March Against Monsanto Founder Tami Canal with Del Bigtree of VaXxed
Happy Father's Day from an Autism Dad Who Says: "I Am the Luckiest"

Comments

Gordon Jackman

I'm trying to make an overwhelming case for a specific disease and toxin at a particular time and place, and see where that leads. Please bear with me!

Dan - I have enjoyed your series and appreciate the case that you are making. I look forward the the rest of the series

Catherine Tamaro

A little clarification on arsenic's mechanism of toxicity: The form under discussion here (arsenite) binds to sulfur-containing enzymes and impairs cellular energy generation all over the body. A lethal dose causes death by multi-organ failure. A non-lethal dose can cause a wide variety of symptoms including heart problems, kidney problems, and skin lesions. Arsenic is not so much an immune suppressant as it is an energy suppressant, and it takes energy to mount an effective immune response. Children who were being exposed to low, intermittent doses of arsenic would be in a weakened condition which would make them more vulnerable to an infectious agent such as polio.

Dan Olmsted

In order to make the broad case that poliomyelitis epidemics have environmental co-factors, and that this paradigm applies to many diseases and disorders including autism, I'm focusing on one single epidemic (Northeast, 1916) and one single co-factor (arsenic) that I believe can be convincingly connected. So I'm not discounting DDT or the fact that immune deficiency plays a role in a disease like poliomyelitis, or that many other illnesses may behave this way. I buy that. The problem is that most people don't. I'm trying to make an overwhelming case for a specific disease and toxin at a particular time and place, and see where that leads. Please bear with me!

Ronald Kostoff

Gordon Jackman,

"Paralytic and/or bulbar Polio has always been a combination of the virus and an immune deficiency. Arsenic may well have contributed to that, as may have many other assaults on the immune system. DDT is also thought to have been a contributing factor. These days there are many Emerging Chemicals of Concern (ECC) and they show up in our wastewater systems in frightening abundance. The regulatory framework for dealing with these is stacked towards allowing manufactures to make a profit without having to take responsibility for the damage that is caused because risk analysis requires proof of damage rather than proof of safety."

Outstanding comments, with applicability to myriad pathogens.

Benedetta

TCBronson Reminded us that there are three polio virus responsible.
Which brings us back to three in the DPT, Three in the MMR.

Those three along with a suppressed immune system, the making of ATP being interred with because of arsenic. Eating sugar causing a blood sugar spike that would then fall, and then arsenic causing low blood sugar. What would happen if you ate sugar that spiked blood sugar but that sugar had something in it to make it drop. My guess would be a rapid yo-yo. .

Mad King George III with the arsenic in his hair first exhibited they thought "hereditary porphyria" from a very distant - three if not more - times great - grand mother. His skin turned purple.

Porphyria can also be acquired by heavy metal poisoning from both arsenic or mercury.

There are also two types of porphyria, the internal - causing severe stomach pain - throwing up - as well as affecting the internal organs/ The second type affects the skin some times wher the sun hits it, or it gets too cold All coming from the damaged heme, thus affecting the ability of the blood to carry oxygen. IT also involves the small blood vessels.

Dan Olmsted

Thanks Ronald more good info for coming parts of the series

Ronald Kostoff

Dan Olmsted,

"what might cause arsenic to suppress the immune system is a mystery to me"

If you access the Pubmed version of Medline, and enter the query ARSEN* AND IMMUN* AND SUPPRESS*, you should get over 100 'hits'. They address myriad issues of suppression of the immune system by arsenic. Two representative abstracts are below. The first reflects recent interest in arsenic compounds as anticancer agents. The second reflects environmental arsenic exposures' effects on the immune system. A more complex query would undoubtedly retrieve many more such articles.

ARSENIC TRIOXIDE AND MELARSOPROL INDUCE APOPTOSIS IN PLASMA CELL LINES AND IN PLASMA CELLS FROM MYELOMA PATIENTS.
Recent data have renewed the interest for arsenic-containing compounds as anticancer agents. In particular, arsenic trioxide (As2O3) has been demonstrated to be an effective drug in the treatment of acute promyelocytic leukemia by inducing programmed cell death in leukemic cells both in vitro and in vivo. This prompted us to study the in vitro effects of As2O3 and of another arsenical derivative, the organic compound melarsoprol, on human myeloma cells and on the plasma cell differentiation of normal B cells. At pharmacological concentrations (10(-8) to 10(-6) mol/L), As2O3 and melarsoprol caused a dose- and time-dependent inhibition of survival and growth in myeloma cell lines that was, in some, similar to that of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells. Both arsenical compounds induced plasma cell apoptosis, as assessed by 4',6-diamidino-2-phenylindole staining, detection of phosphatidylserine at the cell surface using annexin V, and by the terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase-mediated nick end labeling assay. As2O3 and melarsoprol also inhibited viability and growth and induced apoptosis in plasma-cell enriched preparations from the bone marrow or blood of myeloma patients. In nonseparated bone marrow samples, both arsenical compounds triggered death in myeloma cells while sparing most myeloid cells, as demonstrated by double staining with annexin V and CD38 or CD15 antibodies. In primary myeloma cells as in cell lines, interleukin 6 did not prevent arsenic-induced cell death or growth inhibition, and no synergistic effect was observed with IFN-alpha. In contrast to As2O3, melarsoprol only slightly reduced the plasma cell differentiation of normal B cells induced by pokeweed mitogen. Both pokeweed mitogen-induced normal plasma cells and malignant plasma cells showed a normal nuclear distribution of PML protein, which was disrupted by As2O3 but not by melarsoprol, suggesting that the two arsenical derivatives acted by different mechanisms. These results point to the use of arsenical derivatives as investigational drugs in the treatment of multiple myeloma.


