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Large Population Mercury Test results


From: Bruce R. Dooley, M.D.
7 May, 2008

Hi Grace,
Thanks for passing along these articles. An update on my activities:

In February of 2007 and 2008, I spoke to a collective group of over 2,000 "healthy" individuals (aged 17-75) on the proven disease conditions manifesting from sub acute, chronic mercury exposure. This process is called mercurialism and is separate and distinct from acute mercury poisoning. I attach an article by Dr. Ely (PDF File - 595kb) et al and a partial list of these mental and physical states associated with mercury (MS-Word - 287kb). Dr. Ely's study on the common misinterpretation of urine mercury testing suggests that a much larger population may have significant tissue burden and calls for larger studies. As a result of the information provided to these conference attendees, we have now been able to collect oral DMPS - provoked urine mercury* results on over 1,000 North American individuals. These results were performed at the respected and independent CLEO lab, Doctor's Data. A sample of a very elevated (red zone) report is attached.

The outcomes of these two mass testings were astonishing to me and others familiar with mercury. Consistently we found that 75% of the group tested in the red zone or very elevated, and 20% in the elevated yellow zone. You can understand that when extrapolated to the entire population, the numbers are staggering. To my knowledge this is the first time this data has ever been produced and we are trying to grasp the health implications to the United States and other westernized populations. Many of these individuals have elected to begin therapy with oral MercOut 30-day program and our retesting has shown an average 68% reduction in tissue burden. WIth an understanding that the World Health Organization established mercury as an elemental poison with no known lower level of non-toxicity in humans, why are we not properly testing all of our patients for this metal?

Yours in health,
Bruce R. Dooley, M.D.
MercOut International, Ltd.
New Zealand: +64 3 548 8790
North America: (954) 607 7972
drdooley@mercout.com
www.mercout.com

*DMPS - provoked urine mercury protocol: 500 mg DMPS with a 2-hour collection. We have tested various times for collection and found this to provide both the highest yield of Hg and compliance rate.

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FDA Comment Period - Urgent
The FDA is reopening public comments on a rule first proposed in 2002 that would place precapsulated amalgam in Class II.


Dear IAOMT Members:

For your urgent attention: The FDA has announced that it is reopening public comments on a rule first proposed in 2002 that would place precapsulated amalgam in Class II, with "special controls." The rule was then 26 years overdue, since the FDA was mandated by Congress to make these classifications in 1976, and the special control proposed was, incredibly, a warning about exposure to zinc from amalgam! No action has been taken since.

Under intense lobbying by IAOMT, and under pressure from a lawsuit brought by our allies at Consumers for Dental Choice, the FDA has reopened public comments on ways to amend the rule for 90 days . Whether they are just bluffing again, or actually mean to bring the rule forward, it is imperative that every one of us, and all our friends, submit a comment, based on our own knowledge and experience. Amalgam should be placed in Class III, and the manufacturers forced to prove that it is safe, not in Class II, where old assumptions of its safety can live on.

Below is a letter from Charlie Brown of Consumers for Dental Choice, with talking points, and information on just how to submit your comment.

---

Dear Doctor:

Due to the deadlines imposed upon it by our lawsuit Moms Against Mercury et al, v. Von Eschenbach et al., the Food and Drug Administration has stopped stonewalling on mercury fillings. FDA has created a 90-day window to comment on how it should classify mercury fillings, and what special controls (restrictions on use) it should adopt.

Now is the time for all mercury-free dentists to comment. Whether FDA is making a feint to delay action once more, or whether FDA has had a real change of heart -- your comments are important. If the former, your comments help build a record to nail them in court later. If the latter, we educate FDA to take action.

Talking points:

1. Ask FDA to put a total ban on mercury fillings --- or at least a ban for children 18 & under, for women of childbearing age, and for persons with kidney problems --- or at the very least, pregnant women, nursing mother, and children 18 and under. Tell them why, in your own words.


2. Advise FDA that mercury fillings are completely unnecessary in 21st-century dentistry. This is quite important, that general dentists say that they can fill any cavity, big or small, in a child or adult, in an able-bodied or a disabled person, with alternatives like resin.


3. An entire generation has grown up getting mercury implants solely because FDA refuses to do its job. No more delays, FDA --- this lawlessness must end.

You may comment three different ways:

1. Electronic: Federal Rulemaking Portal: http://www.regulations.gov
   In category "Search," insert: FDA-2008-N-0163
   Follow instructions to submit comments.
   
2. Fax: 301-827-6870.


3. Mail/Hand delivery/Courier [For paper, disk, or CD-ROM submissions]:
   Division of Dockets Management (HFA-305),
   Food and Drug Administration,
   5630 Fishers Lane, rm. 1061,
   Rockville, MD 20852

Charlie Brown, National Counsel
Consumers for Dental Choice
28 April 2008

PS--Doctor, be assured we are not letting up in pressure in the courtroom. On May 16, in Washington DC, I will argue for our motion for a preliminary injunction to take mercury fillings off the market until and unless FDA classifies it. PPS--Thank you! Call me if you have questi ons--202.544-6333

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IBCMT Workshop - April 2008
Download this article in German - MS-Word Document (41kb)

German Workshop of Metal Toxicology - April 2008
International Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology (IBCMT)

This post graduate medical training seminar, held in Frankfurt, was officially recognized and certified by the medical academy of Hesse (Akademie fÜr Fach - und Weiterbildung der Landesärztekammer Hessen). The fully booked meeting was organized by the German Medical Associaion for Clinical Metal Toxicology (=KMT, formerly German Medical Association of Chelation Therapy) and Micro Trace Minerals Laboratory GmbH.

Dr. VanderSchaar, IBCMT President, provided an overview of IBCMT's future goals and Dr. Psenicka of the German Medical Association for Clinical Metal Toxicology pledged his support.
The Friday session provided basic chelation training. Main lecturers were Dr. Fischer, President of KMT, Dr. Blaurock-Busch and Dr. Pahlplatz who also introduced IBCMT's certifying process.


The advanced workshop, held on Saturday, included lectures by Prof. Schulte-Uebbing of Munich, Germany and others. Presentations on the impact of metals on immune and metabolic functions and the role of digestive functions were part of the program. Dr. Blaurock-Busch also provided analytical evidence regarding some highly promoted detoxifying products that simply can't and don't work.
For more information, contact Dr. E. Blaurock-Busch at ebb@microtrace.de or Dr. Psenicka at dgct@chelat-gesellschaft.de

Dr.E.Blaurock-Busch PhD
Micro Trace Minerals GmbH
Geschaeftsfuehrung: Yvette Busch CEO
Amtsgericht Nuernberg HRB 21937
Roehrenstr 20
D-91217 Hersbruck-Germany
Tel. +49 (0) 9151-4332 Fax +49 (0)9151 2306
US Office:
P.O.Box 4613
Boulder, Colorado 80306-4613
www.microtrace.de

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IBCMT Workshop - April 2008
Download this article - MS-Word Document (41kb)

Kurzbericht: Deutscher Workshop der Metalltoxikologie April 2008
International Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology (IBCMT)
in Kooperation mit der
Ärztegesellschaft für Klinische Metalltoxikologie (KMT) und Micro Trace Minerals (MTM)

Für die Teilnahme an dem anspruchsvollen Programm konnten 23 Fachfortbildungspunkte vergeben werden. Die Tagung war vollkommen ausgebucht. An der vornehmlich von Ärzten besuchten Fachveranstaltung nahmen Zahnärzte, Apotheker und Heilpraktiker teil. Vorgetragene Themen und Referenten wurden ausnahmslos positiv bewertet; die Stimmung während der Veranstaltung war von großem Interesse für die Weiterentwicklung der Chelattherapie , sprich Metalltoxikologie, geprägt.

Dr. Peter VanderSchaar, IBCMT Präsident berichtete über die Zukunftspläne der internationalen Prüfungs- und Zertifizierungskommission IBCMT und Dr. Friedrich Psenicka, Generalsekretär der Deutschen Ärztegesellschaft ersten Fachfortbildungstag gab bekannt, dass auf Grund der neuen Erkenntnisse und Entwicklungen eine Umbennung der Ärztegesellschaft für Chelattherapie beantragt wurde. In Zukunft wird diese Deutsche Ärztegesellschaft für Metalltoxikologie genannt.

Das Basisprogramm des ersten Fachfortbildungstages 'Metalltoxikologie und Gefäßerkrankungen' widmete sich vornehmlich der EDTA Chelattherapie. Dr. Fischer, Präsident der Ärztegesellschaft erklärte anschaulich und eindringlich welche wichtige Details die Therapieerfolge optimieren. Dr. Blaurock-Busch, die für den akademischen Teil des Programms Verantwortliche, erklärte die unterschiedlichen Wirkungsweisen und Metallbindekapazitäten der verschiedenen EDTAs, inwieweit das Kombinieren von Chelatbildnern die Entgiftungsprozesse maximieren können und wie Regulationsstörungen günstig beeinflußt werden.

