Our Toxic World
September 2006, Lyle Loughry

Man’s pursuit of bigger, better, faster, younger and more convenient has come at a terrible price. The automobiles that shuttle us, the products with which we clean ourselves and our homes, the appliances that keep us cool and the recreational vehicles that help us relax, all pollute our environment. And let’s not forget the toxins found in the air you breathe, the chemicals found in the water drink, the pesticides detected in many of the fruits, vegetables and meats you serve your family, and the petroleum byproducts you apply to your skin. It’s not enough that you’re subjected to toxins everywhere you turn–the real issue is the number of years of exposure you face–exposure that starts even before you are born.

According to a 2005 study commissioned by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) in cooperation with The American Red Cross on the umbilical cord of blood of newborns, 287 different industrial chemicals, pollutants and pesticides were found including mercury, polyaromatic hydrocarbons, dioxins, furans, pesticides, and chemicals from flame retardants, PCBs, industrial lubricants, plastics, Teflon, Scotchgard, industrial bleaches, electrical insulators, coal-fired power plants, vehicle emissions, and wood preservatives,all of which are known to cause health complications in humans, to be toxic to the brain and nervous system, and to cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. Chemical exposures in the womb or during infancy can be dramatically more harmful than exposures later in life. Among the possible implications of mercury and other toxins cited by the EWG are major nervous system disorders, including autism, attention deficit disorder, and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. (1)

Once you’ve entered the world and you’ve taken your first breath, you can be reasonably sure it will include some unhealthy trace particles of air pollution. That’s true for every breath you take, thereafter, as well. According to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), US facilities alone released 4.7 billion pounds of toxins into the atmosphere in 2002.

It’s in the Water You Drink

Currently, there are more than 850 studies, conducted by federal, state and local government agencies, US health organizations and major universities that conclusively prove that tap water is alive with deadly bugs that cause Hepatitis, E-coli infections, and Heliocobacter pylori, the bacteria that causes stomach ulcers. Additionally, monitoring groups from all fifty states have reported drinking water containing arsenic, asbestos, cyanide, lead, mercury, bug and weed killers, embalming fluids, and even radioactive wastes, all in addition to known killers like chlorine and fluoride! According to one study conducted by the University of Michigan, water into which oil spills find their way is pumped back into our water supplies, for our consumption. Increasing outbreaks of waterborne disease cause an estimated seven million people to become sick, and more than 1,000 to die in the United States each year. (2)

It’s in the Food You Eat

And, as if concerns about breathing and drinking weren’t enough, you also have to be careful with the produce, meats and fish you ingest. Herbicides and pesticides-used to keep bugs off of crops, inhibit weed growth and protect your lawn–are taking their toll on your health. Environmental chemicals have a wide range of effects on immune system function, ranging from a decrease in your body’s ability to fight infections and tumors toincreased allergies and autoimmunity, as well as dermatological, gastrointestinal, genitourinary, respiratory, musculoskeletel and cardiovascular problems. (3)

Source:
1. Body Burden, the Pollution of Newborns, Environmental Working Group, July 2005
2. www.mediasyndicate.com
3. Ohio State University School of Medicine

A new study reported in the July 2006 issue of Annals in Neurology found that the risk of Parkinson’s disease in those who reported being exposed to pesticides and herbicides increased by about seventy percent, ten to twenty years after initial exposure. The risk of Parkinson’s disease associated with exposure has been reported in many other studies. Another recent study was reported by Mayo Clinicresearchers who published their findings in the June 26, 2006, online issue of Movement Disorders. They found that men who had ever been exposed to pesticides on their farms or gardens were more than twice as likely to develop Parkinson’s disease. Exposure to pesticides is likely to harm the brain, because the pesticides commonly used in the US have been shown to cause degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in the brain. In postmortem studies, these pesticides are persistent in tissues years or even decades following exposure. Pesticides such as DDT have been banned in many countries, but they are still polluting the environment. Much of our produce comes from these countries that do not ban some of the most toxic agri-chemicals.