HEALTH EFFECTS OF EARLY LIFE EXPOSURE TO ARSENIC.
Inorganic arsenic is a potent human carcinogen and general toxicant. More than one hundred million people are exposed to elevated concentrations, mainly via drinking water, but also via industrial emissions. Arsenic is metabolized via methylation and reduction reactions, methylarsonic acid and dimethylarsinic acid being the main metabolites excreted in urine. Both inorganic arsenic and its methylated metabolites easily pass the placenta and both experimental and human studies have shown increased risk of impaired foetal growth and increased foetal loss. Recent studies indicate that prenatal arsenic exposure also increases the risk of adverse effects during early childhood. There is a growing body of evidence that the intrauterine or early childhood exposure to arsenic also induces changes that will become apparent much later in life. One epidemiological study indicated that exposure to arsenic in drinking water during early childhood or in utero was associated with an increased mortality in young adults from both malignant and non-malignant lung disease. Furthermore, a series of experimental animal studies provide strong support for late effects of arsenic, including various forms of cancer, following intrauterine arsenic exposure. The involved modes of action include epigenetic effects, mainly via DNA hypomethylation, endocrine effects (most classes of steroid hormones), immune suppression, neurotoxicity, and interaction with enzymes critical for foetal development and programming.

Ronald Kostoff

David M. Burd,

"in reality, the drug treatments actually killed most all the "SARS" victims."

I searched Medline for Ribavirin and SARS. There were 151 documents retrieved. I looked at the more recent, which would have the added benefit of the perspective of time. Two of the more informative are shown below. They validate my conclusion: drugs did not work. As to whether "drug treatments actually killed most all the "SARS" victims", as you suggest, I see no basis for that conclusion from the studies below or the other studies I examined briefly.

"For too long, "peer reviewed" has been corrupted and compromised. Good luck if "peer reviewed" is your touchstone."

I am very familiar with the pros and cons of peer review. When I was in government, I published more articles and reports on peer review than probably any person in government. Peer review has its flaws, and the fact that an article has gone through peer review does not mean it should be taken as gospel. It all depends on who did the peer review, and why they were selected. However, the alternative to peer review is less credible and less palatable.

SARS: SYSTEMATIC REVIEW OF TREATMENT EFFECTS.
Stockman/BellamyGarner

Abstract
BACKGROUND: The SARS outbreak of 2002-2003 presented clinicians with a new, life-threatening disease for which they had no experience in treating and no research on the effectiveness of treatment options. The World Health Organization (WHO) expert panel on SARS treatment requested a systematic review and comprehensive summary of treatments used for SARS-infected patients in order to guide future treatment and identify priorities for research.


METHODS AND FINDINGS: In response to the WHO request we conducted a systematic review of the published literature on ribavirin, corticosteroids, lopinavir and ritonavir (LPV/r), type I interferon (IFN), intravenous immunoglobulin (IVIG), and SARS convalescent plasma from both in vitro studies and in SARS patients. We also searched for clinical trial evidence of treatment for acute respiratory distress syndrome. Sources of data were the literature databases MEDLINE, EMBASE, BIOSIS, and the Cochrane Central Register of Controlled Trials (CENTRAL) up to February 2005. Data from publications were extracted and evidence within studies was classified using predefined criteria. In total, 54 SARS treatment studies, 15 in vitro studies, and three acute respiratory distress syndrome studies met our inclusion criteria. Within in vitro studies, ribavirin, lopinavir, and type I IFN showed inhibition of SARS-CoV in tissue culture. In SARS-infected patient reports on ribavirin, 26 studies were classified as inconclusive, and four showed possible harm. Seven studies of convalescent plasma or IVIG, three of IFN type I, and two of LPV/r were inconclusive. In 29 studies of steroid use, 25 were inconclusive and four were classified as causing possible harm.


CONCLUSIONS: Despite an extensive literature reporting on SARS treatments, it was not possible to determine whether treatments benefited patients during the SARS outbreak. Some may have been harmful. Clinical trials should be designed to validate a standard protocol for dosage and timing, and to accrue data in real time during future outbreaks to monitor specific adverse effects and help inform treatment.


