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Heavy Metal Dangers-
CADMIUM & BREAST CANCER
Cadmium exposure may increase breast cancer risk. But how can you etermine if you've been
exposed?
Cadmium is a natural element that's used to make batteries, metal coatings, paint pigments and
some plastics. Those who smoke and those who work in places where cadmium products are
manufactured are at highest exposure risk. But emissions from coal burning, mining and other
industries put cadmium into the air where it can travel great distances before falling to the
ground and contaminating soil and water. So you can also pick up cadmium from drinking water
and foods grown in soil with high concentrations of this heavy metal.
In a recent study from the University of Wisconsin, researchers compared cadmium levels in
more than 240 breast cancer patients to levels in about 254 cancer-free subjects. Women with
the highest cadmium levels were more than twice as likely to have breast cancer as women with
the lowest levels.
Cadmium may also damage kidneys, lungs and bones.
Among food sources, shellfish, kidney and liver meats contain the highest concentrations of
cadmium. But the most common source is cigarette smoke, including inhalation of second hand
smoke.
Cadmium intake can be reduced by following a balanced diet, according to the Agency for Toxic
Substances and Disease Registry (a division of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention).
HEAVY METAL TOXICITY
Lead
With the elimination of lead-based house-paint, and the increased use of lead-free gasoline, lead
poisoning is certainly less prevalent. However, low-level toxicity is still an issue. Coal burning
power plants still spew lead into the atmosphere, and like mercury and aluminum, the problem
with lead is that it accumulates, unless you take active steps to remove it. The EPA estimates
that 10 to 20 percent of human exposure to lead may come from lead in drinking water. Infants
who consume mostly mixed formula can receive 40 to 60 percent of their exposure to lead from
drinking water. The EPA warns that if lead is not detected early, children with high levels of lead
in their bodies can suffer from damage to the brain and nervous system, behavior and learning
problems (such as hyperactivity), slowed growth, headaches, and more. However, adults are still
at risk and can suffer from reproductive problems (in both men and women), high blood
pressure, digestive problems, nerve disorders, memory and concentration problems, and muscle
and joint pain.
Aluminum
As for aluminum, it has been known for 20 years that once it enters your body, it accumulates in
your brain, where it kills off neurons, leading to memory loss. And thanks to the significant
amounts of aluminum found in food emulsifiers, antiperspirant deodorants, hair sprays, baking
powder, many types of toothpaste, much of our drinking water, and most of our cookware, you
are exposed to a lot of aluminum over the course of your life. There has been much speculation,
therefore, that aluminum may be one of the prime factors in the onset of Alzheimer's disease.
The connection between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease became even stronger when in 1995,
Neurotoxicology reported that the widespread use of aluminum salts to purify water could
account for the large numbers of people suffering from Alzheimer's.
And recently, the final piece of the puzzle may have fallen into place: the connection between
aluminum and fluoride. New research has revealed that fluoride in drinking water makes the
aluminum that we ingest more bio-available. As was reported in Brain Research, Vol.7 84:98, the
combination of aluminum and fluoride causes the same pathological changes in brain tissue
found in Alzheimer's patients.
Note: there is a significant difference between metallic aluminum and plant-derived aluminum,
which is in the form of aluminum hydroxide. No studies have ever shown a connection between
aluminum hydroxide and toxic levels of aluminum in the human body -- which is a good thing,
because there is a lot of it in our food supply.
Like mercury, the danger from lead and aluminum is not the result of large doses, but the result
of a steady accumulation over years as they do not easily clear from the body unless you take
conscious steps to remove them.
Mercury, Deadly Beauty
People have known about the dangers of mercury since the days of the Roman Empire, when
slaves who worked in the "quicksilver" mines died horribly after 2-3 years exposure. And in the
19th century, the workers who used mercury to make hats went bald and suffered from severe
muscular tremors, dementia, and fits of wild, uncontrollable laughter. Thus the phrase: "Mad
Hatter."
It's no secret that mercury is one of the most toxic metals known. Numerous studies have
shown its impact on health. There is strong evidence that mercury lowers T-Cell counts. This,
alone, implicates it in cancer, autoimmune diseases, allergies, Candida overgrowth, and multiple
sclerosis. In fact, due to other studies that showed mercuric chloride increased several types of
tumors in rats and mice, and methyl mercury caused kidney tumors in male mice, the EPA has
determined that mercuric chloride and methyl mercury are possible human carcinogens. It has
also been shown that mercury cuts the oxygen carrying capacity of blood by half. This would
account for many instances of chronic fatigue.(4)
4 Mattingly RR, Felczak A, Chen CC, McCabe MJ Jr, Rosenspire AJ. "Low concentrations of
inorganic mercury inhibit Ras activation during T cell receptor-mediated signal transduction." Department of Pharmacology, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan 48201, USA. Toxicol
Appl Pharmacol. 2001 Nov 1;176(3):162-8.
Mercury also has an affinity for brain tissue and is implicated in brain tumors and dementia. And,
finally, mercury has an affinity for fetal tissue, which accounts for its implication in birth defects.
In 2002, the National Academy of Sciences found strong evidence for the toxicity of methyl
mercury to children's developing brains, even at low levels of exposure. A recent study from the
Centers for Disease Controls found that as many as 637,233 American children are born each
year with mercury levels of more than 5.8 µg/L (5.8 micrograms per liter), the level associated
with brain damage and loss of IQ.