Das Programm des nächsten Tages, 'Immun- und Funktionsstörungen- Aspekte der Metalltoxikologie' widmete sich einem breiten Aspekt der Metalltoxikologie. Die Präsentation von Dr. Louis Niestegge galt der Amalgamproblematik, wobei alle Teilnehmer sich einig waren, dass dieses Thema zwar in 'vieler Munde' ist, doch weitaus mehr Aufmerksamkeit verdient. Dr. Ruprecht der Firma Heyl, Berlin erläuterte die Wirkungs- und Anwendungsweise von DMPS und knüpfte somit gekonnt an das 'Amalgamthema' und die Vielzahl der Zahnmetalle an.

Behandlungsmöglichkeiten von Mamma Karzinom und Endometriose erläuterte Prof. Schulte-Uebbing, München, wobei in seinem höchstinteressanten Vortrag die Rolle der Schwermetalle einschließlich Kadmium anschaulich erklärt wurde. Dr. Peter Jennrich erweiterte das Programm mit Fallbeispielen aus der Praxis. Auch dieses Referat, wie alle anderen, wurde mit großem Interesse verfolgt.

Die Mikrobiologie und Immunfunktion des Darms als wichtiger Teil der Chelattherapie wurde in Referaten von Dr. Weskott (vormals Präsident der DACT) und Laborarzt Dr. Ernst erläutert.

Allen Referenten ein herzliches Dankeschön für hervoragende Beiträge. Nicht alle sind hier erwähnt. Wir bitten um Verständnis.

Den Teilnehmern, die die IBCMT Prüfung erfolgreich absolvierten unseren herzlichen Glückwunsch!
Weitere Fachfortbildungen sind in Planung.

Dr.E.Blaurock-Busch PhD
Micro Trace Minerals GmbH
Geschaeftsfuehrung: Yvette Busch CEO
Amtsgericht Nuernberg HRB 21937
Roehrenstr 20
D-91217 Hersbruck-Germany
Tel. +49 (0) 9151-4332 Fax +49 (0)9151 2306
US Office:
P.O.Box 4613
Boulder, Colorado 80306-4613
www.microtrace.de

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Subject: FDA and Amalgam Suit
Date: 04-01-2007
Author: Tim Bolen

Mercury Fillings May Become Illegal Soon!!!

Assuming the court is honest (which is a bit assumption, I realize) it looks like the FDA is gonna lose big time on this one. I sure hope that once this case is won, people go after the FDA in court over Fluoride. Below from Iodine list.

=============================

FDA "Backs Down(?)" Over Deadly Mercury Amalgams...
Opinion by Consumer Advocate Tim Bolen
Monday, March 19th, 2007

One of the biggest scandals in American health care is coming to a head this March 27th, 2007. In the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, a case, called "Moms Against Mercury, et al., v. FDA" will get its time in the sunlight, and the Defendant, the United States Food & Drug Administration (FDA) isn't doing well in its Defense.

The case is simple. Citizens are suing the FDA for NOT, during the last THIRTY YEARS, ruling on the safety, or danger, of mercury amalgam tooth fillings. The Plaintiffs want mercury amalgam tooth fillings banned completely, and forever. And, the FDA has virtually no defense...

The US anti-amalgam movement, an aggressive division of the North American Health Freedom Movement, has for years, chipped away at "official dentistry's" promotion of mercury amalgam tooth fillings, pointing out, correctly, their inherent dangers. But "official dentistry" doesn't listen, and in fact, actively punishes dentists that shy away from, or actively advertise the removal of, mercury amalgam fillings. The war has been active for a long time.

With this legal assault the anti-amalgams have adopted an effective offense. In essence, you might say, the anti-amalgam people, armed with silver bullets, have found the secret entrance to the FDA's dungeon, climbed down into the sanctuary during the daylight hours, opened the coffins of the FDA's sleeping staff dentists, sprinkled holy water over them, and driven wooden stakes through their hearts. So to speak.

This case can be the decisive blow - for the FDA attorneys don't have very good answers. The case reads:

SUMMARY OF ARGUMENT

Thirty years after being directed to classify all devices, 20 years after classifying all other dental fillings materials, 13 years after being mandamused to classify but winning on exhaustion grounds, nine years after specifically promising (in writing) to classify, four years after pleading no excuses to Congress for not classifying, it’s clear that FDA’s policy is not to classify encapsulated mercury amalgam. To say FDA ignores this issue is incorrect: FDA’s public relations machine is has been in high gear, as the Center for Devices bobs and weaves about its duty to classify through three “literature reviews,” three “consumer updates,” one “white paper,” and a plethora of sound bites.

The decision not to classify – a plain violation of the statute – is thus a reviewable decision.

FDA’s choice of cheerleader for amalgam, instead of regulator of amalgam, is not acceptable. FDA otherwise bans, limits, and warns against other products, drugs, or foods containing mercury, while other federal health agencies and the health regulators of other nations condemn mercury amalgam.

FDA not only ducks classifying, but also refuses to do an environmental assessment, which would plainly indicate the need for an environmental impact statement. Nor will FDA seek a timely and valid panel recommendation – the previous one being too old (1994), procedurally invalid (no statement for departing from Class III), and sub silentio overruled in September 2006. The writing is on the wall in both cases: An environmental assessment will plainly indicate the need for an environmental impact statement, which report would show alternatives to toxic mercury can be used in fillings, thereby eliminating the major source of mercury in the nation’s wastewater – amalgam. In September, the FDA panel decisively rejected the FDA staff’s pseudo-science about amalgam (e.g., it is safe because it’s been used for a long time), so FDA ducks asking the panel for formal action.

FDA keeps amalgam on the market via a sham substantial equivalence test, pretending that a powder half-device containing no mercury equates to a full device capsule that is 50% toxic mercury. When asked by Senator Kennedy why this practice is allowed, Commissioner Von Eschenbach in writing denied that FDA considers the two devices to be substantially equivalent. Since the staff has ten times approved amalgam under this test in the past six years (and many times before that), perhaps the Center for Devices is engaged in rogue activity unknown to the Commissioner’s office.

The correct recourse is not a mere order to classify, allowing an unclassified, unregulated device – with 50% mercury and for which substitute materials are legal and available for any dentist to place – to remain in commerce, but to remove it from commerce temporarily until FDA complies with its legal duties.

CONCLUSION

This Court mustdirect FDA to start being amalgam’s regulator instead of amalgam’s cheerleader. Whether by intention or lethargy, FDA’s Center for Devices has protected the marketing of mercury fillings by doing none of its regulatory duties – neither classifying nor requiring proof of safety nor doing an environmental assessment nor seeking a valid recommendation from the scientific panel. Since they have ducked and dodged classifying encapsulated amalgam after classifying all other dental filling materials in the 1980s, the mercury apologists at the Center for Devices by now realize that completing any of these tasks will lead straight to the end of mercury in dentistry.

Thus, an order to classify is not enough. The legal prerequisites (environmental impact statement and Panel referral) mean the process will take months; the record of bad faith suggests it will take years. Amalgam is illegally in commerce. It must be removed from commerce forthwith, temporarily, until FDA chooses to complete its regulatory duties.

What was the FDA's response to this legal action?
Not much.

Charlie Brown, two-time elected Attorney General for the State of West Virginia, and now attorney for the Plaintiffs, says of the case
Our case, filed April 27, 2006, by 9 petitioners (names below)* charges FDA with illegally allowing the sale of mercury fillings. For thirty years, FDA has defiantly refused to classify amalgam -- even though this step is required as the legal prerequisite to sale of any implants. Even the repudiation of its pseudo-science by two FDA Scientific Panels on September 7, 2006 has not deterred FDA, who is making false and deceptive claims to mask the vote of these Panels.

Faced with standing before a federal court, FDA now departs from its role as chief cheerleader for mercury fillings. In its brief, FDA admits, five times, that it does not know if mercury amalgam is safe or unsafe!

The nine petitioners who sued FDA: Four organizations: Moms Against Mercury (Amy Carson, Angela Medlin), Connecticut Coalition for Environmental Justice (Mark Mitchell, M.D.), Oregonians for Life (Mary Starrett), and California Citizens for Health Freedom (Frank Cuny); two state officials: California Dental Board Public Member Kevin J.Biggers, and Arizona State Senator Karen Johnson; three individuals: Dr. Andy Landerman, Linda Brocato, and Anita Vazquez Tibau.

This is a breakthrough not thought possible a year ago. To repeat, FDA now admits that the evidence is “changing,” thus the safety of mercury fillings is not “definitive” and is “the subject of intense disagreement.” Quotations from FDA’s brief, containing those admissions, are below.**

FDA’s admissions in its brief to the US Court of Appeals: “there is a lack of conclusive evidence regarding the health effects of mercury fillings”; “constantly changing scientific evidence” exists on mercury amalgam; “complex issues and intense disagreement [exist] about the scientific evidence regarding mercury and its potential health effects”; “the complexity of the issue and the lack of conclusive scientific evidence on the health effects of dental amalgams”; “the lack of … definitive scientific evidence.”

Let's see what happens next.

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Subject: Since 1995, nicotine increased by 11% in cigarettes
Date: 02-01-07
Source: Tobacco Control Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health

Since 1995, nicotine increased by 11% in cigarettes
Manufacturers also modified several design features to increase the number of puffs per cigarette.
February 2007

An analysis of nicotine yield from major brand-name cigarettes sold in Massachusetts between 1997 and 2005 has confirmed that manufacturers have steadily increased the levels of this agent in cigarettes.