EFFECTIVENESS OF RIBAVIRIN AND CORTICOSTEROIDS FOR SEVERE ACUTE RESPIRATORY SYNDROME.
Lau/Cowling/Muller/Ho/Tsang/Lo/Louie/Leung

Abstract
OBJECTIVE: Ribavirin and corticosteroids were used widely as front-line treatments for severe acute respiratory syndrome; however, previous evaluations were inconclusive. We assessed the effectiveness of ribavirin and corticosteroids as the initial treatment for severe acute respiratory syndrome using propensity score analysis.


METHODS: We analyzed data on 1755 patients in Hong Kong and 191 patients in Toronto with severe acute respiratory syndrome using a generalized propensity score approach.


RESULTS: The adjusted excess case fatality ratios of patients with severe acute respiratory syndrome receiving the combined therapy of ribavirin and corticosteroids within 2 days of admission, compared with those receiving neither treatment within 2 days of admission, were 3.8% (95% confidence interval, -1.5 to 9.2) in Hong Kong and 2.1% (95% confidence interval, -44.3 to 48.5) in Toronto.


CONCLUSIONS: Our results add strength to the hypothesis that the combination of ribavirin and corticosteroids has no therapeutic benefit when given early during severe acute respiratory syndrome infection. Further studies may investigate the effects of these treatments later in disease course.

Gordon Jackman

I had polio aged 10months and have lived with the paralytic result ever since. It is well known that out of 100 people who contract the virus only one or so will actually get any resulting paralysis. It requires over %50 motor neuron mortality before reinnervation is insufficient to retain full motor capacity. For those 99 who escaped the symptoms the immune was able to confine the virus to the stomach and prevent it from entering the blood circulation system which enabled it to attack the anterior horn cells in the spinal chord and do the damage. Paralytic and/or bulbar Polio has always been a combination of the virus and an immune deficiency. Arsenic may well have contributed to that, as may have many other assaults on the immune system. DDT is also thought to have been a contributing factor. These days there are many Emerging Chemicals of Concern (ECC) and they show up in our wastewater systems in frightening abundance. The regulatory framework for dealing with these is stacked towards allowing manufactures to make a profit with out having to take responsibility for the damage that is caused because risk analysis requires proof of damage rather than proof of safety. I encourage you to look at all the spikes in the epidemic and changes in the use of pesticides - there may well be a connection, however there will always be multiple factors involved so the story is always complex, not nearly satisfying as identifying the one cause and effect.

Dan Olmsted

tim, what might cause arsenic to suppress the immune system is a mystery to me and could well be as you describe.

david m burd

Ronald Kostoff: You say " As I remember the literature when I was doing my study, none of the drug treatments worked," You're right. But, it's NOT that the "none of the drug treatments worked" -- in reality, the drug treatments actually killed most all the "SARS" victims.

Yep, you're right, "none of the drug treatments worked."

You might open your mind that some Medical Cartel contrived variation of the coronavirus carries no weight, because if you look a little bit further (it's not hard) you will find abundant references that cite 'coronavirus' was found in only a minority of SARS cases; the Medical Cartel just makes it up as they go along, and the hopelessly ignorant Media reporters parrot what they are given.

You also should seriously look up the incredible lethal toxicity of Ribavirin. I've got news for you, it doesn't take "peer reviewers", mostly in the pocket of the Pharma Industry, to judge my pharmaceutical reading of the toxicities of nucleoside analogues that are dispensed like aspirin the last couple decades, as in the SARS Farce.

It just take a literate motivated citizen (in my case, involved in science my whole life) who is not in Pharma's pocket to make rational analyses. For too long, "peer reviewed" has been corrupted and compromised. Good luck if "peer reviewed" is your touchstone.

Tim Lundeen

@ david m burd

This information that polio paralysis is preceded by injections to control fever (your reference to http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/12929860) is so incredibly frustrating. For this doctor to blithely ignore the harm being done by these fever-reducing injections, and worry that people will think that paralysis following them will mistakenly be ascribed to polio... words fail me.

We knew back in the 1950's that vaccination increases the risk of paralysis in the injected limb. It seems highly likely that any injection during an active polio infection, which is of course caused by oral polio vaccine, would increase the risk of paralysis, especially if there is an inflammatory response from the injected material. Not to mention that fever-reducers increase the risk of serious injury or death from any infection.

TCBronson

Regarding the treated wood, don't burn it:
Reprinted from the Journal of the American Medical Association
May 11, 1984, Volume 251
Copyright 1984, American Medical Association
Brief Reports
Seasonal Arsenic Exposure From Burning Chromium-Copper-Arsenate-Treated Wood
Henry A.Peters, MD; William A.Croft, DVM, PhD; Edwin A.Woolson, PhD; Barbara A.Darcey; Margaret A.Olson
• All eight members of a rural Wisconsin family experienced recurring neurological and medical illness over three years, especially during the winter months. Arsenic, in concentrations of 12 to 87 ppm, was noted in the hair of the mother and father, and analysis of hair and fingernails of all family members demonstrated pathological levels of arsenic. For four years the five-room home had been heated with a small wood stove in which outdoor or marine plywood and wood remnants had been preferentially burned. Stove ashes that contained more than 1,000 ppm of arsenic contaminated the living area, and the ratio of copper, chromium, and arsenic pentoxide in this ash matched the ratio used in the chromium-copper-arsenate-treated wood.

