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www.hawaiidoh.org/tgm-guidance/Pesticide-Dioxin Summary.
Posted by: Greyone | March 31, 2016 at 09:44 PM
Eleanor McBean in her book The Poisoned Needle (1957) listed seven causes of polio including sugar, operations of all kinds, and poison sprays such as DDT:
http://www.whale.to/a/mcbean5.html
Posted by: ATSC | March 29, 2016 at 11:37 AM
I wonder if ice cream had emulsifying agents like carrageenan back then. They definitely destroy part of the extracellular matrix which might make the blood-brain barrier more permeable. Carrageenan has been used in research as an agent that induces inflammation for the study of chronic illnesses. I think it is similar to lipopolysaccharide. Lab animals are injected and then show signs of chronic inflammation. I think carrageenan is not used in research as often as it once was. Maybe there are better agents to do the same thing, but it is still found in many foods. People shouldn't eat emulsifiers. Sodium lauryl sulfate is also an emulsifier, although it is often used as a surfactant. My dog can't handle even a slight exposure to carrageenan or sodium lauryl sulfate in either her food or her medication.
Posted by: Betty Bona | March 29, 2016 at 11:36 AM
@david. yes ice cream among other vectors. it's interesting that this case was so early -- in fact, earlier than any mentioned in the subsequent reports. i came across it randomly so there must be others like it in the thousands on file. i wonder if putting the epidemic later -- the official accounts have it starting in early june, and it was first publicly mentioned june 17 -- was a way of justifying not spotting it earlier, or at least not sounding the alarm. like jaws, no one wants to be the one to scare everyone to death.
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | March 29, 2016 at 10:35 AM
Interesting comment about tonsillectomies. When my older brother had his out in the 50s, they also took mine out because the doctors thought they might as well. My brother and I could keep each other company during recovery. I guess then it was standard procedure to rip out perfectly good tonsils. The terrifying hallucination I had as I was going under the ether stayed around as a recurring nightmare for the next twenty years.
Posted by: Carol | March 29, 2016 at 10:25 AM
In their book Age of Autism Dan and Mark clearly documented the human race has always been exposed and passed through a phase of "infection" with barely noticeable symptoms (usually around 10 months, teething time). Thence, acquiring permanent immunity, naturally, and by age one. Older medical historical accounts have always called serious poliomyelitis symptoms "infantile paralysis". The monumental hysteria of the early-mid 1950s, and thoughtlessly injecting already-immune children with extremely toxic new polio vaccines actually caused many deaths. BUT, OF COURSE, it wasn't death by vaccine; it was only "coincidental" -- just as we hear today, sound familiar?
Dan and Mark (and other writers) have also made the case it took ADDITIONAL toxic insults (or famine, massive pesticide** spraying in 1945-1955 era, etc.) for the polio virus to trigger more than transient flaccidity, if noticeable at all; otherwise "polio epidemics" would be chronic - unlike year 1916. **paralysis by pesticide, but blamed on the polio virus.
Since Dan has made hundreds of millions of pounds of sugar a clear suspect. Perhaps ice cream also mentioned by Dan, and so prized by young children, was made with toxic sugar? Just guessing --- .
Posted by: david m burd | March 29, 2016 at 09:30 AM
@maureen -- i was born in 1952, the peak year of the epidemic, and i too have memories of going up to bass lake near pentwater, michigan, in the summer -- i didn't realize till just recently when my sister told me, that we did it to escape summer polio outbreaks.
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | March 29, 2016 at 09:13 AM
@ richard -- i think those tonsillectomies were definitely triggers for poliomyelitis. as part of our research we learned about how the polio virus can get into the nervous system through reverse axonal transport. in other words the virus can be present in its usual areas like the stomach, but if there is some sort of opening into the nervous system, it can travel back through the nerve into the anterior horn cells at the top of the spinal column, and trigger paralysis. tonsil surgery creates that kind of opening, as does injection. there are clearcut cases of polio linked to excessive injections of antibiotics in Eastern Europe. so to us the question is, what kinds of insults create the kinds of openings that allow polio to get into the nervous system?
