Chemical Causes of Diabetes:

	Chemical Causes of Diabetes: Overeating Is Not the Only Problem Friday, July 25, 2008 by: Mark Sircus Ac., OMD, citizen journalist See all articles by this author Email this author

(Excellent, long article I found on Natural News, written by Mark Sircus. It’s full of info all the way to the very end so get ready for a long read!)

(NaturalNews) Medical science has discovered how sensitive the
insulin receptor sites are to chemical poisoning. Metals such as
cadmium, mercury, arsenic, lead, fluoride and possibly aluminum may
play a role in the actual destruction of beta cells through stimulating
an auto-immune reaction to them after they have bonded to these cells
in the pancreas. It is because mercury and lead attach themselves at
highly vulnerable junctures of proteins that they find their great
capacity to provoke morphological changes in the body. Changes in
pancreatic function are among the pathogenetic mechanisms observable
during lead intoxication.

The following is an excerpt from the Book “Survival Medicine for the 21st Century” by Dr. Mark Sircus.

“The development of insulin-dependent diabetes
mellitus is thought to be dependent on the interaction of environmental
agents with the pancreatic beta cells.” – University of Calgary

Lead exposure has been associated with an increased risk of hypertension, and is a well-established risk factor for kidney disease. Whether lead affects blood pressure indirectly through alterations in kidney function or via more direct effects on the vasculature or neurologic blood pressure control is unknown though. Researchers at Harvard Medical School
state, “Our findings support the hypothesis that long-term low-level
lead accumulation (estimated by tibia bone lead) is associated with an
increased risk of declining renal function particularly among diabetics or hypertensives, populations already at risk for impaired renal function.”

Cadmium is a widespread environmental pollutant that accumulates in the pancreas and exerts diabetogenic effects in animals. In a large cross-sectional study, urinary cadmium levels are significantly and dose-dependently associated with both impaired fasting glucose and diabetes.
Transsulfuration pathways in the body are fundamental for life. When mercury blocks thiol groups cellular proteins
lose their reactive properties, lose their ability to carry out their
routine function. Insulin has three sulfur-containing cross-linkages
and the insulin
receptor has a tyrosine kinase-containing sulfur bond, which are the
preferred targets for binding by both mercury and lead. Should mercury
attach to one of these three sulfur bonds it will interfere with the
normal biological function of the insulin molecule. Mercury, many times
more toxic than lead, is so dangerous exactly because it is
collapsing/damaging critical sulfur-containing cross-linkages which
change the geometry of both insulin receptor sites and insulin itself.

“Commercials tell children that junk food is good food — the latest message from an industry that spends $10 billion a year marketing to children.” – New York Times

Food is not considered junk just because of high fat or sugar content, there is a long list of poisonous chemicals used by the food industry that are striking people down. And there are many serious nutritional deficiencies in today’s food that diminish the body’s capacity to deal safely with these chemicals and heavy metals — with magnesium and selenium deficiencies at the top of the list.
For instance, according to Dr. Ellen Silbergeld, a researcher from the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health, the poultry industry’s practice of using arsenic
compounds in its feed is something that has not been studied: “It’s an
issue everybody is trying to pretend doesn’t exist.” Arsenic exposure
is a risk factor for diabetes mellitus. Inorganic arsenic is considered
one of the prominent environmental causes of cancer
mortality in the world. Chicken consumption may contribute significant
amounts of arsenic to total arsenic exposure of the U.S. population
according to the Journal Environmental Health Perspectives.

“Arsenic acts as a growth stimulant in chickens — develops the meat faster — and since then, the poultry industry
has gone wild using this ingredient,” says Donald Herman, a Mississippi
agricultural consultant and former Environmental Protection Agency
researcher who has studied this use of arsenic for a decade. At mean
levels of chicken consumption (60 g/person/day), people may ingest
1.38-5.24 micrograms/day of inorganic arsenic from chicken alone. At
the 99th percentile of chicken consumption (350 g chicken/day), people
may ingest 21.13-30.59 micrograms inorganic arsenic/day and 32.50-47.07
micrograms total arsenic/day from chicken. This can lead to prostate
cancers. It can also cause neurological, cardiovascular,
gastrointestinal, and immune system abnormalities. The feeding of arsenic to chickens in the United States releases hundreds of tons of arsenic into the environment every year in the form of poultry manure, which is spread on fields as fertilizer.

Researchers
from the Department of Internal Medicine, National Taiwan University
Hospital found, “The association between arsenic exposure and diabetes
mellitus is a relatively new finding. Up to now, there are six
epidemiologic reports linking diabetes mellitus with arsenic exposure
from environmental and occupational sources. Two reports in Taiwan
carried out in the blackfoot disease — hyperendemic villages, one
cross-sectional and one prospective follow-up of the same cohort –
indicate that arsenic exposure from drinking artesian well water is associated with prevalence and incidence of diabetes mellitus in a dose-responsive pattern.

The
observation of the relation between arsenic exposure and diabetes
mellitus is further supported by studies carried out in Sweden and
Bangladesh. In Sweden, case-control analyses of death records of copper
smelters and glass workers revealed a trend of increasing diabetes
mellitus with increasing arsenic exposure from inhalation. In
Bangladesh, prevalence of diabetes mellitus among arsenic-exposed
subjects with keratosis was about five times higher than unexposed
subjects.”

Wistar rats were made diabetic with a single injection of Alloxan

Another example is Alloxan. Studies show that Alloxan, the chemical that makes white flour
look “clean and beautiful” destroys the beta cells of the pancreas.
Scientists have known of the alloxan-diabetes connection for years yet
there seems to be a conspiracy that defends the integrity of the FDA, which allows dangerous chemicals that can cause diabetes to be used in drugs and food. “A growing body of research shows that pesticides and other contaminants are more prevalent in the foods we eat, in our bodies, and in the environment than we thought,” all confirming the chemical nightmare in progress.

