Author: admin

Polychlorinated Biphenyl (PCB) belongs to a broad family of man-made organic chemicals known as chlorinated hydrocarbons. PCBs were domestically manufactured from 1929 until their manufacture was banned in 1979. They have a range of toxicity and vary in consistency from thin, light-colored liquids to yellow or black waxy solids. Due to their non-flammability, chemical stability, high boiling point, and electrical insulating properties, PCBs were used in hundreds of industrial and commercial applications. These include: electrical, heat transfer, and hydraulic equipment; plasticizers in paints, plastics, and rubber products; in pigments, dyes, and carbonless copy paper; and many other industrial applications.

Fish consumption appears to be the major pathway of exposure. PCBs do not easily break down and can bioaccumulate in the fatty tissues of fish and mammals. A significant trend of increasing body burden is associated with increased fish consumption.

People who live near hazardous waste sites may be exposed to PCBs by consuming PCB contaminated sport fish and game animals, by breathing PCBs in air, or by drinking PCB contaminated well water. PCBs generally biomagnify along the food-chain, which leads to greater PCB concentrations in organisms that are higher up in the food chain.

Although PCBs are no longer made in the United States, people can still be exposed to them. Many older transformers and capacitors may still contain PCBs, and this equipment can be used for 30 years or more. Old fluorescent lighting fixtures and old electrical devices and appliances, such as television sets and refrigerators, may contain PCBs if they were made before PCB use was stopped. When these electric devices get hot during operation, small amounts of PCBs may get into the air and raise the level of PCBs in indoor air. Because devices that contain PCBs can leak with age, they could also be a source of skin exposure to PCBs.

Workplace exposure to PCBs can occur during the repair and maintenance of PCB transformers, accidents, fires, or spills involving PCB transformers and older computers and instruments, and disposal of PCB materials. In addition to older electrical instruments and fluorescent lights that contain PCB-filled capacitors, caulking materials, elastic sealants, and heat insulation have also been known to contain PCBs. Contact with PCBs at hazardous waste sites can happen when workers breathe air and touch soil containing PCBs. Exposure in the contaminated workplace occurs mostly by breathing air containing PCBs and by touching substances that contain PCBs.

Thousands of medical PCB studies have shown that polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) cause a wide variety of health effects, often at very low exposure levels. The average American already carries enough PCB in his or her body to meet or exceed the minimum threshold for beginning health problems due to PCBs. Not all of the 209 kinds of PCB have the same effects. Some have properties like dioxin (one of the world's most toxic man-made compounds), some PCBs act like hormones, and other PCBs are nerve poisons. PCBs alter major systems in the body (immune, hormone, nervous, and enzyme systems); and affect a wide variety of body organs and functions.

Polybrominated Diphenyl Ethers (PBDEs) are flame retardant chemicals added to products so they won't catch fire or burn so easily if they are exposed to flame or high heat. PBDEs have been used for over 30 years in products such as mattresses, upholstered furniture, foam carpet pads, draperies, television sets, computers, stereos and other electronics, cable insulation, adhesives, and textile coating.

PBDEs can migrate out of flame retardant products and accumulate in indoor air, house dust, and eventually the environment. PBDEs do not break down quickly in the environment and can accumulate in the food chain. They have been found in air, soils, sediments, fish, marine mammals, birds and other wildlife, beef, chicken, dairy products, and people's bodies. In people, some PBDEs can stay in the fat and other tissues of the body for long periods. Some of the highest levels of PBDEs have been found in the United States.

The concentrations of PBDEs in human blood, breast milk, and body fat indicate that most people are exposed to PBDEs. You may be exposed to PBDEs through household dust, consumer products, and from residues in food. People who work in enclosed spaces where PBDE-containing products are manufactured, repaired, or recycled may have a higher level of exposure.

Animal studies have shown that PBDE exposure during pregnancy and after birth caused problems with brain development in offspring. These studies observed problems with learning, memory, and behavior in mice and rats. Animal studies also found that PBDEs can alter thyroid and other hormone levels.