The analysis, based on data submitted to the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by the manufacturers, found that increases in smoke nicotine yield per cigarette average 1.6% each year, or about 11% through a seven-year period.

A research team from the Tobacco Control Research Program at the Harvard School of Public Health performed the data analysis.

“Cigarettes are finely-tuned drug delivery devices, designed to perpetuate a tobacco pandemic,” Howard Koh, MD, associate dean for public health practice at the Harvard School of Public Health said in a press release. “Yet precise information about these products remains shrouded in secrecy, hidden from the public. Policy actions today requiring the tobacco industry to disclose critical information about nicotine and product design could protect the next generation from the tragedy of addiction.”

In addition to the increase in yield, the researchers concluded that manufacturers accomplished the increase not only by intensifying the concentration of nicotine in the tobacco but also by modifying several design features of cigarettes to increase the number of puffs per cigarette. The end result is a product that is potentially more addictive.

The researchers also examined all market categories and found that smoke nicotine yields were increased in the cigarettes of each of the four major manufacturers and across all the major cigarette market categories.

Increased regulation

Gregory Connolly, MD, professor of the practice of public health at the Harvard School of Public Health said the discovery of an 11% increase in nicotine content confirms recent statements by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia that manufacturers have the ability to manipulate addictive additives, and, he said, “it underscores the need for continued surveillance of nicotine delivery in products created by an unregulated industry.

“Our findings call into serious question whether the tobacco industry has changed at all in its pursuit of addicting smokers since signing the Master Settlement Agreement of 1998 with the State Attorneys General,” Connolly said in a written statement.

Connolly said scrutiny by the attorneys general is imperative. Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts introduced legislation that would bring the tobacco industry under the rules that regulate other manufacturers of drugs.

Beginning in 1997, Massachusetts’s regulations have required that an annual report be filed with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health by all manufacturers of cigarettes sold in Massachusetts. The reported data include machine-based measures of nicotine yield as well as measures of cigarette design related to nicotine delivery.

The researchers suggest that the Massachusetts Department of Public Health amend its unique reporting requirements to include more information about cigarette and smokeless tobacco product design features that affect nicotine delivery, as well as testing of a sample of brands for the actual delivery of nicotine to the body.

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Subject: FDA sued over mercury in medicines
Date: 11-21-2006
Authors: Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc.

---

1601 N. Tucson Blvd. Suite 9 Tucson, AZ 85716-3450 Phone: (800) 635-1196 Hotline: (800) 419-4777

Association of American Physicians and Surgeons, Inc. A Voice for Private Physicians Since 1943 Omnia pro aegroto

News of the Day ... In Perspective

11/13/2006
FDA sued over mercury in medicines
On Oct 27, the Coalition for Mercury-free Drugs (CoMeD) filed an amended complaint in U.S. federal court, disputing a Sept 26 FDA response defending the use of mercury in medications.

The lawsuit, originally filed in August 2006, asks the court to force the FDA to comply with existing law and regulations and provide proof of the safety and efficacy of mercury in drugs.
The suit was filed because the FDA failed to answer issues raised in a citizen petition filed on Aug 4, 2004, by CoMeD representatives.

Mercury is found in at least 45 different prescribed or over-the-counter drugs, including eye ointments, nasal sprays, and vaccines, most importantly, flu vaccines administered to children and pregnant women.

READ ENTIRE STORY: http://www.aapsonline.org/nod/newsofday357.php

AAPS MEMBERSHIP/SUBSCRIPTION INFORMATION

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Subject: New Drug Poised to Radically Change Treatment of Severe Anemias
Date: 05-01-06
Source: American Society of Hematology

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- April 21, 2006 -- Those with severe chronic anemias need frequent blood transfusions to remain healthy, but such frequent transfusions can cause a potentially deadly buildup of iron in the body, leading to heart and liver failure. The traditional treatment to remove excess iron is so onerous that many patients choose to forgo it, putting their own lives at risk.

The results of an international study on deferasirox, a new drug that may revolutionize the way chronic iron overload is treated, will be published in the May 1, 2006, issue of Blood, the official journal of the American Society of Hematology.

The current standard therapy to rid the body of excess iron is deferoxamine, administered for as long as the patient continues to receive blood transfusions, which, for many patients, can be for the rest of their lives. Although its effectiveness and safety are well-established, the necessity for the drug to be delivered by slow subcutaneous or intravenous infusion for eight to 12 hours a night over a period of five to seven days makes it an inconvenient and painful choice for patients. Unlike deferoxamine, deferasirox is available in a once-daily, drinkable format, providing a promising alternative.

"The ease and convenience of deferasirox means that more patients needing frequent blood transfusions, especially young children, will be able to be successfully treated and lead normal, healthy lives," said Maria Domenica Cappellini, MD, of the University of Milan, Italy, and lead study author.

To compare the efficacy and safety of the two drugs, a multicenter trial of both children (some as young as two years old) and adults diagnosed with chronic iron overload was conducted in a dozen countries worldwide. People with beta-thalassemia, an inherited blood disorder, were selected for this study because complications of chronic iron overload have been best studied in those with this disease. All participants continued receiving regular blood transfusions to treat beta-thalassemia throughout the year-long study.

Participants were randomized into two groups: 290 received deferoxamine infusions five days a week; 296 drank deferasirox dissolved in water each day before breakfast. Drug dosages were determined by each patient's liver iron concentration (LIC) level; those with higher levels received increased doses. Since LIC values above 7 mg Fe/g dw are associated with increased morbidity and mortality, the primary goal of the trial was to reduce LIC levels in those with high values and maintain LIC levels in those with low values. At the beginning of the study, more than two-thirds of the participants had at-risk LIC levels.

Deferasirox proved to be equally as effective as deferoxamine in patients receiving the highest doses of the drug. A majority of these patients (nearly 60 percent), demonstrated sustained or reduced LIC levels during the study. For those receiving the lowest drug doses, the amount of deferasirox was found to be insufficient in these regularly transfused thalassemia patients.

Deferasirox was generally well tolerated. The most common side effects were skin rash (affecting approximately 11 percent of patients) and gastrointestinal problems, which occurred in 15 percent of the group and included abdominal pain, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation. Most patients (92 percent) were able to complete the study, though a small number in each treatment arm discontinued because of safety reasons. Four deaths, determined to be unrelated to the study drugs, also occurred during the trial.

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Subject: Uranium Effect On DNA Established
Date: 04-09-06
Source: Northern Arizona University

This is why doctors are going to be facing markedly increased numbers of patients both young and old, who will simultaneously develop multiple cancers. Depleted uranium (DU) fall-out has covered the whole northern hemisphere.
Mike Godfrey, MD
7 April 2006

Uranium Effect On DNA Established

The use of depleted uranium in munitions and weaponry is likely to come under intense scrutiny now that new research that found that uranium can bind to human DNA. The finding will likely have far-reaching implications for returned soldiers, civilians living in what were once war-zones and people who might live near uranium mines or processing facilities.

Uranium - when manifested as a radioactive metal - has profound and debilitating effects on human DNA. These radioactive effects have been well understood for decades, but there has been considerable debate and little agreement concerning the possible health risks associated with low-grade uranium ore (yellowcake) and depleted uranium.

Now however, Northern Arizona University biochemist Diane Stearns has established that when cells are exposed to uranium, the uranium binds to DNA and the cells acquire mutations, triggering a whole slew of protein replication errors, some of which can lead to various cancers. Stearns' research, published in the journals Mutagenesis and Molecular Carcinogenesis, confirms what many have suspected for some time - that uranium can damage DNA as a heavy metal, independently of its radioactive properties. "Essentially, if you get a heavy metal stuck on DNA, you can get a mutation," Stearns explained. While other heavy metals are known to bind to DNA, Stearns and her team were the first to identify this characteristic with uranium.

Depleted uranium - what is left over when the highly radioactive isotopes of uranium are removed - is widely used by the military. Anti-tank weapons, tank armor and ammunition rounds are just some of the applications. "The health effects of uranium really haven't been studied since the Manhattan Project (the development of the atomic bomb in the early 1940s). But now there is more interest in the health effects of depleted uranium. People are asking questions now," Stearns said. Her research may shed light on the possible connection between exposure to depleted uranium and Gulf War Syndrome, or to increased cancers and birth defects in the Middle East and Balkans. And closer to home, questions continue to be asked about environmental exposure to uranium from mine tailings; heavily concentrated around Native American communities. "When the uranium mining boom crashed in the '80s, there wasn't much cleanup," Stearns said. Estimates put the number of abandoned mines on the Navajo Nation in Arizona at more than 1,100.

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Subject: Protective Effect Of EDTA Preadministration On Renal Ischemia
Date: 03-25-06
Authors: Chiara Foglieni, Alessandro Fulgenzi, Paolo Ticozzi, Fabio Pellegatta, Clara Sciorati, Daniela Belloni, Elisabetta Ferrero and Maria Elena Ferrero

BMC Nephrology 2006, 7:5 doi:10.1186/1471-2369-7-5

Published: 15 March 2006

Abstract (provisional)

Background

Chelation therapy with sodium edetate (EDTA) improved renal function and slowed the progression of renal insufficiency in patients subjected to lead intoxication. This study was performed to identify the mechanism underlying the ability of EDTA treatment to protect kidneys from damage.