Today, we face two primary sources of exposure: our food supply and our dental fillings.
48 Tons in Our Food and Water
There is nothing complex about the process. Mercury is a naturally occurring toxin, which is
found in soil, rocks, wood, and fuels like coal and oil. Simple soil erosion deposits mercury in
rivers and lakes, but concentrations remain low, unless, as has been discovered in the recently
deforested regions of the Amazon, erosion reaches extraordinary levels. The burning of
rainforests also releases mercury that has been taken up from the soil by the trees.
But the major source of mercury in our food chain, responsible for about 1/3 of the levels found
in our bodies, is our burning of coal to generate electric power. That is the single greatest
contributor to the problem. Mercury that naturally occurs in the coal is released during burning
and enters the air; it is then precipitated into the oceans, lakes, and rivers by rain. According to
the EPA, coal-fired power plants in the United States emit about 48 tons of mercury into the air
every year -- and more than half of this mercury falls within 5 miles of the plant itself. When it
reaches the water, microorganisms consume it and convert it into a substance called methyl
mercury.
Into the Food Chain
A study at the University of Tennessee recently rated methyl mercury among the most
dangerous poisons on Earth (just behind plutonium). It has no known beneficial use in the body,
and it accumulates in the muscle tissue of fish, animals, and humans. When minnows eat
plankton or algae that is contaminated with methyl mercury, it is deposited in their flesh; larger
fish prey upon the minnows, and the toxin travels straight up the food chain to the most prized
game fish -- the big predators like bass, pike, walleyes, brown trout; and to all the finest food
and sport fish of the seas -- tuna, swordfish, shark, roughy, marlin, and halibut. According to
the EPA, fish at the top of the aquatic food chain bio-accumulate methyl mercury to a level
approximately 1 million to 10 million times greater than dissolved concentrations found in
surrounding waters.
Of course, when you climb one more rung up that food chain, you find us, the people who eat
fish. Just like the predatory fish that we catch and eat, we store mercury in our tissues. Just like
the ancient Romans, we know that high exposure to mercury is fatal. But…
Mercury Rising
In 1997, the EPA under the Clinton administration presented a detailed study that revealed the
hazards of mercury contamination, pinpointed coal-fired power plants as the leading source of
emissions, and promised action. But nothing was done. The EPA had begun work on a plan to
address mercury pollution in December 2000 and in a 2001 presentation, the agency said that
90 percent of mercury emissions from coal-fired power plants could be cut, using what is known
as the Maximum Achievable Control Technology (MACT), by 2008.
More recently, the Bush administration decided that the coal-fired power industry would be
exempt. Therefore, levels will continue to climb -- not fall.
Mercury Fillings
The American Dental Association has resolutely maintained for years "when mercury is combined
with the metals used in dental amalgam, its toxic properties are made harmless." If this were
true, it would be miraculously fortuitous.
Dentists have used amalgam, which consists of mercury, silver, tin, copper, and zinc, for several
hundred years. Here in the United States, it made its appearance in the early 1800s.
From the beginning, there were a number of dentists who were concerned by the presence of
mercury, since by that time it was fairly well known that mercury was poisonous. In fact, these
concerns were so strong, that by the mid-1940s, several dental societies, including the American
Society of Dental Surgeons, had joined together to stop the use of amalgam fillings. But the
problem all along has been that amalgam is just too easy to work with, and whatever ill effects
people experience are too far down the road to matter; so dentists, as a group, have fought for
its continued use. And, in fact, the American Dental Association was founded in 1859 -- primarily
to promote the use of mercury amalgam as a safe and desirable tooth filling material. There were
no tests done. No studies. Nothing! Amalgam was promoted because it was easy to work with.
The reason mercury was used in it was because mercury serves to "dissolve" the other metals
and make a homogenous whole.
The early position of the ADA was that mercury reacts with the other metals to form "a
biologically inactive substance" so that none of it ever makes its way into your body.
Unfortunately, numerous studies conducted in the 1970s and 80s proved conclusively that the
mercury from fillings (primarily from mercury vapor created when you chew) makes its way into
your body, ending up in your lungs, heart, stomach, kidneys, endocrine glands, gastrointestinal
tract, jaw tissue, and brain.
Once it became irrefutable that mercury from the fillings was ending up in your body, it then
became mandatory that the ADA find a new defense. Again, not based on study, it became the
position of the ADA that: Well yes, maybe some mercury does make its way into your body, but
at levels that are so low it has no effect on your health. Unfortunately, that's just not true
either. Like so many other toxic substances, the real problem with mercury is that it is a
cumulative poison. The body holds onto a significant percentage of the mercury that nters it.
Note: There is no safe way to remove amalgam fillings. Recent studies showed that even with
strong air and water suctioning, water rinses, and a rubber dental dam, significant amounts of
mercury were later found in the individual's lungs, kidneys, endocrine organs, liver and heart,
whereas no mercury was detected in those tissues prior to removal of the fillings.
Since the government is not going to help limit your exposure to mercury in your food supply,
and since your dentist and the ADA are not going to limit your exposure in your amalgam fillings,
there is only one place you can turn for help -- yourself. Avoid any new amalgam fillings and use
Reverse Osmosis filtering for you water. We like to take (and give to our dogs) daily maintenance
doses of NCD with quarterly cleansing doses.
2010 Schedule
We have an updated schedule for 2010 clinics click here. If you are interested in attending email us.
