Recently in Detoxing and Toxins Category

A recent study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG) found that pet dogs and cats have an extensive mix of toxins circulating in their systems.  According to an article in the New York Times, the researchers tested the blood and urine of 20 dogs and 37 cats at a Virginia clinic and discovered high levels of mercury, as well as 48 industrial chemicals (out of 70 chemicals tested) used in manufacturing fabrics, furniture, plastics, food packaging, and electronic goods. These chemicals included a high percentage of known carcinogens, neurotoxins, and reproductive system disrupters.  The toxins mirrored those found in human subjects, but many were at considerably higher levels.  For instance, when compared with human subjects, the cats tested at 23 times the level of fire retardants (PBDEs), and more than five times the amounts of mercury, while the dogs showed more than double the level of perfluorochemicals, including toxic stain-retardants.

Scientists at Sapporo University Medical School in Japan may have developed a method to stop the progression of liver cirrhosis, and in fact, to actually reverse the disease. Until now, the disease has been considered incurable (at least by the medical community) with liver transplant the only real option.

Cirrhosis occurs when the liver becomes overtaxed by excessive consumption of alcohol or carbohydrates, or in response to certain diseases such as Hepatitis B and C. Hepatic stellate cells within the liver respond to liver damage by producing collagen, a fibrous, sticky substance, which in turn scars and hardens the surrounding tissue. To address this condition, the researchers developed molecules that actually block collagen production. They then found a way to encase the collagen-blocking molecules in vitamin A -- which the stellate cells naturally absorb -- and injected the "disguised" molecules into rats that had cirrhosis. The "tricked" stellate cells absorbed the disguised molecules, which in turn blocked continuing collagen production.

Citizens in California expressed anger recently when state health officials denied that aerial pesticide spraying over three counties last fall had triggered 463 illness complaints filed shortly thereafter. The spray consisted of a product known as "Checkmate," intended to control brown gypsy moths. According to a report just issued by the California Office of Health Hazard Assessment, "scientists were unable to find a link between aerial spraying and illness complaints."

A new study just published in BMC Neurology confirms that exposure to pesticides increases the likelihood of developing Parkinson's Disease -- and that risk increases with long-term, repeated exposure. Previous studies have turned up similar results.

In this most recent research, a team from Duke University, the University of Miami, and the Parkinson's Disease Research Center tracked 600 subjects who had been exposed to pesticides and compared them with their non-exposed close relatives, with whom they shared genetic and environmental backgrounds. The subjects who had used pesticides had an increased risk factor of 61 percent compared to their relatives who had not been exposed. Risk increased significantly with increased exposure. Those directly exposed to pesticides 10 or more days a year were more than twice as likely to develop Parkinson's.  And again, risk increased with long-term exposure over a course of years.

Talk about going retro!  A recent article in Access Hollywoodreveals that Demi Moore uses leeches to purify her blood. Apparently, while in Austria doing a cleanse, she had "highly trained" leeches applied to her bare skin in order to detoxify her blood. The actress waxes enthusiastic about the health benefits, as if bloodletting was the best thing to be revived from the past since Steve Martin practiced medicine as Theodoric Barber of York.

Here's the latest chapter in the never-ending "you just can't win" story. Two new reports issued by the state of Maine and the Vermont-based Mercury Policy Project indicate that those righteous, energy-efficient spiral light bulbs endorsed by green organizations can cause mercury poisoning. You have nothing to worry about while the bulbs burn, say the reports -- only if they break, when small amounts of mercury vapor can escape. The report warns that infants, pets, and pregnant women are at particular risk from exposure to the neurotoxin -- although even strapping adults might worry knowing that the researchers measured mercury levels 100 times in excess of federal guidelines for chronic exposure when they shattered 65 of the compact florescent lamps (CFLs). If the proportions hold true, that means that breaking even one bulb will expose you to more than six times the acceptable level.

Like a mosquito that keeps circling the ear, the issue of plastic toxicity seems to keep buzzing its way into the news.  A few months ago (12/14/2007), I wrote a blog about the dangers of plastic, after several major sports retailers in the United States and Canada pulled polycarbonate plastic bottles from their shelves in response to concerns about toxic leaching. The issue resurfaced again last week when ABC News broke a story about the efforts of environmental and parent groups to contain the use of polycarbonate in baby bottles, sippy cups, and food containers. The story came on the heels of a new report entitled Baby's Toxic Bottle: Bisphenol-A Leaching from Popular Baby Bottles, authored by a coalition of 15 public health and environmental groups.

A new study has just hit the news. According to the results of an Argentinian study released just hours ago, "the levels of thimerosal [in childhood vaccinations] don't go very high and they go down right away. By the time it's time for the next dose of vaccine, the levels are right back to where they were at the beginning." The study found that the half-life of ethyl mercury in the blood -- the time it takes for the body to get rid of half the mercury, and then another half, and so on -- was 3.7 days. That's significantly less than the half-life of methyl mercury, the kind found in fish, at 44 days. Bottom line: according to the study's authors, the study showed that the controversial mercury-containing preservative thimerosal is rapidly excreted from babies' bodies and can't build up to toxic levels.

Many of us hate going to hospitals, even to visit sick loved ones.  We find ourselves walking fast down the corridor, unconsciously holding our breath, sensing the energy and smell of disease in the air.  Now a new report from the Environmental Working Group (EWG) warns that nurses may risk their health working in hospitals -- and not because of the free-floating germ stew brought in by ill patients, but because of the abundance of toxic substances in the hospital environment. 

Harder might be better when it comes to firewood and to muscles, but in the case of plastic water bottles, it ain't necessarily so.  Canada's largest sports retailer pulled all rugged plastic bottles made of polycarbonate from its shelves yesterday, following the example of US retailer Patagonia.  It seems that polycarbonate containers tend to leach the chemical bisphenol-A (BPA), an estrogen-mimic that has been linked to cancer, Alzheimer's, Down syndrome, and reproductive problems.  These leading retailers apparently thought the risks so great that they didn't want to push the products any longer, even though the FDA says the amount of leaching falls well within the safe range.  You'll find polycarbonate plastic (#7) in those blue water bubblers so common in offices, in baby bottles, in wine vats, in dental sealants, and in food-can linings.  This might explain why a 2004 study by the CDC found that 95 percent of Americans have the chemical in their urine.