Chemical Preservative Found in 18 of 20 Breast Cancer Tumor Tissues Sampled

We have known for some time, with the evidence continuing to mount, that many man-made chemicals found in our environment are also found in our bodies. Many of these chemicals are carcinogenic. The unknowns include how much chemical accumulation will cause cancer and what is the effect of small amounts of hundreds of chemicals accumulating in our body. It is also very difficult to "prove" direct cause of effect, i.e.; chemical = a specific cancer in a person. The reference for the study mentioned above appeared in the Journal of Applied Toxicology vol.24, p.5. It referenced the presence of preservatives used in personal care products, cosmetics and some foods in the tumor tissue itself. Did this chemical preservative cause the cancer? That cannot be determined with scientific certainty but there are several points to be made. What other toxic chemicals may have been present providing additional carcinogenic effects? Only one chemical was tested for in the tumor tissue. From my viewpoint we would all be less likely to develop cancer if we had fewer toxins in our bodies.

The human body as well as the bodies of animals, fish and fowl deposit toxins, as a protective mechanism, in adipose tissue, that is to say fat tissue. The breast is primarily adipose tissue. The nursing infant will ingest chemicals from his/her mother during lactation and these chemicals, including pesticides, have been shown in animal studies to damage endocrine, reproductive and nervous systems.

Texas Tech University researchers found the rocket fuel perchlorate in samples of breast milk nationwide. The Environmental Working Group found traces of 287 chemicals in the umbilical cord blood of 10 infants they tested. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) in a study of 2,500 Americans in 2003 found all of the 116 man-made pollutants being investigated in the blood of these volunteers.

Bisphenol A (BPA) is a chemical found in many plastic products including baby bottles and other bottles in wide use and in personal care products. BPA disrupts hormone function. One in five American four year olds is obese. Overweight girls had significantly higher levels of phthalates (BPA type chemicals) in their body compared to the general population of children.

Metabolic syndrome, low testosterone levels in men, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, neuro-developmental problems, chronic fatigue, fibromyalgia and many more chronic health problems are tied to the presence of these chemicals in the bodies of victims of these diseases. We sincerely hope more physicians will start to address these problems in their medical practices and offices. There are treatment programs to help reduce the levels in the body and your lifestyle choices can insure you reduce exposure. It is an urgent health issue.

Alzheimer's Disease — Not Just Aluminum

It has been suggested for many years that many people who suffer from Alzheimer's disease have been shown to have deposits of aluminum in their brains and the connection between aluminum and Alzheimer's disease has been fairly well-discussed and generally accepted as, at least, a contributing factor. Alzheimer's disease (AD) was unknown prior to the 20th century. The first case was published in 1907 by a German psychiatrist by the name of Alois Alzheimer. Textbooks on pathology up to 1938 did not mention any of the neurological changes that take place within the brain that cause Alzheimer's disease. The epidemic of Alzheimer's disease increased dramatically after 1950, Alzheimer's disease tends to be more prevalent in "developed countries"'. It was around 1950 that copper plumbing became widely used in "developed countries"; it is felt that the leaching of copper from copper plumbing is a major factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease. Many diseases have multiple factors and contributing causal agents so it may well be a combination of aluminum and copper.

This potential for copper to be a contributing factor in the development of Alzheimer's disease was supported by studies with laboratory animals in which the changes in the brains of the animals, fed copper in their drinking water, were exactly the same substance called amyloid-beta that occurs in Alzheimer's disease patients' brains. It was also shown that these laboratory animals had twice as much copper lining their blood vessels in their brains. The brain can remove this amyloid-beta with a protein called LRP (lipoprotein receptor related protein). This substance escorts the amyloid out of the brain. It was found during this research that copper damages the LRP and it stops working. Of interest, the US EPA allows 1.3 parts per million of copper in human drinking water which is over ten times the amount used in these animal experiments.

There are two basic forms of copper. One is organic copper, which is in the food we eat and is bound to food proteins. It is therefore metabolized by the liver and is safe. An inorganic copper is a salt of copper, which is the kind that is typically put in nutritional supplements and leaches into drinking water. It is not metabolized by the liver and increases the body's overall copper pool where it becomes available to cause toxicity; it generates reactive oxygen species (free radicals). Free radical damage is a major feature of the Alzheimer's disease of the brain.