According to research conducted by Dr. H.J. Roberts, a diabetes specialist, a member of the ADA, and an authority on artificial sweeteners, aspartame:

1) Leads to the precipitation of clinical diabetes.

2) Causes poorer diabetic control in diabetics on insulin or oral drugs.

3) Leads to the aggravation of diabetic complications such as retinopathy, cataracts, neuropathy and gastroparesis.

4) Causes convulsions.

Dr.
Roberts said, “The loss of diabetic control, the intensification of
hypoglycemia, the occurrence of presumed ‘insulin reactions’ (including
convulsions) that proved to be aspartame reactions, and the
precipitation, aggravation or simulation of diabetic complications
(especially impaired vision and neuropathy) while using these
products.” The FDA’s own toxicologist, Dr. Adrian Gross told Congress
that without a shadow of a doubt, aspartame can cause brain tumors and
brain cancer and violated the Delaney Amendment which forbids putting
anything in food that is known to cause Cancer. It is a monstrous crime to poison the food and water supplies
yet this is exactly what the FDA has been approving and undoubtedly
they are, in large part, responsible for flaming the diabetic winds. As
the use of MSG and aspartame grows, the incidence of obesity appears to be growing.

MSG causes a very large insulin response after it is ingested since there are glutamate receptors in the pancreas. MSG opens calcium
channels, thus constricting blood vessels –- this may put diabetics
with high blood pressure at risk by negating calcium channel blocker
medication. In 1968, John W. Olney, M.D., a respected researcher at
Washington University Medical School, St. Louis, Missouri, and member
of the National Academy of Science, found that mice in his laboratory
that were being used to replicate a 1957 study by Lucas and Newhouse,
in which the administration of MSG had resulted in retinal damage, had
become grotesquely obese. Since 1969, many scientists have confirmed
Dr. Olney’s findings of damage to the hypothalamus from MSG with
resulting obesity. Even the rats used in obesity, diabetes and exercise
studies are made obese by injecting MSG. MSG may cause food addiction
and though efforts have been made to reduce its use in processed and
restaurant foods, it remains hidden by semantics, now called such
things as “hydrolyzed protein”. Scientists in Spain have recently
concluded that MSG when given to mice increases appetite by as much as
40%.

There is abundant literature demonstrating that MSG and
aspartic acid cause hypothalamic lesions which, in turn, can cause
gross obesity. Although there are a number of causes for obesity, there
is no question that one of the main causes for the obesity epidemic is the ever increasing use of MSG and aspartame.

We
know that the hypothalamus is very immature at birth. The damage to
this structure of the brain by MSG leads to severe endocrine problems
later in life, among them decreased thyroid hormone, increased tendency
toward diabetes, and higher cortisone levels than normal. A child
consuming a soup containing MSG plus a drink with NutraSweet will have
a blood level of excitotoxins six times the blood level that destroys
hypothalamus neurons in baby mice.

And we are just beginning to
hear that a massive mistake has been made with genetically modified
foods, which can only fan those diabetic winds. Dr. Arpad Pusztai, for
instance, has already shown that genetically-manipulated foods can,
when fed to animals in reasonable amounts, cause very gradual organ and
immune system damage. Another study, carried out by Dr. Irina Ermakova
at the Institute of Higher Nervous Activity and Neurophysiology, at the
Russian Academy of Sciences, found that more than half of the offspring
of rats fed on modified soya died in the first three weeks of life, six
times as many as those born to mothers with normal diets. Dr. Manuela
Malatesta and colleagues in the Universities of Pavia and Urbino in
Italy, showed that mice fed on GM soya experienced a slowdown in
cellular metabolism and modifications to the liver and pancreas. Researchers are reviving fears that GM food damages human health and certainly would not be indicated for children or for people with diabetes.

Many bottled soft drinks and related beverages contain benzene, a well-known carcinogen. The EPA
defines a “safe” level of benzene as zero. Yet the Environmental
Working Group, a watchdog organization, found levels of benzene in soft
drinks at levels between 5 and 138 parts per billion.
A fair amount
of benzene is taken in by our bodies by air pollution and drinking
water. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has known for almost 15
years that potassium benzoate and sodium benzoate react with ascorbic acid to form benzenes. Potassium benzoate, sodium benzoate and ascorbic acids are all commonly used to preserve freshness in soft drinks.

The
excess of diabetes reported for the Benzene Sub registry occurred in
the group aged 10 to 17 years, suggesting it is likely that IDDM is the
type of diabetes most prevalent. It has been demonstrated that most
IDDM patients have autoantibodies to the pancreas (Lernmark et al.,
1981), as well as to other organs Benzene has been shown to stimulate
the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenocortical (HPA) axis of mice (Hsieh et
al., 1991), accompanied by increased ACTH/corticosterone release into
the blood.

Corticosteroids are associated with the development
of diabetes by reducing insulin sensitivity, or possibly by impairing
islet function frequently associated with the development of impaired glucose tolerance. The secretion of anti-insulin hormones,
such as growth hormones or adrenocorticotrophic hormone (ACTH), are
also believed to play an important role in IDDM development (Rodriguez,
1986). Steroid hormones play an important role in determining the
severity of beta cell damage in the infected mouse, with androgens and
glucocorticoids being particularly critical (Craighead, 1981). Ethanol
can enhance the immunosuppressive effects of benzene. In addition, it
has been demonstrated that various benzene metabolites depress the
production of interferon (Cheung et al., 1988; Popp et al., 1992). IDDM
is associated with a variety of hematologic changes (such as anemia)
and malignancies (such as lymphocytic leukemia, lymphoma, and multiple
myeloma) that might be directly related to or simply coincidental with
the diabetes (Bern, 1982). From the literature reported it can be seen
that all of these conditions are also associated with exposure to
benzene.