Methods

The effects of EDTA administration were studied in a rat model of acute renal failure induced by 60 minutes ischemia followed or not by 60 minutes reperfusion. Renal ischemic damage was evaluated by histological studies and by functional studies, namely serum creatinine and blood urea nitrogen levels. Treatment with EDTA was performed 30 minutes before the induction of ischemia. Polymorphonuclear cell (PMN) adhesion capability, plasmatic nitric oxide (NO) levels and endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) renal expression were studied as well as the EDTA protection from the TNFa-induced vascular leakage in the kidneys. Data were compared by two-way analysis of variance followed by a post hoc test.

Results

EDTA administration resulted in the preservation of both functional and histological parameters of rat kidneys. PMN obtained from peripheral blood of EDTA-treated ischemized rats displayed a significant reduction in the expression of the adhesion molecule Mac-1 with respect to controls. NO was significantly increased by EDTA administration and eNOS expression was higher and more diffuse in kidneys of rats treated with EDTA than in controls. Finally, EDTA administration was able to prevent in vivo the TNFa-induced vascular leakage in the kidneys.

Conclusion

These data provide evidence that EDTA treatment is able to protect rat kidneys from ischemic damage possibly through a stimulation of NO production.

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Subject: Wrong Form of EDTA for Chelation Therapy Is Fatal
Date: 03-08-06
Author: Found in Medscape

Two young children died of cardiac arrest after receiving treatment with edetate disodium (Na2EDTA) as a chelating agent to lower blood lead levels,...

Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report /MMWR 2006;55:204-207. http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/524667_print

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) Mar 02 - In 2005, two young children died of cardiac arrest after receiving treatment with edetate disodium (Na2EDTA) as a chelating agent to lower blood lead levels, according to an article in the March 3rd issue of the Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The US Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention do not recommend Na2EDTA as a chelating agent in children because it induces hypocalcemia and possibly fatal tetany, note Dr. R. A. Beauchamp, from the Texas Department of State Health Services, and colleagues.

They report that a 2-year-old girl in Texas with a venous blood lead level of 48 g/dL was admitted to a medical center for combined oral and IV chelation therapy, at which time her blood electrolyte levels were within normal limits. She received her first dose of IV edetate calcium disodium (CaEDTA), followed by oral succimer. At 4:00 the next morning, she was mistakenly given a dose of IV Na2EDTA.

An hour later her serum calcium level was 5.2 mg/dL, below the normal value of 8.5 to 10.5 mg/dL. At 7:05, she was limp and not breathing. Despite repeated doses of calcium chloride, she died at 8:12. Cause of death was recorded as sudden cardiac arrest resulting from hypocalcemia.

The second patient, a 5-year-old autistic boy in Pennsylvania, was treated with Na2EDTA in a physician's office. He lost consciousness and died of acute cerebral hypoxic-ischemic injury, secondary to diffuse subendocardial necrosis caused by Na2EDTA.

Dr. Beauchamp's group also report the case of a 53-year-old woman who was treated in 2003 in Oregon with IV EDTA in a naturopathic practitioner's clinic to remove heavy metals from her body. Within 15 minutes she lost consciousness, and later died of cardiac arrhythmia resulting from hypocalcemia associated with EDTA infusion and vascuolar cardiomyopathy. The Oregon State Naturopath Licensing Board is investigating to see which form of EDTA was used in her treatment.

The authors advise physicians to consult an expert in the chemotherapy of lead poisoning before administering chelation therapy. They also suggest that hospital pharmacies should discontinue stocking Na2EDTA because less toxic alternatives are available.

They conclude: "Case reports of cardiac arrest or symptoms of hypocalcemia during chelation therapy should be reported to the CDC Lead Poisoning Prevention branch (770-488-3300) or to MedWatch, the FDA adverse event reporting system at http://www.fda.gov/medwatch.

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Subject: Scientists put the blame on birds for toxins in Arctic animals
Date: 07-30-05
Author: Elizabeth Weise

Scientists put the blame on birds for toxins in Arctic animals

By Elizabeth Weise
USA TODAY

For decades, scientists have struggled to explain how high levels of toxins such as mercury, DDT and other now-banned pesticides were ending up in the bodies of polar bears and other animals in the seemingly pristine Arctic north, thousands of miles away from pollution sources.

Now researchers at the University of Ottawa in Canada may have discovered part of the secret: bird droppings.

Contaminant levels in lakes near colonies of the northern fulmar, a medium-sized gull-like bird found across the North Atlantic, were 70 times higher than in lakes with no bird colonies.

Fulmars travel hundreds of miles to hunt fish in the open sea, then fly back to their nests where they live, breed and defecate.

Huge quantities of guano, as the dried excrement is called, build up along the shores of the lakes and bays near the nesting sites and leach into the water.

Guano turns out to be an excellent concentration system for the contaminants that exist in low levels in oceans worldwide.

The contaminants first are taken up by algae, which can concentrate them î™—p to several million fold,?says Jules Blais, lead author of the paper and a professor of environmental toxicology at the University of Ottawa.

The algae is eaten by plankton, which in turn is eaten by small fish, which are eaten by larger fish, which finally are eaten by fulmars.

The toxins are mostly stored in fat, which northern animals carry in abundance, says David Schindler, a professor of ecology at the University of Alberta. At each step, the contamination tends to increase by a factor of 10 to 100,he says.

The water contaminates fish, which then are eaten by seals, beluga whales, polar bears and humans. By the time these things get to the top carnivores, Blais says, they're hundreds of millions of times more concentrated than they are in the water.

Previously scientists had thought chemicals emitted into the air and oceans from industrialized countries were transported by air and ocean currents toward cold areas like the Arctic. But the high concentrations in the Arctic didn't quite make sense. Blais' previous work looking at salmon as a kind of biological pump bringing toxins into pristine inland streams caused him to look at bird droppings.

No one had suspected bird dropping as a mode of transport, says Schindler, who studied atmospheric transport. I don't think any of us had really thought through the bird angle, he says. But going up and seeing those huge concentrations of guano hanging over these small ponds make the lights go on for those researchers.

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Subject: UK Chemist Tilts at Autism's Origins
Date: 07-25-05
Author: Boyd Haley

Posted on Sun, Jul. 24, 2005

Related Content

Stephanie Saraceno
Boyd Haley, a University of Kentucky chemist, addressed the crowd Wednesday at a rally on the steps of the Capitol in Washington, D.C. Haley has sought to ban thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that was in most children's vaccinations from the mid-1980s until about four years ago. He said he believes the preservative severely affected the brains of some children, causing them to become autistic.

More photos


Related Links:

• Autism spurs debate over its cause and incidence


• Autism leaves parents feeling 'helpless'


• A closer look at Kentucky's immunizations

UK Chemist Tilts at Autism's Origins

CHALLENGING THE SCIENTIFIC WISDOM, BOYD HALEY TAKES AIM AT MERCURY

By Andy Mead and Jim Warren
HERALD-LEADER STAFF WRITERS

Some of the protesters making their way through the midsummer heat of Washington last week were parents holding photos of their autistic children. Others carried signs with slogans such as "Autism sucks! Say no to mercury."

A child's sign said "I wish my brother could talk to me." And above a large poster of a sleeping newborn were the words, "Mercury doesn't belong here."

When the 500 marchers from across the country reached the front of the Capitol on Wednesday, they heard from several members of Congress, a 5-year-old child, and Boyd Haley, a 5-foot-6 University of Kentucky chemist who says he is "mad as hell" at the country's medical establishment.

Haley, until recently chairman of UK's chemistry department, is a leader in a nationwide effort to tie the vaccinations that were required for millions of American children to a rapid increase in the number of youngsters being diagnosed with autism. The devastating developmental disorder severely affects verbal communication and social interaction, and is thought to strike at least 25,000 children each year.

It's an emotional and intellectual controversy that pits Haley and his allies against most of the mainstream scientific community. The battle rages on the Internet, in Congress and in some state houses, and has become so volatile that some of the scientists involved say they've received death threats. Research into autism continues, but for now no one knows whether Haley ultimately will be judged as a shaman or a savior.

Haley, 64, seems to relish the fight.

Standing in front of half a dozen microphones in Washington, Haley expounded on his often repeated thesis: A mercury-based preservative called thimerosal that was in most children's vaccinations from the mid-1980s until about four years ago severely affected the brains of some children, causing them to become autistic. Haley isn't the only scientist pushing the theory, but he is one of the most vocal.

The federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the U.S. Institute of Medicine, among other science and medical groups, have found Haley's evidence wanting. But many parents passionately believe him. The Web site of Moms on a Mission for Autism lists Haley under "Heroes."

Haley says he has no doubt that he is right, and that the CDC, the Institute of Medicine and anyone else who disagrees with him are wrong.

"These people were not concerned that they were injuring children," he said in an interview in his Lexington laboratory the day before the Washington rally. "They were more concerned that it was going to hurt the reputation of the vaccine program or, probably more directly, their own individual reputations."

Undermining faith

This summer, he and his cause are getting plenty of national attention.

