motivation. I’m not selling you anything; they are. But maybe there’s another reason for generating this worldwide panic…

The government conspiracy theory: Please laugh at this first, then ponder it seriously. Why is this bird flu considered an epidemic when only 100 people (or less) have died from it? Why are the governments, the media, and doctors in every country on this planet issuing dire warnings of the coming pandemic when only 100 people (or less) have died over a course of several years? That doesn’t even match one month of normal flu in just one country in just one year! WHY!?!

Possibility #1: The government caused this flu; that is, it was a laboratory virus that got into the free air and because they know what it can do, they are predicting doomsday (see Steven King’s The Stand).

Possibility #2: There is no bird flu, but there is a desire on the part of the world’s governments to want every single person on the planet to get an injection. What could that be? Oh, by the way, did you know that RFID chips are now being made small enough to pass through a syringe needle? Amazing how these little radio frequency identification chips can be made so small and still be able to track the location of any animal or any person anywhere on the planet. (True, each one of these tiny chips cannot contain user-specific personal information at that size – yet – but you would show up on a GPS tracking device as a dot, locatable to within one meter of your actual physical location, which is all a militaristic government wants to know anyway.) The only thing preventing the New World Order from establishing its planned totalitarian government is the logistics of getting every person on the planet to willingly accept having one of these things implanted within their bodies. Gee, maybe if they make us sufficiently afraid of something that we will all voluntarily go get a shot…

You figure it out. For the nice doctors who would suggest to you that this idea is preposterous, did you know the secondary bird flu vaccine proposed by the U.S. Government is predicted to arrive at the doctors’ offices in prepackaged single-shot doses? Meaning the doctor would never even have to know he was injecting a tiny RFID chip with the vaccine… this is getting curiouser and curiouser… believe it or not – your choice. J