Anthropogenic emissions
to the air are approximately 34,000 metric tons per year (USEPA, 1989),
Absorption of benzene varies with route of exposure. In humans,
respiratory uptake has been determined to vary from approximately 47%
(Nomiyama and Nomiyama, 1974) to 80% (Srbova et al., 1950), although
dermal absorption can range from 0.05% to 0.2% (Franz, 1984).
Absorption data for oral exposure in humans is not available; however,
in animals, absorption rates following oral exposure to benzene were
found to be from 90% to almost 100% (Parke and Williams, Ingestion of
contaminated food items has been suggested as a potentially important
pathway of human exposure to benzene (Hattemer-Frey et al., 1990 and
many foods contain high levels of benzene. Benzene is ubiquitous in the
environment, having been measured in air, water, and human biological
samples. The major environmental sources include automobile exhaust,
automobile refueling, hazardous waste sites, underground storage tanks
that leak, waste water from industries that use benzene, chemical
spills, chemical manufacturing sites, and petrochemical and petroleum
industries (Fishbein, 1992; Edgerton and Shah, 1992).

Recently
drinking more than one soft drink daily — whether it’s regular or diet
– may be associated with an increase in the risk factors for heart disease and diabetes, Framingham researchers reported in Circulation: Journal of the American Heart Association.
“In those who drink one or more soft drinks daily, there was an
association of an increased risk of developing the metabolic syndrome.”
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of cardiovascular disease and diabetes risk factors including excess waist circumference, high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL “good” cholesterol) and high fasting glucose levels.

Prior
studies linked soft drink consumption to multiple risk factors for
heart disease. However, this study showed that the association not only
included drinking regular calorie-laden soft drinks, but artificially
sweetened diet sodas as well, researchers said. “If you are drinking
one or more soft drinks a day, you may be increasing your risk of
developing metabolic risk factors for heart disease.”

The
researchers also observed that compared to participants who drank less
than one soft drink daily, those who drank one or more soft drinks a
day had a:

* 31 percent greater risk of developing new-onset obesity (defined as a body mass index [BMI] of 30 kilograms/meter2 or more);

* 30 percent increased risk of developing increased waist circumference;

* 25 percent increased risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high fasting blood glucose;

* 32 percent higher risk of having low HDL levels. “It didn’t matter whether it was a diet or regular soft drink”.

“Results
also don’t appear to be driven by the dietary pattern of soft drink
users, i.e, by other food items that are typically consumed along with
soft drinks,” Vasan, the study author, said. So perhaps what we have
blamed for so long, the high fructose corn syrups, the empty calories,
the aspartame in soft drinks, is not the only thing causing an increase
in these diabetic risk factors. In combination with benzenes, it is
highly likely that we have found yet another toxic substance that adds
to our inability to avoid diabetes.

“Diabetes may in fact be a
major side effect of antibiotics and other common pharmaceuticals.” -
Dr. Lisa Landymore-Lim, Independent scientist for Atomic Health Limited

Doctors
are on notice that many drugs have toxic effects that can participate
in destroying insulin creation and cell receptivity to it. In her 1994
book, Poisonous Prescriptions, Landymore-Lim says that diabetes may in
fact be a major side effect of pharmaceutical drugs. The book provides
evidence from studies and hospital
records. Diabetes, usually thought to be largely a genetic disorder,
may actually have increased so much in the last 50 years due in large
part to the proliferation in the use, and over-use, of medicines. In
2004 the American Diabetes Association,
the American Psychiatric Association, the North American Association
for the Study of Obesity, and the American Association of Clinical
Endocrinologists made a similar announcement warning people to be
careful to watch for signs they are developing diabetes, obesity or
high cholesterol if they are taking Abilify, Clozaril, Geodon,
Risperdal, Seroquel or Zyprexa. What medicines, food and water have
increasingly in common are the chemical poisons they contain.

Researchers at the University of Liverpool recently released their studies that examined the toxic effects on nerve cells in the laboratory of using a combination of four common food additives
– aspartame, monosodium glutamate (MSG) and the artificial colourings
brilliant blue and quinoline yellow. The findings of their two-year
study were published at the end of 2005 in the journal Toxicological Sciences.
The Liverpool team reported that when mouse nerve cells were exposed to
MSG and brilliant blue or aspartame and quinoline yellow in laboratory
conditions, combined in concentrations that theoretically reflect the
compound that enters the bloodstream after a typical children’s snack
and drink, the additives stopped the growing of nerve cells and
interfered with proper signaling systems. The mixtures of the additives
had a much more potent effect on nerve cells than each additive on its
own.

The study reported that the effect on cells could be up to
four times greater when brilliant blue and MSG were combined and up to
seven times greater when quinoline yellow and aspartame were combined,
than when the additives were applied on their own. What we can begin to
conclude is that future research is going to show how all the toxic chemicals
in the food, air, water and medicines we consume are combining to
destroy our health. Any one poison discussed here in sufficient
quantity can destroy cell physiology, the pancreas beta cells, and diminish cell receptivity to insulin.

We
are depending more and more on processed foods, and with each year, the
FDA approves more and more chemicals for use in foods. With each year,
the food industry is using more and more chemicals in their products.
These chemicals increase shelf life, kill bacteria, improve taste,
replace fats,
replace carbohydrates, and cause chronic diseases that eventually kill
people. Junk food is really a cover up image for something quite a bit
nastier than the image that junk congers. Junk foods are actually
slow-acting poisons because they come to us loaded with highly toxic
chemicals. We can only imagine the worst when we think about FDA
approval processes for in reality the FDA is poisoning the public. The
FDA is the wellhead of most iatrogenic diseases and death. There is no
excuse for an agency charged with protecting public health to have allowed the massive poisoning of the public via food, drugs and public water supplies.