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | March 29, 2016 at 09:10 AM
Gary -- Thanks for pointing out my geographical confusion. I'll fix it. I agree with you the Rockefeller Institute angle is interesting. (Basically, the idea is that poliovirus they were using somehow escaped and set off the Brooklyn epidemic. this paper is here http://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOVACJ/TOVACJ-4-13.pdf.) when i was going through the archives in philly i came across a case report that i sent to the author in case it was relevant. didn't hear back, but here is my note: "I am writing in reference to your journal article about the 1916 New York polio epidemic and the possible origin of the virus. I have done research on polio, pursuing the idea of a co-factor that allows the virus to gain access to the nervous system. Recently I was looking at the nyc board of health archives at the American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia and came across this case, which mentions the Rockefeller Institute. I don't know if this is pertinent to your theory, but given that the case occurred early in 1916 in the center of the epidemic outbreak area in Brooklyn, I thought I would pass it along. These are my notes from the child's file: age 2
51 cheever place, Brooklyn floor 2 rear, 4 families in house
beginning feb 18, health dept physician visited feb 21
died march 29, 1916
on feb 28 child had vomiting, severe headache, constipated, had convulsions
doctor called to house and diagnosed meningitis, neck was also rigid
a doctor from Rockefeller institute and the family doctor often made lumbar puncture and injecrted the spine with antitoxin; mother also says that rabbit blood was inculated to the child no record of this case at the Rockefeller institute 9/5/16
Posted by: Dan Olmsted | March 29, 2016 at 09:05 AM
I'll be interested in reading the rest of your series. I have read about a possible connection between paralytic polio epidemics and the widespread practice of tonsillectomies in that era. Removing tonsils weakens the immune system in a way that leads to greater susceptibility to polio. I'm sure it was one of many factors, but it's yet another example of a common medical practice that did much more harm than good.
Posted by: Richard | March 28, 2016 at 09:40 PM
Dan: Thank you for this. I've been intensely curious about the 1916 epidemic after reading the intriguing information about the possible link to the Rockefeller Institute, I think in Dissolving Illusions. Minor geographic quibble: the Great Central Valley of California is divided, quite artificially, into the Sacramento Valley in the north, and the San Joaquin Valley in the south. Looking forward to the rest! By the way, good article in the March 28th New Yorker about schizophrenia, which has sent me back to The Age of Autism to prepare an intelligent letter of response.
Posted by: Gary Ogden | March 28, 2016 at 08:05 PM
A subject of great interest to me since I had polio(albeit a mild case and a short hospitalization). I was growing up during the big polio epidemic of the 50's. I do remember it and of course, heard the stories from my older sisters and parents. Many people believed it was spread through water(although I don't recall not being allowed to drink it). One full summer we we not allowed to go in swimming pools or even use the hose outside. Another summer we were whisked away to spend our long vacation at relatives in Green Bay Wis(via Chippewa Falls Wis.)This was because Minneapolis numbers of polio were reaching high levels. Yes, we call that an epidemic. Some years later I even wrote my 7th grade paper on what I wanted to do when I grew up --on being a physical therapist--I suspect like Sister Kenny. Enough about me though-looking forward to this series.PS I(there it is again) also remember lining up with hundreds of people in my school cafeteria for the famous(or infamous) polio vaccine-just recently developed. We call that herding.
Posted by: Maurine Meleck | March 28, 2016 at 06:27 PM
Sheri, It must be twenty years ago that I first heard about the link between DDT and paralytic polio, but I didn't really understand the extent of the spraying until I watched the horrific video, Pesticides - DDT - Rachel Carson - Silent Spring:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ipbc-6IvMQI
What the "spokesman for the chemical industry" says at 7.41 sounds familiar!
