Toxic...and Don't Know?

Ever since humans discovered fire, our activities have been releasing a "dog's breakfast" of unnatural chemistry. The list has grown to well over 75,000 free elements, compounds and pharmaceuticals. Many of these are acidic, electron-hungry oxidants and free radical generators.

Conventional medicine seems to dismiss industrial pollutants, food additives, personal care products, household cleaners, building materials and pharmaceutical residues... unless lethal concentrations are involved. The fact is, many are cumulative, so even at tiny parts per billion or million concentrations, poisonous substances considered "safe" by the EPA collect in fat, brain and bone, even crossing the placental barrier into rapidly differentiating embryonic tissues.

There they compromise cell membranes, damage DNA and the enzymes it produces, affect nerve conductivity, alter glandular production and hormonal balances, and continually generate free radicals which attack chemical bonds that hold all cell structures together. We don't want our cell structures to fall apart.

Most folks are aware of the presence of pollutants, but don't connect them to their surroundings, food or lifestyle or to common diseases like depression, cancers, atherosclerosis or varied bacterial/viral/fungal infections. Young individuals harbor unexpectedly high levels due to the unbridled increase of industrial toxins in recent years.

The popularity of "cleanses" for liver, kidneys and bowel is a big step in the right direction, but few participate in focused detoxification/chelation. Alternative physicians routinely perform these treatments and see patients consistently shed scores of symptoms.

Traditional chelation therapy can be performed rapidly via intravenous EDTA or DMPS... or as recommended in Forbidden Healing, slowly and more gently with large antioxidant intake combined with complexing agents. Vitamin C/bicarbonate, Vitamin K2, R-Alpha Lipoic Acid, etc. and herbals like milk thistle, cilantro and curcumin mobilize metals... and clays, humates, chlorella, sulfur, diatomaceous earth or zeolites attach to toxins and eliminate them. (See earlier articles: "Healer's Grail," "Toolbox" and "Compass" for the science behind this).

Only a scant percentage of the population avail themselves of a simple inexpensive Hair Mineral/Metal Analysis so most are unaware of mineral deficiencies and toxic metal loads. Conventional medicine frowns upon hair analysis in favor of expensive blood-based lab tests which may not expose dangerous mercury, arsenic, aluminum, cadmium or lead levels, now very common in the public at large. Government agencies deny horrendous disease conditions stemming from these toxins because that acknowledgement could result in massive litigation over dental amalgams, vaccines, widespread industrial contamination and even the military use of depleted uranium. America protects business first... public health and the environment last.

Find a laboratory and check submission details. In general, have your hairdresser collect a sample at the back of the neck, from skin out a few inches, a matchbox full is recommended, and place it in a zip lock bag and mail it in. In a few weeks you will receive the results, which will look something like this:

Recommendations usually accompany test results. Don't hesitate to ask your lab manager questions to clarify the interpretation of your data. Obviously, in this sample graph, Mg, Na and K need a supplemental boost, and Cu, Fe, Cr, Hg and Cd need to go away. Don't be alarmed at rising levels during the first six months of detox, since mobilized elements will be incorporated into hair at a higher rate... and that is why chelators must be included with mobilizing antioxidants that raise charge and force metals to un-stick. Symptoms will begin to abate quickly; don't be fooled, continue the detox protocol until yearly retests confirm the job is complete.

Detoxing is analogous to cleaning a battery while restoring electrolyte levels so oxygen penetration and energy production can proceed unhindered... and it's all about energy, electron charge. Once systemic toxins are minimized, focus can be directed toward optimal nutrition, smart lifestyle choices and higher states of consciousness beyond greed and fear.

What you don't know can hurt you.