Ronald Kostoff

David Burd,

" I have written many years ago about these SARS fatalities on other medical blogs."

That doesn't cut it. If you have a theory and/or supporting evidence, publish it in biomedical journals, where expert peer-reviewers can scrub it. As I remember the literature when I was doing my study, none of the drug treatments worked, and the pandemic ended when strict quarantine, isolation, and hygienic measures were instituted. I believe I stated that in my paper.

"My major point is the Medical System just loves to generate bullcrap that it is always a new variety of pathogen that is going to devastated Earth, when in fact it is medical treatments."

Three points. First, it is true that the biomedical community likes to promote the idea of new pathogens, in order to gain support for developing and implementing new vaccines, new drugs, new therapies, etc. Second, medical treatments certainly are harmful or lethal in a certain number of cases, but that's only part of the picture. Third, there are many other toxic stimuli that, in combination with the 'pathogen', can cause serious illness or even death. In my view, that was the major cause of the SARS deaths. I believe I stated in the paper that none of the drug treatments worked. I don't remember any published paper at the time ascribing the deaths to drug treatments.

Look, if someone is eating a high fat diet, high fructose diet, high advanced glycation end products diet, high refined carbohydrates diet, is getting no exercise and little sleep, uses glyphosate and biosludge in their garden, drinks fluoridated water, is talking on the cell phone two hours a day, is living near a busy highway, takes ten drugs a day for various ailments, and is also taking one of the drugs you identify, why do you ascribe the major 'cause' of death to be the drug you identify? Why not any of the other contributing factors?

Ronald Kostoff

Jenny,

"Ronald, do you currently have information in your archives or your research about the presence of arsenic in food sources, how arsenic affects the nervous system and immune system, how it affects viruses and their ability to produce paralysis? Can you please share it?"

In my eBook (Pervasive Causes of Disease), I identified about 800 pervasive causes, including arsenic. The pervasive causes were defined as those contributing to a threshold number of diseases. However, the total numbers of contributing factors identified were closer to 8,000, where obviously most of them were not pervasive based on the contents of the existing biomedical literature. I suspect many more than the 800 were pervasive, but the research linking them to disease had either not been performed or had been suppressed.

I think these analyses run into problems when they look for THE cause of a particular disease. There are so many combinations of toxic stimuli to which we are exposed, where the constituents are at different time-dependent concentrations, and where our intrinsic susceptibilities differ, that I would hesitate assigning numbers to any constituent.

Think about the MMR vaccine and its relation to autism. If you were to base an analysis strictly on the published literature, giving appropriate weights to the 'quality' of the journals involved, the numbers you would obtain would be very different from what is probably occurring in the real world. I'm finding it's a sufficient challenge just to identify potential contributing factors to any disease from what I view as a corrupted biomedical literature, much less to start assigning weights to any particular contributors.

david m burd

This Medical Journal of India paper is typical of the mindset of today's medical "thinking." The author states "three quarters of children with paralytic polio receive injections (for 'fevers') just before the onset of paralysis -- ". He blithely thinks paralysis caused by these fever-injection shots are commonplace and acceptable, even though they cause nerve damage indistinguishable from true polio. All he cares about is eradicating polio? -- while fever-injections are wreaking havoc?


Natl Med J India. 2003 May-Jun;16(3):156-8.
Diagnosis of acute flaccid paralysis: injection injury or polio?
Wyatt HV1.
Author information

Abstract
In many countries, the treatment of choice for all fevers is one or more injections. These injections are associated with a risk of nerve damage. If cases of poliomyelitis are not to be missed, the diagnosis of injection trauma or traumatic neuritis (TN) must be exact. The guides for distinguishing between TN and polio are not clear. It is probable that some cases of polio are misdiagnosed as TN. As three-quarters of children with paralytic polio receive injections just before the onset of paralysis, their paralysis may be mistaken for TN. Clearer guidelines are proposed, together with suggestions for better documentation of muscles injected and paralysed. All cases of reported TN should be monitored and new diagnostic guidelines published. To protect their children, mothers must be educated to understand that injections for fever can cause harm. This must be an important part of the eradication programme for poliomyelitis.

Tim Lundeen

@dan

We are on the same page that arsenic can suppress the immune system, resulting in higher rates of paralysis and death.