An article by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in the June 30-July 14 issue of Rolling Stone hailed Haley as "one of the world's authorities on mercury toxicity" and charged that the CDC and others have conspired to hide the thimerosal-autism link - an idea that Haley buys into.

A new book on the controversy, Evidence of Harm, mentions Haley at least 18 times, noting his research and propensity for "colorful southern sound bites."

And a front-page article about the controversy in the June 25 New York Times didn't mention Haley by name, but suggested that the UK chemist's research is suspect by lumping him with another mercury foe, one "who said that God spoke to her through an 87-year-old priest and told her that vaccines caused autism."

Haley believes his side is winning the fight.

In 1999, the American Academy of Pediatrics and the U.S. Public Health Service urged vaccine makers to stop putting thimerosal in their products as a precaution, and by 2001 only a tiny amount remained in most vaccines given to young children. Missouri, California and Iowa have banned thimerosal, and similar laws are pending in more than a dozen states.

(The Kentucky General Assembly this year passed legislation creating a state commission on autistic spectrum disorders charged with developing a comprehensive plan for helping victims of the disease.)

Meanwhile, some medical experts worry that the continuing vaccine-autism debate could undermine public faith in child immunizations, which they say have conquered many childhood illnesses and are one of the foundations of modern public health.

Last Tuesday, the day before the Power of Truth Rally in Washington, federal health authorities hastily organized a national press briefing on autism, apparently intended to counter any public fears. Representatives from the CDC, the National Institutes of Health, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and the American Academy of Pediatrics all declared that childhood vaccinations are safe.

"What we know today is based on many studies ... in many nations around the world, including the United States," said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the CDC. "The preponderance of evidence does not reveal an association between thimerosal and autism ... but I can't sit here and tell you with 100 percent certainty there is never going to be an association ... It will be very difficult for science ever to prove a negative."

Proving a negative

Mercury, the material contained in thermometers, is the only metal in nature that is liquid at normal temperatures. It has long been used in many applications, including pharmaceuticals. But the silver-white metal also is toxic to humans, a fact that no one disputes. And Boyd Haley has devoted much of his professional career to exploring and describing the toxicity of mercury.

He believes that ethyl mercury, the form of the element that was used in thimerosal, adversely affected brain functions in children who, for some reason, were unable to expel the mercury from their systems. The result, he says, is autism.

Dr. Richard Deth, a researcher at Northeastern University in Boston who agrees with Haley, says the UK chemist's work on mercury toxicity is a cornerstone of the argument that vaccines might cause autism.

"He's a very important part of this debate," Deth said. "Boyd is very vocal, and he doesn't shy away from an issue, especially an issue like this that involves national health and child welfare."

A string of trout

Haley was born in southern Indiana and served as an Army medic during the mid-1960s.

"I'm a patriot," he said. "But the thing I find very discouraging about our government is that we're more interested in protecting the income of professions and the pharmaceutical industry than in protecting the American people."

After the Army, Haley enrolled in the University of Idaho. He told an interviewer in 2003 that he chose the school because the cover of the brochure "featured a beautiful woman holding a string of trout in front of this canoe by a lake with a gorgeous mountain behind it."

He later received a doctorate in chemistry from Washington State University, and did postdoctoral work at Yale University.

He taught for a decade at the University of Wyoming, and came to UK in 1985.

Haley is no stranger to controversy, or to disagreeing with his colleagues.

In the 1990s, he was one of a number of scientists who produced research suggesting that mercury given off by amalgam dental fillings could be a cause of Alzheimer's disease. Haley stuck to that theory, even as UK's Sanders-Brown Center of Aging was producing a study in 1999 that concluded there was no connection between dental fillings and Alzheimer's.

Dr. William Markesbery, director of the Sanders-Brown Center and an internationally recognized Alzheimer's expert, says that some of UK's early studies did show elevated mercury levels in the brains of some Alzheimer's victims. But when UK conducted the larger 1999 study comparing mercury levels in victims' brains with the number of dental fillings they had no correlation was found, he said.

"Boyd feels differently," Markesbery said. "I wouldn't necessarily put him in the minority, but I think most people in the field now don't believe mercury is causative.

"Boyd is a good scientist and a friend. Just because we had a little different data, we never really had any major conflicts over it."

But Haley said last week that the real story behind the Markesbery study, which he called "a crap paper," was an attempt by the American Dental Association to neutralize earlier Markesbery studies suggesting a mercury-Alzheimer's link.

"They had to get rid of his research because it was too much to the point," Haley said.

Markesbery replied that the study was done under the highest scientific standards, and that, although it was published in the Journal of the American Dental Association, the results were no in way influenced by the dental group.

"The ADA had nothing to do with it," he said.

Del Collins, UK's associate vice president for research, also insisted that no one swayed Markesbery's research.

"Boyd proselytizes mercury as the cause of many bad diseases," Collins said. "The problem with mercury as a cause of autism is that there has not been any study to my knowledge that shows there is a significant difference in the amount of mercury in autistic children versus normal children."

Haley's work with mercury and autism grew out of his suspicion that the many vaccinations a soldier receives before going overseas could be linked to Gulf War syndrome.

Soon, groups of parents with autistic children found him.

Mercury in hair

Lyn Redwood of Atlanta, who is president of a group called SafeMinds and the mother of Will, an 11-year-old autistic child, said Haley has conducted tests for her group, traveled to speaking engagements and helped with testimony before Congress; all without pay.

"He understands the toxicology of mercury, he understands the levels of exposure that our infants received," Redwood said. "That's why Dr. Haley is such a wonderful advocate for us. He reads the science and understands it."

Haley has twice testified before the Institute of Medicine, an arm of the National Academy of Sciences, which formed a committee of experts in 2001 to review the alleged thimerosal-autism link. The panel has issued two reports, in 2001 and in 2004, discounting a link.

Testifying before the committee last year, Haley presented a study, based on an analysis of hair clippings from the first haircuts that young children received, that he said demonstrated that autistic children can't get rid of mercury in their bodies. He also testified about research into the numbers of dental fillings in the mouths of women who gave birth to autistic children.

Dr. Marie McCormick, a professor of maternal and child health in the Harvard School of Public Health, chaired the IOM committee on autism. She said in an interview that there were problems with the control groups and research methods in Haley's studies.

"In general, we did not find his work to be persuasive," she said.

Asked about McCormick last week, Haley said this: "I think there's a special place in hell for her."

He also poked fun at the studies that the IOM committee cited which showed no thimero-sal-autism link, including one that showed that autism rates in Denmark rose, rather than fell, when mercury was removed from the country's only vaccine that contained mercury.

Haley said the study has several statistical problems, and was conducted in the wrong place, because the autism rate in Denmark is very low.

"It's like doing a study on the effect of mosquitoes on the spread of malaria and doing it in Minnesota instead of Panama," he said. "It's flagrant cheating."

'Mad child disease'

Not all parents of autistic children agree with Haley, and hundreds signed a petition against him when it was reported that, in a speech last year at a meeting of Doctors for Disaster Preparedness, he referred to autism as "mad child disease."

Haley's explanation: The speaker before him, a veterinarian, had gotten everyone's attention with a report on the one cow that had been diagnosed with mad cow disease. Haley said he wondered how much attention would be paid, and money spent on research for, a condition called "Mercury Afflicted Disease of children."

Melanie Tyner-Wilson of Lexington, the immediate past president of the Autism Society of the Bluegrass, said her group heard from Haley a few years ago, then heard from pediatricians who talked about the importance of vaccinating children.

Tyner-Wilson, who has a 12-year-old son with autism, has followed the national mercury-autism fight closely, but doesn't know who is right.

"It's been this kind of interesting dance," she said. "What's sad is that one group is trying the make the other group look like lunatics. My hope is there will be more research."

An elusive disorder Scientists have to determine what causes autism.

Preventive medicine The immunizations that Kentucky toddlers receive.

---

Herald-Leader researcher Linda Niemi contributed to this story. Reach Andy Mead at (859) 231-3319 or 1-800-950-6397, Ext. 3319, or amead@herald-leader.com. Reach Jim Warren at (859) 231-3255 or jwarren@herald-leader.com

Bob
Robert E. Reeves
167 West Main St., Suite 1310
Lexington, KY 40507
859-226-0700 Fax-0711
H-859-268-3056

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Subject: Return to an Uncertain Future - Toxic Dust
Date: 07-24-05
Authors: Dr. Robert Anderson

Return to an Uncertain Future - Toxic Dust

It is unconscionable that soldiers and their wives are not informed of the grave dangers of working in areas where radioactive depleted uranium (DU) weapons have been deployed. The fact that the military and governments have blocked accountability at international and national levels is a disgrace. Large areas of our world, and atmosphere, are contaminated with depleted uranium dust.[i]

I am appalled when I hear that New Zealand troops are being sent to Iraq or other countries to help restore normality following Blair and Bush’s illegal, unprovoked and blood-soaked war in the Middle East. Have this country’s servicemen been fully warned of the dangers they may face from the radioactive uranium waste left behind from these hostilities. Have their wives?

The evidence is growing of genetic damage to the children and spouses of soldiers who have served in war zones since Desert Storm. Yet the Pentagon and UK governments continue, as with Agent-Orange and other military blunders, to deny that depleted uranium (DU) weaponry is highly dangerous, not only to an opposing force, but to their own troops.