Bisphenol A Exposure May Lead to Obesity

Bisphenol A (BPA) exposure may lead to obesity, altered glucose metabolism, insulin resistance and Diabetes. Not only are chemicals used in foods, affecting the rates of diabetes, but chemicals used in everyday plastics are contributing to the rise in obesity and insulin resistance.

Debate over BPA is one of the most contentious environmental health
issues faced by government and industry. Traces are found in the bodies
of nearly all Americans tested, and low levels — similar to amounts
that can leach from infant and water bottles –- mimic estrogen.

Extensive scientific literature reports adverse health effects from bisphenol A at very low doses. Studies show that bisphenol A can alter the expression of several hundred genes
with effects varying among special tissues and depending upon the
timing of exposure. More than 150 laboratory animal studies suggest
that bisphenol A exposure at very low doses is linked to a staggering
number of health problems,
including prostate and breast cancer, obesity, hyperactivity, diabetes,
altered immune system, lowered sperm count, and early puberty.

A
study by Dr. Beverly Rubin and her colleagues at Tufts University
Medical School showed that bisphenol A makes rodents grow larger after
they are exposed in the womb, confirming similar findings from previous
studies (17). When rats were fed 100 µg/kg/day of bisphenol A during pregnancy
through lactation, their offspring were notably heavier after birth and
into adulthood. Significantly, in the female offspring, the lower of
the two bisphenol A doses used in the study produced a larger and more
persistent effect on body weight
relative to the higher dose. In addition, the fact that the effect
persisted long after exposure for the female offspring suggests that
bisphenol A may increase the number of fat cells in the rats and predispose them to heavier weight throughout life.

In
2002, a team of researchers at the Ehime College of Health Science in
Japan discovered that bisphenol A can increase the conversion of
embryonic cells into fat cells (18). In the body, this effect could
result in larger numbers of fat cells developing. In addition to
converting to fat cells, treated cells increased their fat content by
150 percent over 11 days. Combined with insulin, bisphenol A increased
the fat content of cells by 1300 percent. In other words, this
experiment documented that bisphenol A could trigger and promote the
two main processes in developing obesity. In 2004, another study
confirmed these findings, showing that bisphenol A alone and with
insulin increased the uptake of sugar into fat cells (19).

A
recent study by Dr. Paloma Alonso-Magdalena and her colleagues showed
that low-level, chronic exposure of adult mice to 10 µg/kg/day of
bisphenol A caused insulin resistance, the precursor to Type II
diabetes in people as well as hypertension and cardiovascular disease
(20). Dr. Alonso-Magdalena’s study showed that even a single dose of
bisphenol A at levels currently found in humans can result in altered
levels of blood glucose and insulin, and twice daily exposure for just
four days results in insulin resistance.

Several studies show an
increased rate of postnatal growth in both males and females as a
result of maternal doses between 2.4 and 500 µg/kg/day (21).
Accelerated postnatal growth is associated not just with obesity but
with insulin resistant diabetes, hypertension, and heart disease as
well.

Is it any wonder that we are seeing the rising rate of
diabetes in our children and adolescents? The use of bisphenol A and
the products containing them have increased through the years as our
use of glass and safer non plastic containers has decreased. Its hard
to even find non-plastic onctainers for everyday use. And what is
especially disturbing is news coming to light that bisphenol A is being
used in baby bottles for the feeding of our infants at a very early age.

The number of children in the U.S. that are overweight
have doubled in the last 30 years (National Institutes of Health).
Currently about 20% of children, or one child in five is overweight.
The increase is true for children and adolescents of all age groups and
races and for boys and girls.

Rising Obesity Trend in Adolescents

Bisphenol
A is a polycarbonate plastic. Bisphenol A-based polycarbonate is used
as a plastic coating for children’s teeth to prevent cavities, as a
coating in metal cans to prevent the metal from contact with food
contents, as the plastic in food containers, refrigerator shelving,
baby bottles, water bottles, sport drink bottles, returnable containers
for juice, milk and water, micro-wave ovenware and eating utensils. In
a small prospective study, researchers in Japan report that bisphenol A
levels are higher in women with a history of repeated spontaneous
miscarriages. This research was based on proof that BPA causes meiotic
aneuploidy in mice. Meiotic aneuploidy is the commonest cause of miscarriage in people.

The
effects of this chemical on our chromosomes will reach into generations
yet to come affecting not only ourselves, but our children and our
grandchildren. Researchers have found that the effects of continual low
dose exposures may not show up for years. Growing children are
particularly at risk to toxic chemicals in their environment because
they are physiologically more susceptible to them.

The Lancet analysed the prevalence of Type 2 diabetes
in Ontario, Canada between 1995 and 2005. It found an increase of 69
per cent over the 10 years compared with the World Health
Organisation’s prediction of a 39 per cent increase between 2000 and
2030. Dr. Lorraine Lipscombe, of the Institute for Clinical Evaluation
Science, Toronto, said that it also saw a higher rise in the rate of
cases in younger people under 50 than in older people. “A 27 per cent
increase has taken place after only five years,” she said. “Rising
rates of obesity could be the cause of this striking growth and
effective public health interventions to manage and prevent obesity are
sorely needed.”

The CDC
says that diabetes is disabling, deadly and on the rise. The incidence
of diabetes is skyrocketing not only in adults but in the juvenile
population as well. Healthcare experts have called the alarming rise in
diabetes and its related complications “an epidemic” that threatens to
spiral out of control.