But what is the mechanism by which it works? Since we know that low-blood-glucose suppresses the immune system and makes it less able to prevent serious polio complications, it could be that arsenic suppresses the immune system by causing functional hypoglycemia; it's also possible that arsenic and deoxysugar contaminants work synergistically to lower blood glucose.

david m burd

Ronald Kostoff,
As to SARS, you've been "looking in the wrong places" for what actually caused fatalities. I have written many years ago about these SARS fatalities on other medical blogs. As usual the Medical Community goes into panic-gear and promotes a "new virus strain" or some such when it is not warranted - BUT, that's the robotic mind-set of today's modern medicine.

So, what did indeed cause 873 (plus or minus a few) "SARS" deaths? It was not due to a new strain of virus (that, by the way, was only in a minority of cases).

Virtually all the SARS deaths were: First, in the elderly that always confounds a "cause of death"; Secondly, and by far the most important, two very toxic drugs were strongly administered, and quickly, to the suspected cases that ended up as fatalities. These two drugs were the nucleoside analogue Ribavirin, and corticosteroids. For instance, Ribavirin ALWAYS quickly causes hemolytic anemia -- about as stupid as it gets when an elderly patient has respiratory deficiency.

Bottom line: When Canada issued an Emergency Medical Bulletin to stop using Ribavirin, their SARS fatalities dove to zero. In SE Asia where 99% of all the other SARS fatalities were registered there is abundant medical documents citing the heavy treatments of Ribarvirin and corticosteroids of those who died, including the so-called medical hero Dr. Carlos Urbani who "discovered the SARS threat" but also took strong doses of Ribavirin.

My major point is the Medical System just loves to generate bullcrap that it is always a new variety of pathogen that is going to devastated Earth, when in fact it is medical treatments. Typical Panic, typical outcome.

Jenny

Ronald, do you currently have information in your archives or your research about the presence of arsenic in food sources, how arsenic affects the nervous system and immune system, how it affects viruses and their ability to produce paralysis? Can you please share it?

If you don't have them at this time because it's been flying under your radar, since the presence of arsenic seems to be a huge problem in many countries, for instance in their water, can you add its effects into your risk calculations, and share the analysis? I'm assuming that since you deal in the realm of calculating multiple or synergistic environmental exposures that adding one more, or combining certain ones probably comes as second nature to you at this point.

Dan Olmsted

ronald, thanks for sharing your very interesting work on SARS. i'll include it when i get to that part of the story. re your comment "Looking for THE cause is probably too restrictive" -- remember at this point i am writing solely about the 1916 outbreak in the Northeast; based on my research, it has all the characteristics of a single environmental trigger, one which can be clearly defined and isolated and is biologically plausible, even if other triggers could conceivably have the same effect. . I'll address other epidemics later. Let me know what you think after all the evidence around 1916 has been laid out. best, dan

Ronald Kostoff

Dan Olmstead,

"i'm trying to explain what made the poliovirus cause poliomyelitis but only in a small number of the infected children"

Isn't that the central problem for most 'toxic' stimuli? Not everyone who smokes gets lung cancer, but more do than expected randomly. Not everyone who eats a high-fructose diet gets diabetes, but more do than expected randomly. Not every cell phone user ends up with brain cancer, but more do than expected randomly. And, closer to home, not everyone who gets the MMR vaccine ends up with autism.

Obviously, other contributing factors are required, and they may be different for different people because of individual susceptibility differences. I did a study on the SARS pandemic of 2002-2003, looking for potential novel treatments. In doing the background survey for the final paper, I found that about 8,000 people presented with SARS symptoms, and about 800 of those died. But, those 800 were not a representative sample of the total 8,000. They had substantially more co-morbidities (other illnesses to start) than the ones who survived. The coronavirus was effectively the 'straw that broke the camel's back'!

What was also interesting that blood samples of people in highly affected regions taken during the pandemic were examined after the pandemic for presence of the coronavirus. There were many people who exhibited antibodies to the coronavirus, but who exhibited no symptoms of SARS whatsoever. So, their immune systems were sufficiently strong and unburdened to be able to handle the toxic stimulus in the way Nature intended!

I would suspect something similar is at work for the poliovirus-poliomyelitis connection. Different people were exposed to different combinations of potentially toxic stimuli, which were enough to impact the immune system adversely, and allow the virus to result in the symptoms of polio. Looking for THE cause is probably too restrictive. As I have posted previously, I believe combinations of potentially toxic stimuli (e.g., wireless radiation, glyphosate, etc) are responsible for the potential MMR vaccine-autism linkage.

Dan Olmsted

Birgit -- i have wondered about those volcanic soils. one of the very first outbreaks was on st. helena's island, where napoleon was exiled. and of course he had a lot of arsenic in his hair!

Birgit Calhoun

It's always been the heavy metals in my opinion. On a volcanic island there would be all kinds of other heavy metals. Arsenic from weed killers and maybe just the water already has arsenic. Added to that the lead and mercury and we have a fairly toxic mix.