In Desert Storm, 375 metric tons of DU where deployed. A further 2,200 tons were used in Iraq in 2004. According to a peer-reviewed study published in the Lancet, more than 100,000 Iraqi men, woman and children have been killed by the Anglo-American coalition, many by depleted uranium bombs and ammunition. NATO forces went into Yugoslavia in 1998 and bombed that country into radioactive rubble. Peace keeping soldiers returning from these areas, died within weeks or months of getting home to Italy and Portugal.

There is no armour that can withstand DU shells and bombs. It is pyrophoric. In other words, it burns on, penetrating a target at 3000 to 5000 degrees Celsius. At this temperature, it melts to form super fine ceramic dust particles.[ii] This toxic material does not go away. Its activity is essentially permanent. It has a half-life of 4.5 billion years - approximately the life-time of our solar system. In Iraq alone, radiation levels in some areas are 1000 times the normal background level.

The heat of the explosion carries toxic material high into the atmosphere where it can be distributed around the globe.[iii] At ground level, the dust is breathed in by children playing and troops in these areas. One of these dust particles in the lungs will radiate 800 times the accepted annual level of radiation.[iv]

The inevitable result of this contamination is massive increases in leukaemia and cancers. In Basrah, the children’s hospital is overflowing with leukaemia cases and children born deformed. The incidence of malignant disease increased by 300% between 1990 and 1999.[v] The proportion of children under five with leukaemia between 1990 and 2000 grew by over 400 percent.[vi]

During the original atom bomb tests, thousands of soldiers were used as guinea pigs to test the nuclear radiation without the slightest conscience. It seems things have not changed. Troops returning from war zones, US and others, are very seriously ill. They suffer from all manner of maladies, from constant headaches to urinating blood to major cancers. Of Desert Storm veterans, 10,324 have subsequently died and 221,502 were on disability by 2002. The excuse given by the military that this is “low level radiation” doesn’t wash. Radioactive (alpha) particles continue to irradiate human cells and damage organs for years following exposure. They seriously damage sperm cells resulting in malformed children. But, worse still, this genetic damage is handed down to subsequent generations. Is this what New Zealand veterans and their wives face? I think someone should be giving our government some serious "independent" advice.

Dr. Robert Anderson
Union of Concerned Scientists
www.ucsusa.org
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
[i] Geoscientist Dr Leuren Moret., Depleted Uranium "A scientific perspective.
[ii] Dr Rosalie Bertell Environmental epidemiologist.
[iii] Ibid (i).
[iv] Toxic Dust www.iacenter.org
[v] Cancer reporting centre, maternity and child hospital Basrah
[vi] Ibid

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Subject: Unborn babies soaked in chemicals
Date: 07-14-05
Authors: Reuters Limited

Unborn babies soaked in chemicals, study finds
Average of 287 contaminants found in cord blood of U.S. infants
Updated: 4:49 p.m. ET July 14, 2005

WASHINGTON - Unborn U.S. babies are soaking in a stew of chemicals, including mercury, gasoline byproducts and pesticides, according to a report released Thursday.

Although the effects on the babies are not clear, the survey prompted several members of Congress to press for legislation that would strengthen controls on chemicals in the environment.

The report by the Environmental Working Group is based on tests of 10 samples of umbilical-cord blood taken by the American Red Cross. They found an average of 287 contaminants in the blood, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides and the Teflon chemical PFOA.

"These 10 newborn babies ... were born polluted," said New York Rep. Louise Slaughter, who spoke a news conference about the findings Thursday.

"If ever we had proof that our nation's pollution laws aren't working, it's reading the list of industrial chemicals in the bodies of babies who have not yet lived outside the womb," Slaughter, a Democrat, said.

Cord blood reflects what the mother passes to the baby through the placenta.

"Of the 287 chemicals we detected in umbilical-cord blood, we know that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals, 217 are toxic to the brain and nervous system, and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests," the report said.

Blood tests did not show how the chemicals got into the mothers' bodies, or what their effects might be on the babies.

Mercury and pesticides

Among the chemicals found in the cord blood were methylmercury, produced by coal-fired power plants and certain industrial processes. People can breathe it in or eat it in seafood and it causes brain and nerve damage.

Also found were polyaromatic hydrocarbons, or PAHs, which are produced by burning gasoline and garbage and which may cause cancer; flame-retardant chemicals called polybrominated dibenzodioxins and furans; and pesticides including DDT and chlordane.

The same group analyzed the breast milk of mothers across the United States in 2003 and found varying levels of chemicals, including flame retardants known as PBDEs. This latest analysis also found PBDEs in cord blood.

Slaughter had similar tests done on her own blood.

"The stunning results show chemicals daily pumping through my vital organs that include PCBs that were banned decades ago as well as chemicals like Teflon that are currently under federal investigation," she said in remarks prepared for the news conference.

"I have auto exhaust fumes, flame retardant chemicals, and in all, some 271 harmful substances pulsing through my veins. That's hardly the picture of health I had hoped for, but I've been living in an industrial society for over 70 years."

The Government Accountability Office issued a report Wednesday saying the Environmental Protection Agency does not have the powers it needs to fully regulate toxic chemicals.

The GAO, the investigative arm of Congress, found that the EPA's Toxic Substances Control Act gives only "limited assurance" that new chemicals entering the market are safe and said the EPA only rarely assesses chemicals already on the market.

"Today, chemicals are being used to make baby bottles, food packaging and other products that have never been fully evaluated for their health effects on children - and some of these chemicals are turning up in our blood," said New Jersey Democrat Sen. Frank Lautenberg, who plans to co-sponsor a bill to require chemical manufacturers to provide data to the EPA on the health affects of their products.

Copyright 2005 Reuters Limited. All rights reserved. Republication or redistribution of Reuters content is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Reuters.

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Subject: Mercury and Human Health: A Case Study in Science and Politics
Date: 06-26-05
Author: Jane Hightower, MD

In the year 2000, my dermatology colleague, Kathy Fields, MD, tuned in to a public radio program to hear people complaining of symptoms like hair loss after eating fish out of a mercury-polluted lake. To a dermatologist the thought of having an etiology for hair loss was intriguing, so when the next patient came to her for hair loss, she checked on the patient's mercury level. It just happened to be my patient, and her level was four times what the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considered healthy. Neither Dr. Fields nor I knew how to interpret the number, and I quickly found out no one else I called on did either. So my quest began.

For one year I surveyed my practice population, publishing my results in Environmental Health Perspectives.(1) Results showed startling elevations in mercury levels in high-end consumers of commercial fish. When they stopped eating the fish, their mercury levels dropped. None of my patients had consumed fish from the San Francisco Bay. Websites immediately emerged from the government, nongovernment organizations, industry (to include the tuna foundation), and the media when my results were published. I discovered that the arguments about mercury have been ongoing for over 30 years, perhaps even centuries.

Mercury and Health in History

The first known use of mercury was by Egyptians between 2000 and 1500 BC, as it was discovered in early tombs.(2) Galen, born 129 AD, regarded mercury as a "cold poison."(3) Even now, we wonder just how much of a poison it is.

The practice of alchemy began by Jabu (702-765 AD), who believed that the seven planets corresponded to the seven known days of the week and to the seven known metals. Alchemists believed in the transmutation of metals and the notion of an "elixir of life," which would cure all diseases and confer immortal youth. This was the starting point of chemical therapeutics. Even in the 16th century, Paracelsus believed all things were made of mercury, sulfur and salt.(3)

The first written document that recommended mercury as a treatment was in the Circa-instans of Matthaeus Platearius, 1140 AD.3 By 1495, when the first documented syphilis epidemic arose in Europe,(2) mercury quickly became the drug of choice for its treatment in a variety of different formulations. One mercurial medicine in the 18th to 19th century was blue mass, or the "blue pill." The components consisted of mercury, licorice root, honey, sugar, and confection of dead rose petals. It was commonly used for syphilis, hypochondriasis, and for a purgative, and was thought to stimulate the activity of the liver.(4,5) Fracastorius (1478-1553) once wrote of the topical mercurial treatments for syphilis, "Patients, a truce to the disgust which may be caused by this remedy! For [if] it is disgusting, the disease is still more so..."(6) Diethyl mercury injections used for the treatment of syphilis beginning in 1887 were soon abandoned because of the severe central nervous system side effects.(7) British physician Thomas John Graham, writing in the 1920s, declared that "the immoderate use of mercury was itself a cause of hypochondriasis: Calomel and emetics, when frequently repeated and continued, cannot fail to aggravate and confirm the evil they were intended to cure."(4)

Mercurous chloride, also known as sweet sublimate, was once the most commonly prescribed form of mercurial medicine, but by 1863, the U.S. Surgeon General William A. Hammond had removed it from the Union army's pharmacopoeia.(8)

Through the centuries mercury miners, goldsmiths, tinsmiths and mirror makers had symptoms from mercury vapor exposure in their occupations. They developed vertigo, asthma, paralysis, palsy of the neck and hands, loss of teeth, uncertain gait and scelotyrbe. "Very few reached old age," according to Ramazinni,(9) and it was said that even if they did not die young, "their health was so terribly undermined that they prayed for death."