In 1997, 15.7 millions adults in the
United States were reported to have diabetes. By the year 2002, this
number had already swelled to 18.0 million or 8.7% of all adults.
Diabetes and its complications now claim hundreds of thousands of lives
in the U.S. each year, incurring total expenses of over $130 billion in
direct and indirect costs to the healthcare
system. Worldwide, the number of people with adult-onset diabetes is
predicted to explode in the next 10 years, doubling to an estimated 221
million people. By contrast only 43,171 people in the United States
were diagnosed with AIDS and only 18,017 died.

Scientists
have discovered a variant gene that leads to a sizable extra risk of
Type 2 diabetes — 38 percent of Americans who have inherited a single
copy of the gene have a 45 percent greater risk of Type 2, the
estimated 7 percent who carry two copies are 141 percent more likely to
develop the disease. What scientists are saying is that if all the
variant genes in the population were erased, so would be 21 percent of
diabetes cases. Another way of expressing variations in genetic makeup
is constitution. Some people are gifted with stronger constitutions
(genes) than others and are more able to stand up to massive chemical
assaults on their bodies. Genetic causes do not in anyway explain the
explosive increases in diabetes but increasing concentrations of
environmental poisons penetrating our bodies via our air, water, food
and medicines can evoke breakdowns in genetic function.

Women
who reported mixing and applying agricultural pesticides during early
pregnancy have a two times higher risk of developing gestational diabetes
during the pregnancy. The strong association between first trimester
pesticide exposure and gestational diabetes mellitus suggests that
pesticide exposures may affect glucose metabolism and insulin
resistance. Specifically, four herbicides (2,4,5-T; 2,4,5-TP; atrazine;
or butylate) and three insecticides (diazinon, phorate, or carbofuran)
were associated with reporting gestational diabetes. Women who reported
agricultural pesticide exposure (mixing or applying pesticides to crops
or repairing pesticide application equipment) during pregnancy were
more than twice as likely to report GDM as compared to women reporting
no pesticide use in pregnancy.

Exposure to dioxins by any route
is known to cause various systemic effects in exposed animals. The
general population is exposed to small amounts of dioxins, as
exemplified by the fact that dioxins have been found in virtually all
samples of adipose tissue and blood (serum lipids) from individuals
with no known previous exposure. It is primarily the dioxins with chlorine atoms in the 2, 3, 7 and 8 positions that are retained in animals and humans and which selectively concentrate in body fat and lipids. A recent study on the health status of Vietnam veterans
who participated in Operation Ranch Hand did not find any signs of
liver disease, but did report increased levels of triglycerides and
cholesterol in the blood (a second report does not support these
increases). In addition, an increase in body fat, diabetes, and blood
pressure were also noted. These effects were strongly associated with
TCDD levels in the serum.

Ranch Hand veterans also had changes
in blood (increased white blood cells, platelet, IgA, and sedimentation
rates) which suggest a chronic inflammatory response. It has take two
decades of litigation for the U.S. Government to finally recognize the
devastating effects of dioxin exposure that have disabled our veterans
with cancers and diabetes. The average time it takes to remove one half
of the TCDD from the body is around 7 years. The half-lives of other
dioxins in the body are not known. About 98% of the daily intake of
dioxins for the general population comes from ingesting food and milk.
Inhalation exposure to dioxins for the general population constitutes a
minor portion of daily intake. Average intake of TCDD for adults has
been calculated to be about 25 picograms (pg) per day or 0.35 pg per
kilogram (kg) of body weight per day. If all dioxins and furans are
included and TEFs are used, the total average daily intake of TCDD
equivalents for adults is about 90 pg/day or 1.3 pg/kg body wt/day.

There
are numerous other sources that contribute to dioxins in the
environment. Dioxins are known to form concurrently with furans during
combustion processes such as: incineration of municipal solid waste and
industrial waste, and are associated with ash generated in the
incineration process. Emissions from these sources vary greatly and
depend on management practices and the applied technologies. Combustion
of many chlorine-containing materials (such as plastic material like
polyvinyl chloride, paper, wood treated with pentachlorophenols,
pesticide-treated waste, and PCBs)
can produce dioxins and furans. Dioxins and furans have also been
detected in emissions from coal-fired power plants, home-heating
systems, exhaust from cars running on leaded gasoline, and cigarette
smoke.

Phthalates are a group of man-made chemicals that are
structurally related to the organic acid, phthalic acid. The most
important use of phthalates
is in plastics, especially PVC where they act as plasticisers.
Phthalates are also present in a wide range of industrial, household
and consumer products, including personal care products. such as nail
polish, hair sprays, soaps, shampoos, perfumes, moisturizers. They are
found in pipes, vinyl wall and floor coverings, roofing materials,
safety glass, car parts, lubricating oils, detergents, food packaging,
adhesives, paints, inks, medical tubing, blood bags, pharmaceuticals,
footwear, electrical cables, stationery, and (until recently) in toys.

More
than 75% of the U.S. population carries detectable levels of several
phthalate metabolites. Studies have found associations between some
phthalate metabolites and antiandrogenic effects in humans, including
both infant and adult males. Recently a study published in Environmental Health Perspectives
showed that exposure to phthalates correlated with two metabolic
abnormalities in men: abdominal obesity and insulin resistance. Four
phthalate metabolites were significantly associated with greater waist
circumference and three with increased insulin resistance,
PCP
(organic chemical Pentachlorophenol) was used in the timber industry
for years as a cheap treatment for sapstain, a fungal infection
commonly found in softwoods such as pine. It is an organic chemical
produced by reacting chlorine gas with phenol. The process creates a
number of toxic impurities such as tetrachlorophenol, hexachlorobenzene
and several types of dioxins and dibenzofurans. The main route of
absorption is through the skin. Some of the more chronic health
effects, including cancer and diabetes, do not appear until long after
exposure. The sawmill workers were constantly exposed to PCP as they
mixed chemicals and handled wet, treated timber.