Linda1

Benedetta,

Carpets and carpet padding are full of all kinds of toxins. When we were coming up there were fewer regulations than there are now but I think they are still hazardous. VOCs (including formaldehyde), glues, artificial dyes, stain repellents (including Scotchguard which can be applied during carpet cleaning and may be the cause of what you noticed), etc. I just looked it up and found a site that says one of the chemicals, PFCs, is linked to immune system dysfunction (among a list of other things).
http://www.momscleanairforce.org/chemical-free-carpets/

Nonnymouse

The main point at the moment is the arsenic pesticide and sugar cane, and the subsequent happenings. However, the question of dye in carpet was also intriguing.

In the mid-1970's I was in some large satellite office of IBM; not their headquarters building, but a rather large building in "flyover country."

Either the building was new, or the carpeting was. It was close to their trademark royal color, very intense, a bit darker.

It made me very, very allergic. After a while, I had to leave the building. Within the following six months or so, the same thing happened in a small auditorium -- newly built -- with that same intense blue carpeting. Same extreme allergy.

Today I wonder what was used to create that color. Aniline is the first thing that comes to mind. There is an interesting history of aniline in Scientific American. It's an excerpt from a book written by Dan Fagin, a well-known and well-respected science writer.

The title of the book is Toms River: A Story of Science and Salvation.

- - - -

The article is here:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/toms-river-excerpt-on-aniline-dye/

Dan Olmsted

Hi all -- the beer poisoning came from sulphuric acid used in refining the sugar -- so yes it was the sugar added into the brewing process that was the vector. my theory in the 1916 epidemic was that it was also sugar, but from the arsenic pesticide used in growing it. i will check on the glucose issue. to me the most likely explanation is the effect on the immune system from the arsenic, because i'm trying to explain what made the poliovirus cause poliomyelitis but only in a small number of the infected children. but anything is possible....

Jenny

Yes, I do think the arsenic poisoning of the sugars used in the England breweries is supportive of where Dan may be going with all this, since the description of the symptoms falls right in line. Looks like contaminated sugar could be a lynch pin. I suppose mash may not be great either, but depending on the source, I think. I know that mash was fed to cows, which then led to bad/tainted milk leading to the pasteurization of milk in America. Was it fine mash, or mash tainted with arsenic, or was it lack of nutrients in the mash that led to bad milk?

Any way you slice it, these articles imply the question that is important here: did we start vaccinating against a medical problem "polio" thinking polio was contagious danger to everyone when it was really a problem of environmental/heavy metal poisoning caused by accidentally poisoned sugar?

Can't wait for the next installment, Dan!

Benedetta

One more thought that just occurred to me.
In 1983 when my daughter came down with Kawasaki's disease and we wanted to know why - I had not figured out it was the DPT shot 7 weeks prior, but that came clearer as the years went by and she and her brother reacted to them faster and faster-- but anyway perhaps for others that may not be the case, as some claims on Joe's Kawasaki's website.

But they told us in 1983 that they were trying to figure it out, and the medical people did an extensive survey up in Oregon about what the kids were dong prior. They came up with nothing. So one med student asked a parent if they had did anything different in the weeks prior. The parents said they cleaned the carpets.

So they put that into the survey, and it came back kind of high about being around wet carpets. Today that theory still persist, and a lot of people thinks that is part of the answer.

On the Joes Kawasaki's disease web site; there are still plenty of people that state that they think that wet carpet played a role. They claim, that they or their kids played on a wet carpet that was near a lake thrown away, or out in the woods, or out door carpet near a marina, or near a pool deck. Deck - like can it be tracked in from a deck to the carpet in the house, or carpet cleaned at the church - which could mean more people walking in through a treated deck. I don't know - maybe it has nothing to do with it. But I do wonder if there is wet carpet present that could mean that there is water around, and if water is around could there also be more building materials made out of pressure treated wood. How is out door carpet made so durable?

If arsenic disturbs the immune system, then there is no really set distinct symptoms -- I mean the symptoms could be endless.

Gary Ogden

Benedetta: You always manage to scare the hell out of me (just joking-only sometimes). I had to add a new section to one of my raised garden beds, and couldn't find any railroad ties (I'll take creosote over arsenic or copper sulfate any day), so I used a length of treated 6 x 6. This is where I grow my garlic one year, and onions the next. I put a double layer of 6 mil plastic between the treated timber and the soil. This was a few years ago. Hope I haven't been poisoning myself all this time. No breweries here, though, just an occasional winery.

Tim Lundeen

Fascinating, Dan!

This could also fit Sandler's model of low blood glucose resulting in increased risk of polio paralysis. Some, but not all, arsenic compounds cause effective hypoglycemia: "Inhibition of insulin-dependent glucose uptake by trivalent arsenicals: possible mechanism of arsenic-induced diabetes." http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15276423 They say "Subtoxic concentrations of iAs(III) (20 microM), MAs(III)O (1 microM), or DMAs(III)I (2 microM) decreased insulin-stimulated glucose uptake by 35-45%."

