Sep 30, 2009

Chemo Sapien

We are exposed to astounding amounts of pollution. Over 80,000 chemicals have been introduced into our society since 1900, and only 550 have been tested for safety. According to the US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), about 2.5 billion pounds of toxic chemicals are released yearly by large industrial facilities. And 6 million pounds of mercury are poured into our air every year.
In fact, a recent government survey — “The National Report on Human Exposure to Environmental Chemicals” issued in July 2005 — found an average of 148 chemicals in our bodies. And those were only the ones for which they tested . . . The Environmental Working Group examined the umbilical cord blood of children just as they emerged from the womb. They found 287 industrial chemicals, including pesticides, phthalates, dioxins, flame-retardants, Teflon, and toxic metals like mercury. — Dr Mark Hyman

Highschool chemistry 101: chemical A mixed with chemical B results in X; chemical B mixed with chemical C results in Y; and chemical C mixed with chemical A results in Z. Most chemicals are reactive — when mixed with one or more other chemicals they result in new substances with different properties.

Chemical reactivity, of course, is the whole point of the pharmaceutical and industrial chemical industries. Scientists test specific chemicals for reactions when exposed to other chemicals, or to specific environmental conditions, or when introduced to animal and human bodies.

When a positive reaction occurs, they’ve taken a step toward a useful product or better medicine. When no reaction occurs, they move on to the next promising chemical. When a negative reaction occurs, they know to avoid such combinations or exposures in the future.

In a sane world, every new chemical would pass through extensive testing before release into the environment or (via food and pharmaceuticals) into the human organism. But even the most conscientious system could not hope to properly test 80,000 chemicals, with new ones being released all the time. Nor to test all of these new chemicals against each other, in infinite combinations.

For instance, it is well understood that the industrially-useful chemical mercury is toxic to humans. Through testing, a supposed safe level of exposure has been established, and we are told not to worry about the mercury in dental fillings or that is used as a preservative in some vaccines because they do not amount to toxic levels.

But has anyone tested mercury for reactivity to the chemical cocktail in the blood of newborns described above? Or, since mercury is one of the chemicals in that cocktail, have we tested for accumulation of mercury — start with x-amount in the blood, add some in vaccine preservatives, add some more in the air, and surely at some point the child has too much.

This is the problem I have with vaccines and other modern pharmaceuticals. Most have demonstrated positive reactions when tested on humans. When subsequently turned into medicines most have at the very least ameliorated symptoms, while some have brought about miraculous cures.

But the testing cannot possibly keep up with or account for the fast-changing chemical realities within and surrounding us. Nor the fact that individuals increasingly present unique chemical profiles.

Eighty years ago, when doctors administered the diptheria vaccine they could expect that all children would have the same reaction, with rare exceptions. Now, given the basic laws of chemistry, we should expect a range of unforeseen reactions as the medicine mixes with the different chemical realities from one body to the next, as well as with many new-to-the-world and never tested chemicals.

A wide range of unforeseen reactions is exactly what the pharmaceutical and chemical industries have brought us. Cancer, heart disease, asthma, diabetes, alzheimer’s, autism, auto-immune dysfunction — all of these modern diseases are rooted in toxic chemicals and/or poor nutrition (which is toxic chemistry via diet). When we add to this the myriad of environmental problems caused by industrial pollutants, the chemical industry clearly needs much tighter regulation and social controls.

I can’t see that ever happening, not in profit-mad America. The right of a company like Monsanto to rake in the cash while spewing untested crap into the world shall not be abridged.

But not to worry. In just a few generations we will surely adapt to the whole chemical soup. Chemo sapien here we come…..

Michael Sky | CommonHealth