Posted by: ATSC | March 28, 2016 at 05:45 PM
Benedetta, that sounds like the Hygiene theory. My mother (back in the 50s and 60s) didn't believe in the cleanliness practice that everyone else was doing because she said all that dirt and germs and worms were good for us. I still had a brother die in 1961 from sarcoma. Could it have been the SV40 virus (in the polio vaccine) triggered by the tube of fluoride toothpaste he ate? Maybe, but the germs and dirt didn't save him. Still, I think my mother was right to respect the dirt. Mike Mutzel at High Intensity Health interviewed Moises Velasquez-Manoff recently, and he talks about the same idea. He wrote "An Epidemic of Absence - How Parasites Affect Autoimmunity and Allergies". I haven't read the book, but I did enjoy the interview. It's some of the same ideas as William Parker at Duke.
Just go to highintensityhealth.com and look for #132. There's a lot of other great stuff to view there as well. I'll be watching Kelly Brogan when I can get an hour of time to sit.
Posted by: Betty Bona | March 28, 2016 at 01:21 PM
Looking forward to the next installment.
Posted by: Jeannette Bishop | March 28, 2016 at 12:58 PM
http://www.wellwithin1.com/PolioWest.htm DDT the cause of symptoms labeled as polio
Posted by: Sheri Nakken, former RN, Homeopath | March 28, 2016 at 12:18 PM
Looking forward to the series.
Posted by: Sean Burke | March 28, 2016 at 11:32 AM
And yes, I have paid attention to what Dr. William Thompson told us - that it darn well matters when kids are vaccinated with the MMR, under the age of 12 months; and it apparently matters about how much pigment is in your skin, too.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 28, 2016 at 11:09 AM
In 1978 -79- all the students at Eastern Kentucky University, sat respectfully in their seats, taking notes; as the microbiology/parasite professor tried to explain why polio, a common stomach virus suddenly took a turn to the very dark side of paralyzing it's victims.
The explanation; That it mattered when this virus was introduced to a child's immune system. That young children crawling around on the floor did fine with this virus, it was just the older kids that later came in contact with it whose immune system could not longer handle it. That had become so very clean that the little kids were no longer coming in contact with it from crawling on the floor.
Well, it did make me wonder as a student, about the age differences in the immune system. Mumps did spring to my mind, when it came to older males, and rubella for the unborn, and whooping cough for the few days old baby. In the back of my mind what else sprang to mind; was did I really have smallpox/cowpox, or was I just too old, and that was what made my case of chicken pox really horrible; I was 9!
Does the age when you run into a microbe matter, considering that in real life, would nature set up the immune system to be that specific?
I don't think that has been answered yet.
As a young kid, I was given dairy calves to raise, and the occasionally abandoned beef calf. They die a lot, but not as tiny calves, Oh no they die when they get to be a great big half grown calf; and impossible to bury without a back hoe. They really die at that age, if they are not given the Mother's first type of milk within the allotted time. You can give the colostrum a few days later, and it does not seem to matter on the out come. They die six to nine months later.
I look so forward to your next article!
This has been a burning question for a long, long time.
Posted by: Benedetta | March 28, 2016 at 11:03 AM
Dan Olmsted, your new "Age of Polio" series lays important groundwork. Resistance to critiques of the CDC coverup are based largely on fear that but for the fragile dam of herd immunity our children will die from a deluge of polio or measles. It is a fear that needs to be thoughtfully, extensively, and respectfully addressed. Putting pathophobia in context is a big job. Here's to getting it done!
BTW, I delayed reading "Explosion Part 1" because I thought it was a reprint from your fine 2011 polio series. Readers like me need to know that "Part 1" is the first installment of an exciting new work.
Posted by: Dan Burns | March 28, 2016 at 10:39 AM
Very interesting. I look forward to part 2.
Posted by: Danchi | March 28, 2016 at 10:26 AM
Wonder what that little spike of polio at the end of the 1950s - was all about?
Posted by: Benedetta | March 28, 2016 at 10:25 AM