Studies conducted in New York and the Netherlands have measured PBDEs in the bodies of pregnant mothers or in the umbilical cord blood at birth and then followed the children as they matured. Higher PBDEs levels in mothers have been associated with lower measures of intelligence, attention, and fine motor skills in their children. Higher PBDEs in mothers were also associated with difficulty getting pregnant and lower thyroid hormones during pregnancy. Relatively recent reports have indicated that exposure to low concentrations of these chemicals may result in irreparable damage to the nervous and reproductive systems. Based on animal studies, the possible health effects of decaBDE in humans involve the liver, thyroid, reproductive/developmental effects, and neurological effects.

• Cleaning - PBDEs in indoor dust is one of the primary sources of people's exposure. Reduce your exposure to indoor dust. Use a damp cloth to dust indoor living and working areas. Avoid stirring the dust into the air. Use a vacuum with a HEPA filter. Open windows and doors while you clean. Wash hands after dusting and cleaning.
• Foam products - New foam items that you purchase today are unlikely to contain PBDEs. However, mattresses, mattress pads, couches, easy chairs, foam pillows, carpet padding, and other foam products purchased before 2005 likely contain PBDEs. Replace older foam products that have ripped covers or foam that is misshapen or breaking down. If you can't replace the item, try to keep the covers intact. When removing old carpet foam, keep the work area sealed from other areas of the house, avoid breathing in the dust, and use a HEPA-filter vacuum for cleanup.
• Electronics - Deca-BDE has been used in electronics for years but is now being replaced in most electronics. When purchasing electronics, request products that contain no Deca-BDE or other bromine-containing fire retardants.
• Foods - PBDEs can concentrate in the fat of poultry, red meat, fish and other fatty meats. Always purchase the lean meats and cut off excess fat. People argue that it adds flavor, but is it worth eating the very item that clogs the arteries and supplies a toxic chemical? Be extra cautious when grilling. The fat that falls from the meats burns and makes flames and fumes that have extra lethal doses of PBDE.

The primary commercial source of nicotine is by extraction from the dried leaves of the tobacco plant. Since nicotine is the drug in tobacco leaves, whether someone smokes, chews, or sniffs tobacco, he or she is delivering nicotine to the brain. Each cigarette contains about 10 milligrams of nicotine. Because the smoker inhales only some of the smoke from a cigarette and not all of each puff is absorbed in the lungs, a smoker gets about 1 to 2 milligrams of the drug from each cigarette. A drop of pure nicotine would kill a person. It is unlikely that a person would overdose on nicotine through smoking alone, although overdose can occur through combined use of nicotine patches or nicotine gum and cigarettes at the same time. Spilling a high concentration of nicotine onto the skin can cause intoxication or even death, since nicotine readily passes into the bloodstream following dermal contact.

Smoking cigarettes or inhaling second-hand smoke when someone smokes in your presence are primary ways you will get exposed to nicotine. Tobacco can be smoked in cigarettes, cigars, or pipes. It can be chewed or, if powdered, sniffed. It doesn't matter how glamorous you look doing it, nicotine is highly addictive and it is toxic.

As nicotine enters the body, it is distributed quickly through the bloodstream and crosses the blood-brain barrier reaching the brain within 10–20 seconds after inhalation. The elimination half-life of nicotine in the body is around two hours.

The amount of nicotine absorbed by the body from smoking depends on many factors, including the types of tobacco, whether the smoke is inhaled, and whether a filter is used. For chewing tobacco, dipping tobacco, snus and snuff, which are held in the mouth between the lip and gum, or taken in the nose, the amount released into the body tends to be much greater than smoked tobacco.

Forty-eight million Americans smoke because of addiction to nicotine. If you must use a source of nicotine, consider a source of more pure tobacco (like pipe or cigar) because the most toxic part of a cigarette is in fact, not the nicotine, but the thousands of chemicals combined with the tobacco leaf. If you make the choice to continue the use of tobacco, consider organic sources so you are not smoking the many pesticides often sprayed on tobacco leaves.