According to
the World Health Organization DIAMOND Project Group on Epidemics, a
major difficulty in the area of IDDM research — despite strong
epidemiologic evidence that environmental agents are potent causes of
IDDM (Diabetes Epidemiology Research International, 1987) — is that
the identification of such agents has been elusive. It is noteworthy
that several recent epidemiologic studies have reported that the
incidence of IDDM is increasing, suggesting that long-term changes in
the environment are altering the probability of eventual diabetes.

Among
the most pernicious substances ever created is a group of chemicals
known as POPs or Persistent Organic Pollutants. Among them: DDT,
dioxins, PCBs and Chlordane. And even though twelve POPs — the
so-called “dirty dozen” — were restricted or banned by international
convention in 2003, they continue to pose a threat to people and
wildlife because POPs accumulate in the food we eat. Virtually every
person on the planet has POPs in their body and the chemicals have been
linked to cancers, birth defects and disabilities. Now a group of
researchers in Korea have found strong evidence linking POPs and
diabetes.

Dr. David Carpenter, Professor of Environmental Health
and Toxicology at the State University of New York at Albany, reviewed
the Korean study and said, “Well, one considers individual pollutants
the magnitude was between three and five fold increased risk but the
most striking observation was when they considered the sum of all six
pollutants that they monitored and they selected pollutants that we all
have in our bodies so that very few individuals had levels below the
level of detection. Under those circumstances they were getting
increased risk of the order of thirty-eight fold which is absolutely
enormous.”

“The amount of persistent organic pollutants in each
person’s body is a reflection of their diet, where they live, what the
concentration of these substances is in the air they breathe, and
probably
related to how rapidly they metabolize these compounds.” – Dr. David Carpenter

Dr.
Carpenter continued saying, “The most interesting observation in this
paper is that there was no relationship between being obese and
developing diabetes in those persons that did not have high levels of
these organic pollutants in their bodies. It may well be that people
that are obese eat much more animal fat than people that are not obese
and these persistent organic pollutants are all found in animal fats.
So the question really is whether it is the obesity that leads to the
diabetes or rather the presence of these persistent organic pollutants.
It may well be that it’s the pollutants that cause the diabetes, not
the obesity.”

“In the human body these compounds last about ten years before you get rid of half of them.
In the environment they’re even more persistent.” – Dr. David Carpenter

Food
is not considered junk just because of high fat or sugar content, there
is a long list of poisonous chemicals used by the food industry that
are striking people down. And there are many serious nutritional
deficiencies in today’s food that diminish the bodies capacity to deal
safely with these chemicals and heavy metals — with magnesium and selenium deficiencies at the top of the list.

Magnesium
deficiency is a predictor of diabetes; diabetics both need more
magnesium and lose more magnesium than most people. In two new studies,
in both men and women, those who consumed the most magnesium in their
diet were least likely to develop type 2 diabetes, according to a
report in the January 2006 issue of the journal Diabetes Care.

The
human race is facing an abyss, a massive breakdown in body chemistry.
All indications suggest that the medical industrial complex will not
squarely face the facts and the research and will not work in earnest
to reduce the chemical exposures the masses are facing. Too much money
is involved in manufacturing hundreds of millions of tons of chemicals
each year and huge fortunes are made by the economic elite in the sale
of toxins that
are dragging large segments of the population to their sick beds and
early graves. Our civilization is poisoning itself and the medical and
dental communities participate with passion.

References:

Yoon,
JW et al. Effects of environmental factors on the development of
insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. Department of Microbiology and
Infectious Diseases, Julia McFarlane Diabetes Research Unit, University
of Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Clin Invest Med. 1987 Sep;10(5):457-69

Toxicity
of Fluoride to Diabetic Rats. C.A.Y. Banu Priya et al; International
Society for Fluoride Research; FLUORIDE 30 (1)1997, pp 51 – 58 (http://www.fluoride-journal.com/97-…)

Professor
I.M. Trakhtenberg. Trakhtenberg, I.M. From Russian translation. Chronic
Effects of Mercury on Organisms. In Place of a Conclusion Thiol
poisons, especially mercury and its compounds, reacting with SH groups
of proteins lead to the lowered activity of various enzymes containing
sulfhydryl groups. This produces a series of disruptions in the
functional activity of many organs and tissues of the organism.

Timoshina
IV, Liubchenko PN, Khzardzhian VG. Ter Arkh. 1985;57(2):91-5. [Article
in Russian] Examination of the exocrine function of the pancreas in 52
workers exposed to lead, including 36 with the symptoms of intoxication
(mild in 33 and marked in 3) revealed the primarily hyposecretory
response of acinar cells stimulated with pancreozymin and secretin,
while the hyposecretory and dyspancreatic responses were recorded less
frequently. The endocrine function of the pancreas was revealed to be
also lowered, which was confirmed by the decreased blood fasting
insulin content and low blood insulin content after glucose intake as
well. The changes in pancreatic function are among the pathogenetic
mechanisms of the abdominal syndrome observable during lead
intoxication.