The hat-making industry used mercury nitrate in the processing of fur pelts in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The first clinical description of mercurialism in hatters was published in the transactions of the Medical Society of New Jersey in 1860.(10) The U.S. public health service, with the cooperation of the hatter's union, studied affected workers; 40 percent were women, while 77.5 percent were foreign born. The exposed workers complained of "the shakes," tremor, gastrointestinal disturbances, sore mouth, psychic disturbances such as irritability, timidity, irascibility and difficulty in getting along with people, headaches, drowsiness, insomnia, and weakness.

The physical findings in those classified as having mercurialism included tremor, psychic disturbances, vasomotor disorders as indicated by readiness to blush, excessive perspiration, dermographia, increased tendon reflexes, gingivitis and slight abnormalities in speech. It was also stated that mercury exposure and mercury absorption in toxic amounts over long periods of time were associated with an increase in cardiovascular disturbances of the hypertensive type beyond the normal age trend. (11,12) As one worker recalled years later, "so much steam, you didn't only want to wear a rubber apron in front of you, but also over your head; there wasn't any ceiling; the steam rising to the rafters, condensed and came down like rain."

The report went on to say that "unknown to the workers it was a rain of death from the fumes of nitrate of mercury." Another hatter declared, "If a worker knew he was getting the shakes, he would try to hide it. . . I suspected I had it, too, but I wouldn't go to the doctor. If a worker claimed compensation, he got on the blacklist of the manufacturers-he couldn't get another job unless he'd sign a waiver against future claims." In 1941, mercury was removed from the process of making hats.(13)

Multiple forms of mercury compounds given to infants and children such as laxatives, teething powders, antihelmintics, diaper rash creams and the first organic mercurial antiseptic mercurochrome led to a condition known as acrodynia or pink disease. Although described as early as 1890, the role of mercury was not confirmed until 1948, after many children either died or were injured for life. Of scientific importance was that some children with the same exposure were not noticeably affected, creating the implication that acrodynia was a hypersensitivity reaction.(10,14)

In 1972, methylmercury fungicide was being used on seed grain intended for planting. A supply of it was distributed to the Iraqi people by their government late in the planting season, so they ground the mercury-tainted grain for bread and ate it. This was not the first time this happened to the Iraqi people, as two other outbreaks occurred in 1956 and 1960. Researchers from the University of Rochester and a "scientific committee appointed [by the Iraqi government] to coordinate all studies of the methylmercury epidemic" were assembled. "The data on hospital admissions was supplied by Dr. Sa'adoun al-Tikriti," an Iraqi government official.(15)

The researchers concluded that symptoms that occurred with levels below 100 mcg/l whole blood were most likely from other causes, yet how the data was obtained was not mentioned. Other facts collected: The mercury warnings on the sacks were in Spanish, the Baath party was the ruling government and responsible for distributing the grain; and Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was vice president, head of security services, and was assassinating any opposition to the party. Political pressures that would have inhibited Dr. al-Tikriti from full disclosure, along with Islamic traditions that prohibit women from speaking except through their male relatives, raises questions as to the accurate representation of the symptoms of mercury poisoning in this study. The FDA, though, has long upheld this assessment as a standard of what is a safe level.

The FDA in the 1970s stated that fish should not be sold if the mercury concentration was over 0.5 mcg/g. The fishing industry realized that if it was limited to this amount, sales would greatly decline, especially the sale of swordfish, and wanted the limit set at 2.0 mcg/g. A lawsuit ensued. Without conclusive evidence from either side, a federal judge set the limit at 1.0 mcg/g, though this limit was not enforceable. The EPA, which began studying the mercury issue further, put together the Mercury Study Report to Congress. This report was blocked in the Office of Management and Budget until several nongovernment organizations sued to get it released. The EPA determined a reference dose (RfD) for humans of 0.1 mcg/kg body weight per day, which approximates a blood level between 4 and 5 mcg/l, to protect fetuses, infants, children, sensitive populations and exposure over a lifetime.16 By the time the report was public, some industry groups thought it was outdated and demanded further review. Finally, the National Academy of Sciences (NAS) was asked to review the literature. The NAS concluded the EPA's RfD was justified.(17)

But the discussion was far from over. The University of Rochester, with support from industry including the Electric Power Research Institute (a consortium of power companies that is lobbying to stop regulation of mercury emissions from coal-burning power plants), followed up with more papers that declared mercury caused no harm at lower exposure levels.(18,19)

The EPRI granted $486,000 for the Seychelles project-a mercury-fish consumption project for children that concluded that there is no effect of mercury on children and infants at lower exposure levels.(20) The University of Rochester researchers also produced a study whereby the conclusion was not supported by the data, which declared mercury in thimerosalized vaccines was not enough to cause harm to full-term infants.(21) But, it was learned that Dr Pichichero, the author of the thimerosalized vaccine, had financial ties to numerous vaccine manufacturers including the developer of thimerosal, Eli Lilly.(22)

A study of a Peruvian fish-eating population, released by the University of Rochester researchers in 1995, showed no adverse effects in infants or lower exposures to mercury in fish consumption and was partially funded by National Fisheries Institute and the Tuna Research Foundation.23 Of interest is the University of Rochester web page entitled "Commercial fish: Eat up despite low levels of mercury."(24)

There is tremendous discussion on other aspects of mercury exposure that includes the Minamata disaster of Japan, thimerosal in vaccines, dental amalgam, shipwrecks and health effects in adults and children. Recent papers have shown an association of increased myocardial infarction and death from myocardial infarction with mercury hair levels close to the current RfD set by the EPA.(25,26,27) Mercury was also determined to have the best predictive value for intimal wall thickness and was associated with progression of carotid atherosclerosis.(28)

In California, because of Proposition 65, any time you are exposing someone to a substance known to cause cancer and reproductive harm, you have to post a warning. Methylmercury is such a substance. Negotiations as to how to convey this warning are still under way. Del Monte, which owns Starkist, sent letters to grocery stores in California indemnifying them against any Prop 65 or related suits if they keep mercury warnings off canned tuna. Apparently there are also some individuals who did not know canned tuna was fish, as in "Chicken of the Sea."

So, the dichotomy continues, between the "compromised health" message from the public health sector and the "best health" message from the private sector. When I wrote Resolution 516, on methylmercury in food, I was pleased that the San Francisco Medical Society and the California Medical Association understood the need to educate physicians on this issue and that they passed it. Unfortunately, someone told the American Medical Association that there was a "new directive that mercury causes no harm," and the resolution stopped at the AMA. There the issue sits today. There was no new directive. But as we go to press, I have learned from a colleague that a member of the AMA's Council on Scientific Affairs is a University of Rochester graduate.

I read with interest recently an article on the mercury issue. It even included a picture of someone from the University of Rochester. In the article, the Tuna Research Foundation stated, "When the first [mercury] scare headlines hit, sales in some areas dropped off nearly 40 percent. We've made substantial recoveries, but there are probably some people who will never go back to the product. We feel the government's 0.5 [mcg/g] ppm guideline is unnecessarily strict, but we are acting to ensure that it is met..."

In the same article, a mercury investigator for the FDA agreed that in the United States there had been no proven cases of mercury poisoning from eating fish, but he was quoted as saying, ". . . but please understand that our job is to prevent this. If we waited until there was an epidemic, we would be derelict. And contamination, man-made or natural, is still contamination."

Sadly, the above was quoted in the National Geographic October 1972 edition.(29) Since then, there has been an incredible amount of literature documenting the adverse effects of mercury exposures at the levels we see in the United States, yet the Tuna Foundation thinks that 1.0 ppm is too strict, and the FDA, well, it clearly is not moving fast to clarify this issue.

I leave you with the current state of affairs as I see them. Please refer to my chart on the next page.

References

1. Hightower J, Moore D. Mercury levels in high-end consumers of fish. Environ Health Perspect April 2003; 111(4): 604-8. Downloaded February 2004 from http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/members/2003/5837/5837.pdf


2. Grun B. The Timetables of History. Rockefeller Center New York: (need city and state): Simon and Schuster; 1982:5.


3. Garrison FH. An Introduction to the History of Medicine. Philadelphia and London: WB Saunders and Company; 1929: 136, 191, 219, 241, 285.


4. Hirschhorn N, Feldman RG, Greaves IA. Abraham Lincoln's little blue pills. Perspectives in Biology and Medicine 2001;44(3):315-332.


5. JL Corish, ed. Health Knowledge. Medical Book Distributors, Inc. New York; 1927: 1149


6. Clendening L. Sourcebook of Medical History. New York: Dover Publications; 1942:119.


7. Campbell D, Gonzales M, Sullivan JB Jr. Mercury in: hazardous materials toxicology, Clinical Principles of Environmental Health, JB Sullivan Jr, GR Kreiger, eds. Baltimore, Maryland: Williams and Wilkins; 1992:824-833.


8. Brieger GH. Therapeutic conflicts and the American Medical Profession in the 1860s. Bull Hist Med 1967;41:215-22.


9. Ramazinni B. Diseases of Workers, the Classics of Medicine Library. Publisher Leslie B Adams Jr., Division of Gryphon Editions, Ltd. University of Chicago Press, Chicago; 1983:21, 33, 53, 65.


