DR DEB'S NEWSLETTER

VOLUME 10 ISSUE 4

© Dr. Deb Baker 2010

The Toxicity of Chemical Pesticides (Poison Study) and Children

If you see it on Oprah or on her site, then you know it's big news. Several weeks ago in Oprah's Health Newsletter, the leading article was about a recent study from Montreal, here in Canada which reported on the fact that children with higher levels of pesticide (organophosphates) metabolites in their urine were twice as likely to develop ADHD as those children with undetectable levels of these chemical bi-products.

Every ten fold increase in organophosphate breakdown products related to a 55 to 72% increase in risk to ADHD. The source of these chemicals? Pesticides and insecticides used on your food or (and shame on you if you're doing this) spraying lawns and gardens to 'look pretty'. Ugh. Remember these chemicals stay in the soil and affect soil and water systems for a VERY long time. In fact some of these poisons can take up to a century to degrade! And your children and pets are much smaller and far more affected (the negative effects are much more lethal in smaller body weights) than a fully grown adult, who makes all these decisions. Their ability to detoxify and defend themselves from these poisons is a great deal less than your ability.

There are almost 900 different pesticides that can be legally used in America, 37 of those are classified as organophosphates. The 37 organophosphates account for nearly 70% of pesticide use. All organophosphates are highly toxic. The effects of organophosphate exposure are dependent on the type, concentration, length and chemical form of exposure a person experiences.

What are Organophosphates - Chemical Pesticides?

Organophosphates were originally designed for chemical warfare, as nerve gas. Lovely. They didn't even exist until World War II. There was another group called phenoxyherbicides, such as 2,4-D (now banned in North America) which were developed to destroy Japanese rice crops (later used as a component of Agent Orange, a very toxic defoliant used in jungle warfare).

Organophosphates act primarily on the nervous system, destroying an enzyme called cholinesterase. This enzyme breaks down the neural transmitter called acetylcholine. As most people appreciate, the way the nervous system works is that one nerve fires and passes it's impulse to the next nerve cell and that passes to the next and so on. Between the nerve cells are teeny chemicals called neurotransmitters which allow this passing of impulses along. Once the transmission has occurred the neurotransmitter has to be resorbed, broken down and re-formed so it can be used again when another impulse is needed down that chain of connected nerve cells.

Cholinesterase is one of these enzymes which breaks down the neurotransmitter, acetylcholine. Without it, the impulses would just keep coming through the nerves and abnormal muscle contraction, paralysis, difficulty breathing and even death can occur. Just imagine a small child with a chronic input of this stuff…their bodies would never work properly and their ability to detoxify is not what ours is. Acetylcholine is a very predominant neurotransmitter of the brain and it can be understood then if it's not degraded properly, how this can result in an ADHD situation from over input through the nerve cells.

This is only one recently discovered toxic effect of organopesticides. What else is going on, knowing it is very toxic to the nervous system and that there are also so many other chemical pesticides allowed for use on our food and parks, lawns and yards?

Pest Removal with Chemical Pesticides Timeline:

After the War, these pest removal chemicals were used for agriculture pesticides, but by the 1950's epidemiologists started to worry about long term exposure to these chemical pesticides. They also are a part of a group referred to as 'POP's' or Persistent Organic Pollutants, because of their tenacity to stay in the environment. The first studies showed definite changes in fertility, aberrant genitalia formation in animals, cancer, immune and thyroid dysfunction. This is not just the organopesticides but the myriad of chemical pesticides and insecticides which were now on the market. In fact it has been estimated that over 80,000 of these chemicals have been released since WWII.

Then a rise in Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma (NHL) became apparent and it was obvious that these were centred around agricultural areas. These outbreaks definitely paralleled chemical pesticide use.

1962 brought us Rachel Carson's Silent Spring"Silent Spring", which for the time, was truly revolutionary in bringing to public and political attention the widespread ecological degradation from chemical pesticides and insecticides, and touched off an environmental awareness that still exists.

In 1996 "Our Stolen Future" was released, outlining the negative health effects of endocrine-disrupting chemicals. It was that year that a number of different countries participated in the Intergovernmental Forum on Chemical Safety and from that came a list of twelve POP's to be eliminated from the environment. These became known as "The Dirty Dozen"

In 2001, the United Nations Environment Program sponsored the Binding Convention on Persistent Organic Pollutants held in Stockholm, Sweden and that resulted in a call for the immediate ban on 11 of the Dirty Dozen. Note that DDT is still permitted in third world, developing countries to control mosquitoes in malaria prevention.

Some of the POP's can take as long as a century to degrade. They are very resistant to breaking down by light, biology or even chemical degradation. They are carbon containing..and so chemically affect all organic cells, have a direct affinity for them. They dissolve in the fatty tissues of all organisms and are bio-accumulative, meaning that they stay in the food chain and so those at the top of the chain (primarily us) wind up with the highest concentrations in their tissues.

One other sad fact is that most of these POP's are fairly volatile meaning that they can travel very easily in the air before settling, often thousands of miles. A good example is the Inuit of Canada. These indigenous people live off the fat of seals, beluga and other whales, so one would expect them to not be exposed much to POP's that far north. But in fact, their body burden of chemical residues and metabolites is actually quite high

Health Effects - Need for Organic Pesticides

Besides the above mentioned study and the effects of chemical pesticides on the brains and behaviour of children, there is literally a plethora of studies to show the detrimental ramifications to human and animal health. The list of harmful consequences include: disturbances in neurodevelopment (damage while babies are evolving in the womb, particularly to brain development), very negative effects on thyroid, estrogen and immune function, and most exhibit strong links to cancer occurrences.