Shirng-Wern Tsaih et al. Lead, Diabetes,
Hypertension, and Renal Function: The Normative Aging Study. Harvard
Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts. Environmental Health
Perspectives Volume 112, Number 11, August 2004

Cadmium sources:
Tap water, fungicides, marijuana, processed meat, rubber, seafood (cod,
haddock, oyster, tuna), sewage, tobacco, colas (especially from vending
machines), tools, welding material, evaporated milk, airborne
industrial contaminants, batteries, instant coffee, incineration of
tires/rubber/plastic, refined grains, soft water, galvanized pipes,
dental alloys, candy, ceramics.
Increasing rates of type 2 diabetes
worldwide suggest that diabetes may be caused by environmental toxins.
Cadmium is a widespread environmental pollutant that accumulates in the
pancreas and exerts diabetogenic effects in animals. To test the
hypothesis that exposure to cadmium is associated with impaired fasting
glucose and type 2 diabetes, we examined the associations between
urinary cadmium and the prevalence of impaired fasting glucose (prediabetes)
and diabetes in the Third National Health and Nutrition Examination
Survey (NHANES III). In this large cross-sectional study, urinary
cadmium levels are significantly and dose-dependently associated with
both impaired fasting glucose and diabetes. These findings, which
require confirmation in prospective studies, suggest that cadmium may
cause prediabetes and diabetes in humans. Urinary cadmium, impaired
fasting glucose, and diabetes in the NHANES III
Pathophysiology/Complications – National Health and Nutrition
Examination Survey Diabetes Care, Feb, 2003

Vandiver J, “Chicken Feed,” Daily Times (Salisbury, Md.), January 4, 2004

Tseng
CH, Tseng CP, Chiou HY, Hsueh YM, Chong CK, Chen CJ. Epidemiologic
evidence of diabetogenic effect of arsenic. Toxicol Lett. 2002 Jul
7;133(1):69-76.

Tseng CH, Tseng CP, Chiou HY, Hsueh YM, Chong
CK, Chen CJ. Epidemiologic evidence of diabetogenic effect of arsenic.
Toxicol Lett. 2002 Jul 7;133(1):69-76.

Mahfuzar Rahman et al.
Division of Occupational and Environmental Medicine, Department of
Health and Environment, Faculty of Health Science Linkoping University
Sweden. Department of Occupational and Environmental Health(DOEH),
National Institute of Preventive and Social Medicine (NIPSOM),
Mohakhali, Dhaka-1212 Bangladesh. American Journal of Epidemiology
1998; Vol. 148, No.2: 198-203 The crude prevalence ratio for diabetes
mellitus among keratotic subjects exposed to arsenic was 4.4 (95%
confidence interval 2.5-7.7) and increased to 5.2 (95% confidence
interval 2.5-10.5) after adjustment for age, sex, and body mass index (http://www.ehponline.org/docs/2003/…) .

Lasky
T, Sun W, Kadry A, Hoffman MK. Mean total arsenic concentrations in
chicken 1989-2000 and estimated exposures for consumers of chicken.
Office of Public Health and Science, Food Safety and Inspection
Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture, Washington, DC, USA.

Tseng
CH, Tseng CP, Chiou HY, Hsueh YM, Chong CK, Chen CJ. Epidemiologic
evidence of diabetogenic effect of arsenic. Toxicol Lett. 2002 Jul
7;133(1):69-76.

A solution of alloxan at 2% diluted in saline at
0.9% was administered to the animals in a single dose corresponding to
40 mg of alloxan per kg of animal weight injected into their penial
vein. Alloxan induces irreversible diabetes mellitus after 24 hours
following its administration and the condition proves to be chronic by
laboratory tests after seven days. Experimental Model of Induction of
Diabetes Mellitus in Rats; Acta Cir. Bras. vol.18 no.spe S o Paulo 2003
(www.scielo.br/scielo.php?pid=S0102-…)

Researchers
who are studying diabetes commonly use the chemical to induce the
disorder in lab animals. Unfortunately, most consumers are unaware of
alloxan and its potentially fatal link to diabetes because these facts
are not well publicized, are hidden by FDA approval, and certainly doctors
and the food industry are not informing parents that they and their
children are being poisoned by white flour containing alloxan. Diabetes
and Chemical Poisoning. (http://imva.info/)

Consumer Reports (Feb. 2006): (http://www.curezone.com/foods/aspar…)

(http://www.elpais.es/articulo/elpsa…)

Genetically Engineered Food Biotech, Biotechnology, GMO, Genetically Modified (http://www.organicconsumers.org/gel…)

Health Hazards of Genetically Manipulated Foods; (http://www.soyinfo.com/haz/gehaz.shtml)

Dr.
Irina Ermakova added flour from a GM soya bean — produced by Monsanto
to be resistant to its pesticide, Roundup — to the food of female
rats, starting two weeks before they conceived, continuing through
pregnancy, birth and nursing. Others were given non-GM soya and a third
group was given no soya at all. She found that 36 per cent of the young
of the rats fed the modified soya were severely underweight, compared
to 6 per cent of the offspring of the other groups. More alarmingly, a
staggering 55.6 per cent of those born to mothers on the GM diet
perished within three weeks of birth, compared to 9 per cent of the
offspring of those fed normal soya, and 6.8 per cent of the young of
those given no soya at all. (http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/…)

Malatesta
M, Caporaloni C, Rossi L, Battistelli S, Rocchi MBL, Tonucci F,
Gazzanelli G (2002) Ultrastructural analysis of pancreatic acinar cells
from mice fed on genetically modified soybean. Journal of Anatomy
201:409-415

Agency for Toxic Substance and Dissease Registry (http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/NER/BENZEN…)
Foods Containing Benzene (level is ug/kg, where available)

Vegetables

* Dry red beans

* Leek

* Mushroom

* Onion, roasted

* Parsley

* Potato, cooked peel

* Soybean milk

* Trassi, cooked

Beverages

* Cocoa

* Coffee

* Jamaican rum (120)

