Environmental chemicals and detoxification

When we read or hear about mercury as the cause of autism or any other illness we should remember that this is only one piece of the puzzle. Being able to single out just one cause would be wonderful, but reality is rarely so simple. Evidence continues to mount that there is an epidemic of autism even without mercury in vaccines, and recent data from the State of California shows that the incidence of autism continues to climb even after mercury was banned from vaccines. (Note: someone recently asked me why autism is so prevalent in California, but the reality is that California just has a better system to track it. Here in Texas and in other states we have no idea how prevalent it is).

Environmental chemicals are another big piece of the puzzle, and it doesn’t even matter if you’re dealing with autism, other neurological disorders, cancer, or even high blood pressure: toxic chemicals play a part in all of these. They disrupt the nervous and immune systems. They have been linked with Parkinson’s disease, chronic fatigue, MS and the list goes on.

Chemicals are also harder to identify and test for than mercury and can sometimes cause damage at minuscule concentrations such as parts per billion. Where you’ve been or what you have been exposed to doesn’t even matter, they’re under your kitchen sink and everywhere!

If you doubt that there is any validity to what I say, you can find a good example relating to breast milk in a New York Times Magazine article from earlier this month (available for a small fee from their archives at www.nytimes.com/2005/01/09/magazine/09TOXIC.html). Breast milk is a fatty substance that readily conveys a sampling of the toxic chemicals stored in the mother’s body to her nursing child, sometimes exceeding limits of safe exposure established for adults. If cow’s milk was as contaminated as much of the breast milk tested around the country, it would be deemed unfit for human consumption. I still don’t think that baby formula is a good solution, but careful avoidance of chemicals, along with detoxification, would be.

A significant feature of most toxic chemicals is that they are fat-soluble and are stored in the body, sometimes for a lifetime. Treatments advocated for mercury toxicity do nothing to remove chemicals from fatty tissues of the body. Among fatty tissues we should remember to include the brain, which is 60% fat.

As an example, LSD is a synthetic mind-altering street drug that was in vogue in the sixties. Like many other chemicals it is stored in fat and, as a result, past users can experience recurrent symptoms of intoxication for years after they stop taking it. This also triggers renewed cravings for the drug and makes it very difficult to stay clear of it.

L. Ron Hubbard is primarily known for founding a religious or philosophical movement known as Scientology, but the reason why he enters our discussion is that many of the people who joined his movement were prior LSD users.

While medicine had nothing to offer these recovering drug users, Hubbard developed a program to detoxify LSD from their bodies using a combination of sauna, vitamin B3 (as niacin), exercise, fatty acids and other supplements. You can read about the Hubbard detoxification protocol at www.detoxacademy.org and in his book “Clear Body Clear Mind.”

Hubbard’s detox program could have been forgotten quickly, except that it worked. Not only did it remove LSD from the body, it also helped people resist cravings and stay off the drug. Later it was found to be effective for almost every fat-soluble drug or chemical and it helped thousands of people regain their health and overcome addiction. Over the years dozens of studies were published on the Hubbard program, a few of which are listed below (1).

Some of these studies were performed on firefighters who experienced acute exposure to burning PCB’s or other chemicals and later developed symptoms of intoxication, including high blood pressure, extreme irritability and mental confusion. Not only did the levels of chemicals in their bodies drop dramatically, their symptoms also subsided.

Sherry Rogers, MD is the author of a number of books, including “Detoxify or Die” available from www.amazon.com. At one point she became so fatigued she could no longer maintain her medical practice. She then turned to the experts in her profession but quickly realized they had nothing to offer her aside from labeling her a “crazy female.” Dr. Rogers had to relearn everything she knew about health and was able to regain her own health through detoxification, diet and supplements.

In her book Dr. Rogers talks about far infrared sauna (FIRS) as a better and safer type of sauna because it triggers profuse sweating at far lower temperatures than traditional saunas.

This sauna is easier to tolerate because of the lower temperatures and is also safe for children. There are countless reports of the benefits of FIRS in autism and other conditions.

These saunas are made for individual use and, while not inexpensive, they can be seen as an investment that can benefit the entire family, whether you are dealing with autism, other critical illness or just for prevention. Dr. Rogers recommends buying this sauna from a company called High Tech Health (www.hightechhealth.com). I have no financial interest in or affiliation with this company but I find their website very informative and recommend it.

For optimal benefits the sauna should be used as indicated by Dr. Rogers and combined with niacin and the other supplements. I am planning to buy a sauna myself and will put together a sauna protocol based on the work of Hubbard and Rogers, but first I’ll try it out myself!

(1) References
Evaluation of a Detoxification Regimen for Fat Stored Xenobiotics
(Medical Hypothesis, Vol. 9, 1982)
Body Burden Reductions of PCBs, PBBs and Chlorinated Pesticide Residues in Human Subjects
(Ambio, Vol 13, No. 5-6, 1984)
Diagnosis and Treatment of Patients Presenting Subclinical Signs and Symptoms of Exposure to Chemicals Which Accumulate in Human Tissues
(Proceedings of the National Conference on Hazardous Wastes and Environmental Emergencies, Cincinnati, Ohio, 1985)
Reduction of the Human Body Burdens of Hexachlorobenzene and Polychlorinated Biphenyls
(World Health Organization, International Agency for Research on Cancer, Scientific Publications Series, Volume 77, 1986)
Excretion of a Lipophilic Toxicant Through the Sebaceous Glands: A Case Report
(Journal of Toxicology Cutaneous and Ocular Toxicology, Vol. 6, No. 1, 1987)
Improvement in Perception of Transcutaneous Nerve Stimulation Following Detoxification in Firefighters Exposed to PCBs, PCDDs and PCFDs
(Clinical Ecology, Vol. VI, No. 2, 1989)
Occupational, Environmental and Public Health in Semic: A Case Study of Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) Pollution
(Proceedings of the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Civil Engineers, New Orleans, Louisiana, October 1989)
Human Contamination and Detoxification: Medical Response to an Expanding Global Problem
(Proceedings of the MAB UNESCO Task Force on Human Response to Enrivonmental Stress, Moscow, 1989)
Neurobehavioral Dysfunction in Firemen Exposed to Polychlorinated Biphenyls (PCBs): Possible Improvement after Detoxification
(Archives of Environmental Health, Vol. 44, No. 6, 1989)
PCB Reduction and Clinical Improvement by Detoxification: An Unexploited Approach?
(Human and Experimental Toxicology, Vol. 9, 1991)
Xenobiotic Reduction and Clinical Improvements in Capacitor Workers: A Feasible Method
(Journal of Environmental Science and Health, Vol. A25, No. 7, 1990)
Treatment of Pesticide-Exposed Patients with Hubbard’s Method of Detoxification
(presentation at the 120th Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, 1992)
Neurotoxicity and Toxic Body Burdens: Relationship and Treatment Potentials
(Proceedings of the International Conference on Peripheral Nerve Toxicity, 1993)
Reduction of Drug Residues: Applications in Drug Rehabilitation
(Presentation at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, 1995)
Treatment of Children with the Detoxification Method Developed by Hubbard
(Presentation at the 123rd Annual Meeting of the American Public Health Association, 1995)

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