This remedy helps to antidote nicotine and assist the body in rebuilding the many enzymes and metabolites that become deficient when nicotine is used, ie, nicotine N'-oxide, nornicotine, nicotine isomethonium ion, 2-hydroxynicotine, nicotine glucuronide, Glucuronidation, etc.

Chemically speaking, MSG is approximately 78 percent free glutamic acid, 21 percent sodium, and up to 1 percent contaminants. It's a misconception that MSG is a flavor or "meat tenderizer." In reality, MSG has very little taste at all, yet when you eat MSG, you think the food you're eating has more protein and tastes better. It does this by tricking your tongue, using a little-known fifth basic taste called umami.

Umami is the taste of glutamate, which is a savory flavor found in many Japanese foods, bacon and also in the toxic food additive MSG, also known as monosodium glutamate. It is because of umami that foods with MSG taste heartier, more robust and generally better to a lot of people than foods without it.

The ingredient didn't become widespread in the United States until after World War II, when the U.S. military realized Japanese rations were much tastier than the U.S. versions because of MSG. In 1959, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration labeled MSG as "Generally Recognized as Safe", and it has remained that way ever since. Yet, it was a telling sign when just 10 years later a condition known as "Chinese Restaurant Syndrome" entered the medical literature, describing the numerous side effects, from numbness to heart palpitations, that people experienced after eating MSG. Today that syndrome is more appropriately called "MSG Symptom Complex" which the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) identifies as "short-term reactions" to MSG.

MSG is used in Asian cooking as well as canned soups, crackers, meats, salad dressings, soy sauce, gravy, Doritos, Cheetos, frozen dinners and much more. It's found in your local supermarket and restaurants, in your child's school cafeteria and, amazingly, even in baby food and infant formula. Although the FDA continues to claim that consuming MSG in food does not cause these ill effects, many other experts say otherwise.

One of the best overviews of the very real dangers of MSG comes from Dr. Russell Blaylock, a board-certified neurosurgeon and author of "Excitotoxins: The Taste that Kills." In it he explains that MSG is an excitotoxin, which means it overexcites your cells to the point of damage or death, causing brain damage to varying degrees. It also potentially triggers or worsens learning disabilities, Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, Lou Gehrig's disease and more.

According to the FDA, MSG Symptom Complex can involve symptoms such as:

• Headache
• Flushing
• Sweating
• Facial pressure or tightness
• Numbness, tingling or burning in face and neck
• Rapid, fluttering heartbeats (heart palpitations)
• Chest pain
• Nausea
• Weakness
• Obesity
• Eye damage
• Headaches
• Fatigue and disorientation
• Depression

Some cooking techniques are better than others for bringing out the "unami" flavor in natural ingredients. Methods such as roasting, stewing and braising help to break down the naturally occurring glutamate in these foods which enhances the unami effect. Searing will also enhance the flavors of meats and fish. Any foods that are aged, fermented or cured tend to have a high unami factor.

Lindane is an organochlorine insecticide and fumigant which has been used on a wide range of soil-dwelling and plant-eating insects. It is commonly used on a wide variety of crops, in warehouses, in public health to control insect-borne diseases, and (with fungicides) as a seed treatment. Despite a recent global ban on its agricultural use, the pesticide, a potent neurotoxin, is still used in shampoos and lotions in the U.S. to control head lice and scabies.

Scientists report that lindane is currently among the least effective means to control lice and scabies. California's 2001 ban of lindane's pharmaceutical products has resulted in cleaner water and less risk to children from exposure to the chemical. They have found viable alternatives that are effectively controlling lice and scabies outbreaks, according to a recent article in Environmental Health Perspectives.

Infants are exposed through the placenta and breastmilk, and lindane residue contaminates common foods such as rice and potatoes.

A variety of toxicological effects, such as reproductive and neurotoxic impairments, have been recorded for lindane and other isomers of HCH in test animals. The alpha and beta isomers are associated with liver and kidney effects in laboratory animal studies. Lindane has been associated with Neurological Effects, Cancer, Endocrine Disruption, Reproductive Effects, Immunological Effects and Liver Toxicity.