Home Sweet Home

But the toxins you’ll probably find most surprising are those found inside your home–where most of us think we’re safe. Many of the products that improve the look and scent of your home, like household cleaning products, have been linked to Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) and other learning or behavioral disorders. Even the glue used to hold that new carpet down, contains the harmful ingredient, benzene, and the neurotoxin, xylene–one of the most unhealthy chemical combinations to which you can be exposed. Carpets can emit over 200 volatile organic chemicals. Faulty appliances can emit ozone, which affects lung health, and carbon monoxide, which is lethal at high concentrations. Also, mold, bacteria and other biological contaminants can cause or exacerbate asthma, allergies and infections.

The bottom line is that we are surrounded by toxins, pollutants, and synthetic (inorganic) chemicals. Many are invisible–colorless, odorless and tasteless–and most have never been tested for their effects on human health. And while there are ways to reduce the impact of some exposure, it’s just not reasonable to think you can avoid toxic exposure, altogether. Those who understand the increasingly deadly impact of environmental toxicity on our bodies also understand that there is no “quick fix.” It’s taken your entire lifetime to reach the level of toxicity and imbalance you now experience. To be as healthy as your body is capable of being, plan to fight this toxicity battle for the rest of your life!

More and more anti-aging practitioners, like Rashid O. Buttar, D. O., a diplomat in preventative medicine and clinical toxicology, and Vice-Chairman of the American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology, and Robert Nash, M.D., who is board certified in neurology, pain medicine, and chelation therapy, and Chairman of the American Board of Clinical Metal Toxicology, are coming to the same conclusion . . .in order to maintain optimal health, and reduce the incidence of the degenerative diseases of aging, the health practitioner’s job is to detoxify their patients. Listen to what they, and others are saying:

“I can now very comfortable and definitively state to you,” says Dr. Buttar, “that, in my opinion, based on the evidence, every single chronic insidious disease process is related to one word: toxicity. A year ago, I wouldn’t have said it, but the more success we’ve had, the clearer it has become; All chronic disease is toxicity. You get rid of the toxicity and you put out the fire. You may need to rebuild the health later, but you must put the fire out, first. Conventional medicine is just covering your eyes so you don’t see the fire.”

Dr. Nash concurs, though perhaps not yet 100 percent. He says, “Most of the diseases of aging–arthritis, most cancers, vascular and others–have been shown to be associated with toxic metals and persistent organic pollutants. For example, vascular diseases, stroke, heart attack, plus most cancers, and macular degeneration have been linked directly to lead, and that’s just lead.” Dr. Nash also explains that, “Between nature and man, we have polluted the planet, but man’s pollution is by far the most toxic. We are now paying a price for our environmental neglect. That price appears to be chemical sensitivities, plus an increasing number of diseases of aging.”

Walter J. Crinnion, N.D., Chairman of the Department of Environmental Medicine at Southwest College of Naturopathic Medicine, Phoenix, wrote six years ago, “Chemical compounds, ubiquitous in our food, air and water, are now found in every person.”

A 2003 US study by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), revealed the presence of 116 chemicals–some of them banned for more than two decades because of toxicity–in people of all ages. In July 2005, the CDC released a major report that makes the important distinction that the level of chemicals found within the body is the result of the cumulative impact from all routes of exposure, including ingestion, inhalationand dermal absorption, as well as how the chemical is distributed in body tissues, transformed into metabolites, and eliminated from the body.