* Tea

* Whiskey

Fruits

* Apple

* Citrus fruit

* Cranberry and bilberry

* Black currants

* Guava

* Cayenne pineapple

* Strawberry (trace)

* Tomato, hothouse

Dairy products

* Butter (0.5)

* Blue cheese

* Cheddar cheese

* Other cheese

Meat, Fish, and Poultry

* Cooked beef (2-19)

* Irradiated beef (19)

* Cooked chicken (<10)

* Egg, hard-boiled (500-1900)

* Egg, uncooked (2100)

* Haddock fillet (100 to 200)

* Lamb, heated (<10)

* Mutton, heated (<10)

* Veal, heated (<10)

* Codfish

Nuts

* Filbert, roasted

* Peanut, roasted

* Macadamia nut

Soft Drinks, Diet And Regular, Linked To Increase In Risk Factors For Heart Disease; 26 Jul 2007 (http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/art…)

Journal Diabetes Care. February 2004

Lau
K, McLean WG, Williams DP, Howard CV. Synergistic Interactions Between
Commonly Used Food Additives in a Developmental Neurotoxicity Test.
Toxicol Sci. 2005 Dec 13; (http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/…)

U.S.
Environmental Protection Agency’s Current Safety Threshold for
Bisphenol A. The current safety threshold established by the U.S. EPA
– called the reference dose (i.e., safe dose) — was set based on
animal experiments conducted prior to 1988 showing that 50 milligrams
per kilogram of body weight caused weight loss in rodents. U.S. EPA
declared 50 mg/kg/day the lowest observed adverse effect level, or
LOAEL. To arrive at the current reference dose, U.S. EPA assumed
without further study that a dose 1000 times lower than the LOAEL
(i.e., 50 micrograms per kilogram per day, or 50 µg/kg/day) would be an
acceptable reference dose. As over 40 studies now illustrate, the
official reference dose of 50 µg/kg/day is well above the levels at
which adverse affects have been found in numerous animal studies over
the past decade. For example, Dr. Kembra Howdeshell and her colleagues
found that the female offspring of pregnant mice fed bisphenol A at the
low dose of 2.4 micrograms per kilogram per day experienced the early
onset of puberty. If U.S. EPA were to use 2.4 µg/kg/day as a LOAEL and
apply the same logic used to establish the current standard,
thereference dose would be 2.4 nanograms per kilogram per day
(ng/kg/day). A reference dose of 2.4 ng/kg/day would eliminate
commercial uses of bisphenol A in food and beverage containers and
products that babies are likely to put in their mouths.
(http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/mai…)

American Diabetes Association: Diabetes Facts and Figures [factsheet online] 1997 [cited August 1999][16 screens].

CDC. (http://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/pubs/pd…)

Brancati
FL, Wang NY, Mead LA, Liang KY, Klag MJ. Body weight patterns from 20
to 49 years of age and subsequent risk for diabetes melli-tus. Arch
Intern Med 1999;159:957-963.

Kopelman PG, Hitman GA. Exploding type II [correspondence]. Lancet 1998;352:SIV5.

HIV/AIDS
Surveillance Report 2003;15. The finding is being reported in the
journal Nature Genetics by researchers at Decode Genetics, a company in
Reykjavik, Iceland, that specializes in finding the genetic roots of
human diseases. January 16, 2006

Saldana TM, O Basso, JA Hoppin,
DD Baird, C Knott, A Blair, MC Alavanja and DP Sandler. 2007. Pesticide
exposure and self-reported gestational diabetes mellitus in the
Agricultural Health Study. Diabetes Care. 30(3):529-34. (http://www.environmentalhealthnews….)

GreenFacts
Digest on Phthalates – Phthalates and Metabolism: Exposure Correlates
with Obesity and Diabetes in Men; Melissa Lee Phillips; Environ Health
Perspect. 2007 June; 115(6): A312.

New Zealand sawmill workers’ health problems caused by chemical poisoning; (http://www.wsws.org/articles/2002/a…)

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About the author

Mark A. Sircus Ac., OMD, is director of the International Medical Veritas Association (IMVA)http://www.imva.info/. Dr. Sircus was trained in acupuncture and oriental medicine
at the Institute of Traditional Medicine in Sante Fe, N.M., and in the
School of Traditional Medicine of New England in Boston. He served at
the Central Public Hospital of Pochutla, in México, and was awarded the
title of doctor of oriental medicine for his work. He was one of the
first nationally certified acupuncturists in the United States. Dr.
Sircus’s IMVA is dedicated to unifying the various disciplines in
medicine with the goal of creating a new dawn in healthcare.

He
is particularly concerned about the effect vaccinations have on
vulnerable infants and is identifying the common thread of many toxic
agents that are dramatically threatening present and future generations
of children. His book The Terror of Pediatric Medicine is a free e-book
one can read. Dr. Sircus is a most prolific and courageous writer and
one can read through hundreds of pages on his various web sites.

He
has most recently released his Survival Medicine for the 21st Century
compendium (2,200 page ebook) and just released the Winning the War
Against Cancer book. Dr. Sircus is a pioneer in the area of natural
detoxification and chelation of toxic chemicals and heavy metals. He is
also a champion of the medicinal value of minerals and is fathering in
a new medical approach that uses sea water and different concentrates
taken from it for health and healing. Transdermal Magnesium Therapy,
his first published work, offers a stunning breakthrough in medicine,
an entirely new way to supplement magnesium that naturally increases
DHEA levels, brings cellular magnesium levels up quickly, relieves
pain, brings down blood pressure and pushes cell physiology in a
positive direction. Magnesium chloride delivered transdermally brings a
quick release from a broad range of conditions.
International Medical Veritas Association: http://www.imva.info/