Does your environmental toxicology friend know whether the arsenic contamination could result in these forms?

nhokkanen

In one Minneapolis neighborhood, "Reade Manufacturing (1938 – 1963) manufactured, blended, and stored pesticides and herbicides on the Site. Some of their products contained arsenic and/or sodium arsenite...
"Children can be exposed to arsenic trioxide in the same manner as adults. The ingestion of soil, however, may be an even more significant source of exposure since children often play in dirt and put their hands in their mouths. Inorganic arsenic also passes easily through the placenta, coming in contact with a developing fetus, and has been detected in human breast milk...."
http://www.cura.umn.edu/sites/cura.advantagelabs.com/files/publications/NPCR-1225.pdf

"The Sister Kenny Institute [in Minneapolis] was founded in 1942 as a rehabilitation-based treatment center for polio patients."
http://www.mnopedia.org/thing/sister-kenny-institute

"In attempting to reduce the risk of contracting polio, the [Minnesota] State Fair was closed during the polio epidemic of 1946. In 1950, when the number of cases indicated another epidemic, the board considered closing the county fairs."
http://www.health.state.mn.us/library/dhsjournals/Chapter3.pdf

Benedetta

Thanks Maurine - one type of poison like arsenic and then add other poisons from the vaccines.

Jenny was trying to connect wineries and breweries to all of this. Rice that absorbs arsenic is some times used along with other grains as a starter mash. And of course the sugars.

I lived within a mile of a brewery - they made bourbon, so their grain of choice was corn.
My kids grew up on the small of mash in the morning. Arsenic by air. LOL -- I am being silly.

But there is a great deal of spent mash and it was sold or given away as animal feed, esp for hogs.

There is always more saw dust, and more wasted mash than people realize.
How often is some of this stuff also used as fertilizer or at least to add organic matter to the soil for crops.

Maurine meleckMaurine Meleck

A P>S. to my other comment to Benedetta-- There is also arsenic in the soil and both kids exhibited a lot of pica when they were little.

Maurine Meleck

Benedetta, Yes, when the kids were little there was arsenic in playground equipment. There is also arsenic in carpets(new carpet being the worst) drapes, sofas and a number of other household items. It can also be in the water supply. The arsenic in these items might be easy for healthy persons to eliminate, but not for kids already damaged by vaccines.

Benedetta

Oh, pressure treated wood still uses arsenic, they just changed the ratio of chromate copper making it a lot higher and arsenic a lot lower. Copper however is rather expensive so it increases the price of the treated lumber.

Pressure treated wood is fairly safe once installed. For those cutting the wood and saw dust - might be a problem.

Pressure treated wood to keep it from leaching out, should be painted. It said oil base paint - I am not sure, I have always been told any paint. At any rate I keep all of mine painted for that very reason, I have my chicken houses up on 4 by 4 pressure treated lumber - to keep predators away.

There are plenty of those cute play gyms and houses and play sets, I wonder if they are keeping them painted.

Hinges, nails, screws and fasteners must be made of stainless steel or copper - because the chromate copper and arsenic has a tendency to leach out of the wood and deteriorate these metals.

I do wonder if these play gyms and play ground equipment might be a source.
I am not saying that they play any role in vaccine injuries, because at the time I had my kids there was no glyphosate, no pressure treated lumber - I was not around any of this when my children were small. But this pressure treated lumber caused enough problems that they changed the formula.

I had a great uncle that went into the biz of making pressure treated fence post - for the race horse fences in Lexington, Kentucky. He did really well financially. He died pretty young though, from a rare type of cancer.

Jenny

"Employment of chemists in brew- eries then received a boost, somewhat indirectly, by an unexpected conse- quence of the implementation of the 'Free Mash Tun Act' of 1880. This piece of leg- islation changed the basis on which duty was paid on beer. For the previous fifty years duty had been levied on the raw materials (primarily malt; sugar had been allowed since 1847 but was not particu- larly advantageous to use because of duty differentials), now it was to be levied directly on beer. Brewers were now free to use any wholesome source of extract they wished. This led them to employ 'malt substitutes' which soon made up around 20% of the grist for many beers. Flaked maize and rice were commonly used 'adjuncts', but many brewers pre- ferred the added convenience of ready made processed 'brewing sugars'."

Benedetta

Maurine meleck;
Do you have any idea how they got arsenic?

It was being put in treated wood for a while. I am not sure, but I think they stopped that and started using copper sulfate.

I don't know how many of you read a blog about - a woman (I think it was a woman) story about how she had the tetanus shot and right away it started hurting her and from there she took us through how she won in the vaccine court, but she thought she was just lucky.

She was working on her own log cabin until that tetanus shot.