An insecticide is a pesticide used to kill insects. Insecticides are used in agriculture, medicine, industry and the household. The use of insecticides is believed to be one of the major factors behind the increase in agricultural productivity in the 20th century. This is great for production, but those of us that eat the food have now ingested these toxic insecticides.

Organophosphates are the most frequently used insecticide in the world and are listed by the EPA as a possible human carcinogen. They have devastating effects on neurological systems and can even lead to death. They have been used in terror attacks and suicides, as well as causing numerous accidental deaths.

The widespread use of OPs means they are commonly ending up in non-organic food, which increases the risk for anyone exposed. They are particularly worrisome for pregnant women, as the group of studies published in Environmental Health Perspectives suggests. Prenatal contact with OPs resulted in lower IQ levels among the exposed children, with some of the damage so severe that those affected children will have developmental and neurological issues as a result for the rest of their lives.

Symptoms of OP exposure can include: impaired memory, trouble concentrating, confusion, depression, frustration, headaches and migraines, difficulty speaking, slowed reaction times, nightmares, insomnia, vomiting, weakness and general flu-like symptoms. Chronic exposure may also lead to Alzheimer's disease, according to a separate study conducted in 2010.

You should think twice before having the exterminator come by … and remember that when you eat foods that are not organic, you are ingesting all sorts of pesticides.

Activities like playing on carpets, putting toys in the mouth, and relaxing on the couch with a baby bottle are common ways for toddlers and children to spend time. Some of these activities mean that kids are more likely to be exposed to household insecticides than adults. A recent study looked at which children's activities are most closely associated with pesticide exposure and found that the amount of time young children drink from baby bottles was linked to the amount of pesticides exposure the children received following a household insecticide treatment.

Floors in most American homes are contaminated with insecticides, according to the American Healthy Homes Survey, conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD). The EPA sought to collect nationally representative data on current levels of insecticides that people might be exposed to in their homes. Knowledge of home exposure combined with exposure from other sources such as food, can help EPA assess human health risks, especially for children.

This remedy includes antidote properties for every insecticide in the following categories: Organochlorides, Organophosphates, Pyrethroids, Neonicotinoids, Ryanoids, Carbamates, Insect Growth Regulators and Biologicals like Bacillus, Polyhedrosis virus, etc.

Hexane (n-Hexane) is a chemical made from crude oil. Most of the hexane used in the industry is mixed with similar chemicals in products known as solvents. The major use for solvents containing hexane is to extract vegetable oils from crops such as soybeans. Because cooking oils are processed with solvents containing hexane, very small amounts may be present in these products. They are also used as cleaning agents in the printing, textile, furniture and shoemaking industries. Certain kinds of special glues used in the roofing and the shoe and leather industries also contain hexane. Gasoline contains about 1-3% hexane, so it is released into the air at service stations and in automobile exhaust. Hexane is also present in rubber cement.

The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Household Products Database lists 54 products that contain n-hexane. Half of these products also contain solvents that increase n-hexane nerve damage. The majority of these products are used for home maintenance and arts and crafts, including spray adhesives, contact cement paints and stain remover. Nine are automotive products, such as brake cleaners and spray degreasers for automotive repair. Many consumers purchase and use these products without being aware of the health risks. Hexane is easily inhaled and can be absorbed through the skin.

Some occupational groups that may be exposed to hexane include: refinery workers, shoe and footwear assembly workers, laboratory technicians, workers operating or repairing typesetting and printing machinery, construction workers, carpet layers, carpenters, auto mechanics and gas station employees, workers in plants manufacturing tires or inner tubes, and workers in air transport and air freight operations.

Short term exposure to hexane affects the brain and can cause headaches, dizziness, confusion, nausea, clumsiness, drowsiness and other effects similar to drunkenness. Effects on the brain can be long-lasting and possibly permanent if exposures are high and recur frequently. Repeated exposure to hexane over weeks or months can damage nerves in the feet, legs, hands and arms, causing numbness and tingling – a condition known as peripheral neuropathy. Other symptoms may include a reduced ability to sense touch, pain, vibration and temperature. Muscles may become weak, and in severe cases, may shrink, waste or become paralyzed. When n-hexane is combined with other solvents, such as acetone and methyl ethyl ketone, nerve damage is increased.