Britain’s Environmental Toxins Foundation states that “More and more research is pointing towards mounting evidence that structural and genetic damage . . . potentially caused to the human morphology through the huge influx of chemical agents that are absorbed, ingested and inhaled from the food we eat, the water we drink, and the air we breathe . . . is increasingly prevalent in our modern environment.” A paper entitled, Metals in Medicine, published in the July/August edition of Alternative Therapies notes that, “Metals have been implicated in many of the diseases of aging, as well as in neurodevelopmental diseases and autism spectrum disorders.” For example, mercury is known to affect the brain and has been associated with the causation or exacerbation of degenerative diseases such as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, as well as neurodevelopmental diseases, vascular diseases, nephrotoxicity, and cancer. The paper notes that the effects of toxicant metals on human health have been reported in peer-reviewed literature with increasing frequency. A November 17, 2004, Wall Street Journal article described the high levels of mercury that are now being spread, particularly by massive industrial development in China. The article states, “Mercury and other pollutants from China’s more than 2,000 coal-fired power plants soar high into the atmosphere and around the globe on what has become a transcontinental conveyor belt of bad air.” An International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) report says that compelling scientific evidence points to some of the 85,000 synthetic chemicals in use today as contributing to breast cancer by altering hormone function or gene expression. In the past 50 years, a woman’s lifetime risk of breast cancer has more than tripled in the United States. According to Nancy Evans, a health science consultant for the Breast Cancer Fund (the only national nonprofit organization whose sole focus is to identify the causes of breast cancer and advocate for elimination of the disease), and the Editor of the report, “Medical X-rays, pesticides, household cleaning products, personal care products and some pharmaceuticals are just a few of the multiple and chronic exposures contributing to this epidemic.” Lynn Tondat Carter, PhD., Professor of Psychology at the University of Massachusetts, writes in The Celestine Journal that, “Our very ability to think and feel normally can be drastically affected by exposure to toxins. It does not take a giant leap of logic to realize that we could soon be in such a state of toxic poisoning that we would be unable to ‘problem-solve’ our way out.”The Toxic Life, an article that appeared in an April 2006 TorontoStar newspaper was summed up by Life Writer, Nancy J. White, this way, “If you’re a walking, breathing Canadian, you’re polluted.” That’s the situation in Canada, and it’s much worse in the US!

The Safe, Natural Approach

Fortunately, there are recent natural breakthroughs that make it a lot easier to accomplish “living well and being healthy in today’s toxic world.” Known as “the people’s company,” Liberty Health Net (LHN), a six year old International marketing company doing business in 64 countries. offers four, totally natural “breakthrough” products that assure that it’s now possible, Alligin, Tiaga Immune Tea, O2 Basic Essentials, and the newest antioxidant/anti-aging powerhouse,M-G-A-PLUS.

According to a recent book, Allicin, The Heart of Garlic, “we have known for a long time that allicin (found in Alligin) detoxifies heavy metals. There are many reports of water-based extracts of garlic also being used as a cleanser to remove poisonous metals from the blood. Recent work has focused on proving that allicin can reduce the absorption of toxic metals by farm animals.

Tiaga, a bracket fungi (mushroom) is a member of the Ganoderma family of beneficial fungi, the same as the well-known known Reishi mushroom. Tiaga tea promotes a strong immune system that is known to bring balance to the imbalance often found in the body’s internal terrain as a result of toxins, made possible by increased detoxifying activity. A healthy immune system also tones and strengthens the liver and gallbladder and promotes more efficient elimination of toxins, including heavy metals.

O2 Basic Essentials is the newest generation of super-oxygenation technology. The link between insufficient oxygen and disease has been firmly established, and it is strongly believed that all chronic suffering is caused from a lack of oxygen at the cellular level. Initial symptoms of oxygen deprivation range from acid stomach to various bacterial, fungal, viral and parasitic infections, and much more. Oxygen is the vital factor which gives our bodies the oxidizing “firepower” it requires to, among other things, repel disease, increase vitality, promote faster recovery and healing, and oxidize and eliminate toxic buildup in the body.

M-G-A-PLUS is an unmatched blend of exotic fruits and berries from Thailand, Brazil and the mountains of Tibet, synergistically balanced to promote health and long life. If you’re familiar with the health benefits of Mangosteen, Goji berries, Acai, and Pomegranate, you can only imagine the potential benefits available from a daily serving of 3,700 total milligrams of these phytonutrients.

You can’t find these extraordinary breakthrough products in stores, but they are available at substantial member savings from LHN. Membership is FREE! So please go visit, Liberty Health Net,  for more information, or to place an order.