One of the most comprehensive documents on the subject of xenobiotics is "Systematic Review of Pesticide Human Health Effects." headed up by Dr. Margaret Sanborn, an Ontario physician. Some of her other work can be found here:

Bottom line in this review is that the scientific research does not support that any one pesticide is safer than the other. There is NO SAFE pesticide.

Reducing exposure is the best prevention. Remember just because a chemical pesticide claims there is "no evidence of harm" that is NOT the same as "evidence of no harm". In other words, it has not been proven safe, just because we don't at this particular time know exactly what harm it does. That's how a lot of these toxic chemicals get to market, with that thinking. We, the public need to say 'NO' to all of them.

Here is an article posted by the Canadian Association of Physicians for the Environment. I believe we need to encourage our politicians, health care workers, doctors, school authorities and anyone who has a say in the toxicity of our planet to join this small but determined group of concerned doctors. Here is their position paper:

Countermeasures:

Beside the obvious of stopping the use of any of these chemicals here are a few other suggestions to protect yourself and your family:

1) Buy and eat organic Here are the details:

2) The essential way these chemical pesticides harm you is by a process called 'oxidation' Here's the skinny on oxidation…

>Oxidation ..or the mass production of free radicals.

Essentially in nature, electrons need to have their "balance". They live in harmony when they live in pairs..and they constantly seek this existence. Therefore when they are solitary....they zip around..looking for and stealing electrons indiscriminately from any other molecule or structure it can find, to bring itself back to balance.

Just visualize these free radicals careening off your cells' components and walls..literally "burning" them..changing the structures' chemistry..and creating even MORE free radicals!

Picture this...if you had a line-up of people, each with an apple in their hand..the only food they had and someone came to the top of the line and stole the first person's (let's call him Jones') apple, he'd then turn and steal from Smith, who'd then turn and steal from Brown, who'd then turn and steal from Green, etc, etc, all the way down the line. What we need is a farmer ( an antioxidant) who comes and places an apple in the one empty hand to stop the cascade of events and bring everything back to harmony.

That is essentially what is going on in free radical propagation and damage..a process called "Oxidation" and why we need "Antioxidants" or those substances which stop the madness.

When this type of damage occurs in your DNA for example, the end result is often mutations or serious changes in the DNA which replicate themselves to become cancer, possibly. Again this emphasizes the need for antioxidants.

Free radicals even damage cellular proteins..many of which are enzymes which control your body's functions..to allow it to perform at its best..and now these enzymes become either weakened or destroyed altogether...and because of this...if this process is allowed to carry on for a long time...chronic diseases of aging set in....That's what's going on.

Now, every cell has mechanisms to repair DNA damage...the problem again lies in the fact that these repairing enzymes are....proteins...which are susceptible to free radical damage themselves. This is exactly what happens with aging. Slowly, but steadily we lose the ability to repair DNA damage and our cells get old, less functional, and even dangerous if they actually turn cancerous.

As you probably guessed..all of this is a product of time...the longer we are on the planet, exposed to toxins, etc. and the longer our cells are subjected to this destructive processes..the worse the results are and the more overwhelmed our systems become.

Dr. Deb's Recommended Antioxidants:

There is absolutely no doubt that the best antidote to the negative effects of chemical pesticides is very strong antioxidants. THE number one is glutathione. Trouble is that it is not an easy nutrient to absorb. The one which I have found after 32 years of practise, which is better than any reduced gluathione or Immunocal is GSH Complex For the full story on GSH Complex see this page:

Another full spectrum antioxidant is Oxygenics

Amazon Book Links for Organic Gardening and natural pest prevention, take matters into your own hands and organically grow your own food, or landscape around your home:

There are many good viable organic, natural pesticides available such as those from Garden's Alive -

These are just a few of the excellent products for all kinds of pest removal, but are completely safe for you, your family and your pets:

Bulls-Eye BioInsecticide

Oil-Away Insecticidal Oil

Surround at Home Crop Protectant

Original WOW! (With Out Weeds)

Y2K Health and Detox is about to receive a SERIOUS facelift and move to a new site.

Yes, after 10 years in the same home, Dr. Deb is taking her act on the road and moving her well known website to a new location, name and will be offering tons of new information and services. This will be occuring in the next two to three weeks.

There will be many more times the number of solutions for alternative cures and healing...and the best yet...a Community!! Come join in...lurk about or ask your most critical questions about health, family, lifestyle, parenting and even how to help your beloved pets.

If you have received this newsletter from a friend, make sure you sign up to be notified of when the new site www.mycurefor.com is ready for action:

Notice to my Pet Subscribers: At the end of September we are launching a one of a kind healing product for pets. In early tests pets with various ailments from joint pain, to lack of vitality, parasites (a key factor to your pet's wellness), skin problems and the list goes on...were helped greatly. This product is completely natural, 100% free of any chemicals or drugs. I'm looking for people who would like to try it with their pet...FREE OF CHARGE.

The only stipulation is that we'd need before and after photos or even better, videos and a form filled in, which we will send to you, recording your pet's improvements or any changes at all. If you're interested please fill in the form below and we will get right back to you.

Stay tuned for lots of news in the next six weeks! I'll be sending more regular newsletters out to let you know all the new scoops!

Warmly,

Dr. Deb