Research has also shown that many people with Alzheimer's disease also are deficient in zinc and zinc supplementation is typically part of a comprehensive chelation therapy program.

As far as dietary sources of copper are concerned, red meat is a common source. Processed meats including hot dogs, sausage and bacon are also a source. Copper sulfate used as a bactericide and fungicide sometimes on meat and fat and meat products can also be a source. Copper sulfate has also been used as a fungicide, bactericide in crops of rice, wild rice, cherries, oranges, wine grapes, peaches, nectarines, walnuts, almonds, lemons, apricots and grapefruit. You can also have your water tested for copper. If you have your own water treatment system, reverse osmosis is about 99% effective in removing copper.

Chelation therapy chelates or removes toxic metals from the body, including minerals such as copper and aluminum. The use of chelation therapy to treat someone who has Alzheimer's disease may be helpful, depending upon how long the condition has been obvious. It will certainly be helpful in retarding early Alzheimer's disease and a major factor in decreasing the potential of its occurring in the first place.

Other research has shown that iron can also contribute to the brain changes that occur in Alzheimer's disease. Damage to DNA is involved in Alzheimer's disease and both iron and copper interfere with the activity of two enzymes that repair DNA damage.

In addition to decreasing your exposure to copper and inappropriate levels of iron, chelation therapy to remove them should be an essential part of treating existing and contributing to preventing the advent of Alzheimer's disease. The good news is something can be done about it, and as usual, with all chronic degenerative diseases, the sooner someone commences on an appropriate program the more effective it will be and the more long lasting the benefits.

Dr. Conrad G. Maulfair, DO

Encouraging experience...

Many of us are in the throes of helping parents who are suffering from Alzheimer’s or simply needing to leave their homes behind to find simpler ways of living.  Our family recently found a care home with an apartment for my father and a care unit room for my mother.  My brother found this facility not far from our family home,I am happy to say, with a staff that has restored my confidence in retirement and care facilities.  They respect our choice to refrain from using pharmaceutical drugs as treatment choices and actually prefer when families and residents choose a drug free path. 
Both of my parents are doing well with their given situations; my Mom is easy to handle, although needing full care, in that she is happy and cooperative with her care givers and my Dad has an apartment in the same building where he can come and go as he pleases but the staff offers some oversight and encouragement to keep participating in life.  I have returned home after helping them move and now find I do not wake up in the middle of the night thinking of them and worrying about the next problems on the horizon.  Each day brought moments of dread filled thoughts about their life and deaths.  One of my friends said that when her parents died, she felt like an orphan.   I will too, one day.  Right now I feel at peace and encouraged, befriended by strangers.

The nursing staff and care givers are respectful of our wish to use non-toxic personal care products and some homeopathic things to help with the care of my mother.  My Dad is being cared for mainly by my brother for his personal needs, but the activities staff keep him informed and involved in activities.  Truthfully, my Mom who seldom smiled unless she had her family around her and was sitting on her deck on a home visit, started smiling on her first day in this facility and stayed up all day, smiling away and enjoying those others in her area and she did not go to bed until 10.  I know she cannot express herself but she can tell when she is in a good and caring place and it showed.  Reports are she is still smiling a lot.  Sleep WAS her favorite activity, next to food.

I sincerely hope there are other facilities like this one because there are so many people who get into a cycle of a drug for this and then a drug for the side effects of the first one they wind up falling or injuring themselves because they cannot really “see” their environment or they are made dizzy and wobbly from the drugs.  The quality of life is always enhanced with drug- free living and good food made from scratch.  When you add in policy and procedures that respect individual differences you have a staff that is revered and loved for their help and hard work.

My Mom used to tell us that if she ever become disabled like this to “just shoot me”.  Can’t do it.  There are too many moments when she smiles or when she sees my Dad and they look at each other with such love and longing creating for all who saw that look the knowledge that lasting love and respect is possible no matter what comes.  I do not want to live the way my Mom has to but I sure hope Conrad and I are able to keep the love we have today alive in all our tomorrows, no matter what.   My parents are actually doing just fine, its love.