Jenny

In the arsenic poisoning of the brewery products, I was curious as to why german beer may have been testing clean and found some documentation that could pertain. At least by the 1800's chemistry analysis of beer had already begun, some breweries employing their own chemists to test the brews and perfect the system. Others sent their stuff to be analyzed by folks outside the company. Here is a quote from one such report back to a brewer:
"I find from the nature of extract-ingredients, and the proportions in which they exist, that the Beer has been prepared from pure malt and hops only, and that neither sugars or other malt substitutes, nor bitter drugs, or so called hops substitutes have been employed in its manufacture. It is a pure, unadulterated beer . . ."
i.e. early on some considered sugar in the brewing process to be an adulteration, i.e. in 1900 maybe breweries that didnt use sugar meant no/less risk from arsenic contaminated sugar = no arsenic poisoning?

Danchi

When Iread part 8 about the arsenic it reminded me of the movie Arsenic & Old Lace where two elderly sisters were killing off older men spiking their tea or coffee with arsenic.

Benedetta

Ohh, I should have not said phosphate, but phosphorous instead. Just harder to spell even with spell check, LOL.

Maurine meleck

And I remember well the large amounts of arsenic that showed up in my grandchildren's bodies when we did frequent toxins testings. Those children on the spectrum whose immune systems are so altered that they are unable to excrete arsenic along with other toxins.

IoneSkye

Great Article.
Human beings can be so harmful.

Jenny

So very sad, what we've done to this earth and ourselves. I know certain plants are used for bioremediation to clean up industrial poisoned areas, but where are those plant remains taken if they aren't left in place? Are they buried? Are they just put somewhere and burned? And if they are burned, what is in the smoke? And when it rains, where does what is in the smoke/air at that point land? They continually burned soil in a remediation project in my area for a couple years. In my area typically the breeze blows from the west to the east. I'd watch the smoke blow out over the northern suburbs and wonder if anyone was tracking fallout/birthdefects in the coming year or so - probably not, I told myself.

I suppose that's where the phrase "dilution is not the solution" comes from in the environmental activist world.

Following along the lines of tainted sugar, after pasteurization and canning started being used, sugar would have been used in the canning process, no? Would have probably been a staple in provision stores.

Re: ice-cream talk, all this also made me wonder whether grain crops used as feed for cows (that supplied milk that would be used to produce cream for ice-cream making) may have been grown using arsenic compounds. And, speaking of concentrating poisons, could arsenic be concentrated more in the cream (fat) vs the rest of the milk liquids?

I tried a couple quick googles and stumbled across a paper about arsenic poisoning in 1900 in beer production in England, in which 6,000 were poisoned and at least 70 died, with suspicion that the death toll was higher due to misclassification : "The beer had been contaminated with arsenic. The source of contamination was arsenious acid present in glucose6 and invert sugar7 from Bostock & Co, sugar refiners of Garston, near Liverpool, which had been manufactured from sul- phuric acid containing arsenic, supplied by a firm in Leeds (Nicholson & Son). Some arsenic might also have come from malt dried with gas coke."
One of the case studies was a toddler, whose father owned a pub and was used to getting little "sups" from kindly customers. (kind of reminds me of that little girl a year or 2 back who got some kind of paralysis and it turned out her family owned a winery, or is my memory weak? was she picking a whole lot of grapes while she ran around the farm?)
Seems like the local authorities, brewers, and medical personnel put up a very good effort to solve the problem, beer was tested and, if positive for arsenic, destroyed (in some cases dumped into the water, as if . . .)
Of course there were a couple brewers who sold the beer despite knowledge of the problem, those caught were fined heavily.
I still haven't looked into cow feed grain and arsenic use, but further on in the brewery history article, a mention is made that "In some cases the arsenic had been traced to the malt or yeast used, not the sugar." And ""Some arsenic might also have come from malt dried with gas coke." There is also mention of a brewer having temporarily/recently to get their sugar from a different sugar source instead of their regular one, and that tested German beers were not experiencing the same problem. I suppose the history of those supply chains might be referenced somewhere if one was to look into it.
I highly recommend reading the article.
http://www.breweryhistory.com/journal/archive/130/Arsenic.pdf

On the flip side, there is a recent article discussing the role of how certain fats mitigate and in some cases can reverse certain kinds of liver damage in the cases of alcohol/ethynol induced liver disease, and that the liver damage mostly occurs in the presence of pufa (vegetable) oils, and discusses the mechanism by which that occurs. Although it's off topic re: the sugar discussion, since I've mentioned alcohol here, I thought I'd throw it in:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4808795/

Benedetta

Eye opening that arsenic binds up sulfur and interferes with phosphate.

Speaking of phosphate; I bought some cheap potting soil from the Dollar General Store this year, to start my tomato seeds. I have a hard time getting to Wal Mart.

The seeds came up okay, but soon became stunted. The plants turned purple color, when I transplanted them and most did not come out of it, but died.

Stunted and turning purple is an indication of lack of phosphate in the soil.
I never thought about it, but perhaps it meant a presence of arsenic in that cheap soil.

No wonder arsenic was a favorite poison for the heads of Europe nobility - if it suppresses the immune system it made it look like not poison, but some kind of natural infection.

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