10. O'Carroll RE, Masterton G, Dougall N, Ebmeier KP, Goodwin GM. The neuropsychiatric sequelae of mercury poisoning: The Mad Hatter's disease revisited. British Journal of Psychiatry 1995;167:95-98.


11. Neal PA, Jones RR, Bloomfield JJ, DallaValle JM, Edwards TI. A study of chronic mercurialism in the hatters' fur-cutting industry. US Treasury Department Public Health Service. Public Health Bulletin No.

234. 1937.
12. Neal PA, Flinn RH, Edwards TI et al. Mercurialism and its control in the felt hat industry. Federal Security Agency US Public Health Service. Public Health Bulletin No. 263. 1941.


13. Committee Minutes. Hat Makers and Hat Finishers Locals No. 10 and 11. One Hundredth Anniversary Celebration: Hotel Green, Danbury, Conn.; May 5, 1951.


14. Dinehart SM, Dillard R, Raimer SS, Diven S, Cobos R, Pupo R. Cutaneous manifestations of acrodynia (pink disease). Arch Dermatol 1988;124:107-9.


15. Bakir F, Damluji SF, Amin-Zak et al. Methylmercury poisoning in Iraq. Science July 1973;181:230-240.


16. Mahaffey KR, Rice GE. Environmental protection agency office of air quality planning and standards. Mercury study report to congress. Government Reports Announcements and Index (GRA and I), 1998:issue 9. Downloaded February 2, 2003, from www.epa.gov/oar/mercury.html


17. NAS. Toxicological effects of methylmercury. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences, July 2000. Downloaded July 2000 from http://nap.edu/books/0309071402/html


18. Myers GJ, Davidson PW, Cox C, Shamlaye CF, Palumbo D, Cernichiari E, Sloan-Reeves J, Wilding GE, Kost J, Huang L, Clarkson TW. Prenatal methylmercury exposure from ocean fish consumption in the Seychelles child development study. The Lancet 2003;361:1686-1692.


19. Clarkson TW, Laszlo M, Myers GJ. The toxicology of mercury-current exposures and clinical manifestations. NEJM 2003:349:1731-7.


20. The Joint Institute for Food Safety and Applied Nutrition Annual Report 1998-1999. Downloaded February 20, 2004 from http://web.archive.org/web/20020616124945/http://www.jifsan.umd.edu/Rev99AnRep.htm


21. Pichichero ME, Cernichiari E, Lopreiato J, Treanor J. Mercury concentrations and metabolism of infants receiving vaccines containing thimerosal: a descriptive study. The Lancet 2002;360 (9347):1737-41.


22. Pichichero ME. Acute otitis media, part II: Treatment in an era of increasing antibiotic resistance. Family Physician April 15, 2000;61:2410-6.


23. Marsh DO, Turner MD, Smith JC, Allen P, Richdale N. Fetal methylmercury study in a Peruvian fish-eating population. Neurotoxicology 1995;16(4):717-726.


24. Rickey T. Commercial fish: Eat up despite low levels of mercury. University of Rochester web page, August 26, 1998. Downloaded February 20, 2004, from www.rochester.edu/pr/releases/med/mercury.htm.


25. Salonen JT, Seppdnen K, Nyyssvnen K, Korpela H, Kauhanen J, Kantola M et al. Intake of mercury from fish, lipid peroxidation and the risk of myocardial infarction and coronary, cardiovascular, and any death in Eastern Finnish men. Circulation 1995;91(3):645-655.


26. Rissanen T, Voutilainen S, Nyyssvnen K, Lakka TA, Salonen JT. Fish oil-derived fatty acids, docosahexaenoic acid and docosapentanoic acid and the risk of acute coronary events. Circulation 2000;102:2677-2679.


27. Guallar E, Sanz-Gallardo I et al. Mercury, fish oils, and the risk of myocardial infarction. NEJM 2002;347(22):1747-54.


28. Salonen JT, Seppdnen K, Lakka TA, Salonen R, Kaplan GA. Mercury accumulation and accelerated progression of carotid atherosclerosis: A population-based prospective four-year follow-up study in men in Eastern Finland. Atherosclerosis 2000;148:265-273.


29. Putman JJ. Quicksilver and slow death. The National Geographic October 1972:506-522.

Top of Page
Subject: Arsenic - not the same for everyone
Date: 06-24-05
Authors: Medical News Today

Medical News Today
Environmental Health Perspective

Arsenic - not the same for everyone
24 Jun 2005

Children with a particular variation in the CYT19 gene metabolize arsenic differently than adults with the same genetic variant, according to a new research report. The findings have important implications for the safety of drinking water worldwide and the use of arsenic as a cancer drug.

Arsenic, a heavy metal found around the globe, including the potable water supplies in many parts of Arizona and the West, has long been known to cause diseases such as circulatory and neurological disorders and cancer, predominantly of the skin, lung and bladder. In the body, arsenic is converted into different compounds, some highly toxic, through a series of biochemical reactions. It finally leaves the body in the urine.

The new research raises the possibility that the risk of developing arsenic-related disease is not the same for everybody because an individual's genetic makeup determines how the toxic metal is metabolized.

"Finding genetic determinants of arsenic metabolism may one day enable us to identify a super-susceptible group of people, and conversely, people who may be relatively resistant to the effects of arsenic," said Walter T. Klimecki, who led the research team. Klimecki is a research assistant professor of medicine at The University of Arizona's Arizona Respiratory Center and member of UA's BIO5 Institute.

The study is published in the current edition of Environmental Health Perspectives. Co-authors on the article are: Maria Mercedes Meza of the Sonora Institute of Technology (Mexico), Lizhi Yu, Yelitza Y. Rodriguez, Mischa Guild and David Thompson of the UA Arizona Respiratory Center and A. Jay Gandolfi of the UA department of pharmacology and toxicology.

The research is part of The University of Arizona's Superfund Basic Research Program, which is funded by the National Institutes of Health's National Institute for Environmental Health Sciences. The study was also supported by the Sonora Institute of Technology, Mexico.

Studying the distribution of arsenic metabolites in the body is important because they have different toxic potencies, said Klimecki. "Since we know that people carry different versions of DNA sequence for any given gene, we ask, 'Do people with one sequence variant metabolize arsenic differently than people with another sequence variant?'"

Klimecki and his coworkers found that the answer is yes.

The team analyzed arsenic levels in urine samples from 135 individuals from the Yaqui Valley in Sonora, Mexico, who were exposed to drinking water containing arsenic. The study participants ranged from 7 to 79 years in age. The researchers then analyzed DNA samples from the same individuals for variations in three genes known to play roles in arsenic metabolism. When they matched the arsenic levels in the urine samples to the variations in the genes, the researchers saw that the distribution of arsenic metabolites was different in urine samples from people with a certain variation of the CYT19 gene.

At that point, Klimecki's team was in for an unexpected discovery. When the team split up the data into different age groups, it turned out that the association between the particular form of CYT19 and altered urinary arsenic metabolites could only be found in children. Adults carrying the same variant of CYT19 do not metabolize arsenic differently. "Apparently the genetic variation affects arsenic metabolism only during childhood," said Klimecki.

This result could be important for cancer medicine, as arsenic is used as a drug in leukemia therapy. Individual differences in the way arsenic is metabolized could influence the drug's efficiency. "It sounds obvious, but researchers often fall into the trap of assuming that children are just miniature adults," said Klimecki. "Our data really shout out the pitfall in that."

Reference: Developmentally Restricted Genetic Determinants of Human Arsenic Metabolism: Association between Urinary Methylated Arsenic and CYT19 Polymorphisms in Children. Maria Mercedes Meza et al., Environmental Health Perspectives, Vol. 113, No. 6, June 2005.

News from The University of Arizona is @ http://uanews.org ***

Contact: Daniel Stolte
stolte@email.arizona.edu
520-626-4407
University of Arizona
http://uanews.org

Dr Behrooz Behbod MB ChB C/CMT ND(Cand.) PhD(Cand.)
Medical Director
Integrated Medicine Centre
College Natural Medicine
IMC Research Laboratories
www.integratedmedicinecentre.com
www.collegenaturalmedicine.com

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Cadmium and cancer of prostate and testis
Date: October 2005
Authors: Robert A. Goyer1; Jie Liu1; Michael P. Waalkes1

Abstract:
Cancer of the prostate is an important and potentially fatal disease in humans but the etiology is yet undefined. Cadmium and cadmium compounds are known to be human carcinogens based on findings of increased risk to lung cancer among exposed workers, but a relationship between cancer of the prostate and/or testis in humans is unclear in spite of suggestive results in rats. Parenteral administration or oral exposure to cadmium can result in proliferate lesions and tumors of the prostate in rats. The ability of cadmium to produce neoplasms in the prostate of rats is atypically dose-related and only occurs in rats at doses below the threshold for significant testicular toxicity. Testicular androgen production is essential for the maintenance of the prostate and prostate tumors. The rat testis may also develop tumors if cadmium is given parenterally at high doses. Subsequent to testicular hemorrhagic necrosis, there will be loss of testosterone production and hyperplasia and neoplasia of testicular interstitial cells, thought to be a response to trophic hormone release from the pituitary. The pathogenesis of pr