Herbicides, also commonly known as weed killers, are used to kill unwanted plants. Selective herbicides kill specific targets while leaving the desired crop relatively unharmed. Some of these act by interfering with the growth of the weed and are often synthetic "imitations" of plant hormones. Herbicides that are used to clear waste ground, industrial sites, railways and railway embankments are non-selective and kill all plant material that they come into contact with. Smaller quantities are used in forestry, pasture systems, and management of areas set aside as wildlife habitat.

Herbicides are widely used in agriculture and in landscape turf management. In the U.S., they account for about 70% of all agricultural pesticide use. Herbicides can also be transported via surface runoff to contaminate distant water sources which will be consumed by people, but also pets and wildlife. The bird population seem particularly affected by the wide use of herbicides. Herbicides have widely variable toxicity. In addition to acute toxicity from high exposures, there is concern of possible carcinogenicity as well as long-term problems like contributing to Parkinson's disease. Research suggested that such contamination results in a small rise in cancer risk after exposure to these herbicides. Triazine exposure has been implicated to increased risk of breast cancer.

In addition to health effects caused by herbicides themselves, commercial herbicide mixtures often contain other chemicals, including inactive ingredients, which have negative impacts on human health. For example, Roundup contains adjuvants which, even in low concentrations, were found to kill human embryonic, placental, and umbilical cells in vitro. One study also found that Roundup caused genetic damage, but that the damage was not caused by the active ingredient. This is interesting since Monsanto, the company that makes Roundup said "it is safer than table salt and practically non-toxic to mammals, birds, and fish".

Because of the large number of herbicides in use, there is significant concern regarding health effects. If you like that amazing lawn with plush grass and no weeds, you can assume there are herbicides involved. You might be spraying the week killers yourself or you might have someone else doing it. Either way, try to avoid contact with that grass, particularly direct skin contact.

Dr. DeHaan believes that ingesting honey, no matter how "natural", is no longer a good alternative sweetener because of the contamination of herbicides. When bees feed from flowers that have been sprayed, the toxins will naturally be found in the honey. Organic sugar, maple syrup, stevia and xylitol are all considered better choices for sweeteners.

Fungicides are extensively used in industry, agriculture, and the home and garden for a number of purposes. Fungi can cause serious damage in agriculture, resulting in critical losses of yield, quality and profit. At the end of the season, profit is the greatest concern for farmers, so companies will use fungicides to protect seeds during shipment and storage. Fungicides are chemicals used to cure fungal, mold and slime diseases in gardens, lawns, and crops. They are also used in protection of carpet and fabrics in the home.

Historically, some of the most tragic epidemics of pesticide poisoning occurred because of mistaken consumption of seed grain treated with organic mercury or hexachlorobenzene. It is widely believed that fungicides currently in use are generally not toxic to humans for a variety of reasons. It is true that few deaths have been reported but it does not consider the small amounts we get in the foods we eat and what the cumulative effect of those chemicals in our bodies represent as symptoms over time.

The sad truth is that each serving of fresh fruits and vegetables may contain up to 67 different pesticides and fungicides. Studies on cord blood show that most infants are born with around 200 toxic chemicals already in their systems! If that isn't a good reason to go organic, I don't know what is. Fungicides are used both in agriculture and to fight fungal infections in animals. Fungicides are applied routinely in greenhouses to control both above ground and below ground fungal pathogens.

Our Fungicide Detox Remedy antidotes more than 400 known fungicides.

Formaldehyde is naturally produced in very small amounts in our bodies as a part of our normal, everyday metabolism and causes us no harm. It can also be found in the air that we breathe at home and at work, in the food we eat, and in some products that we put on our skin. A major source of formaldehyde that we breathe everyday is found in smog in the lower atmosphere. Automobile exhaust from cars without catalytic converters or those using oxygenated gasoline also contain formaldehyde.

At home, formaldehyde is produced by cigarettes and other tobacco products, gas cookers, and open fireplaces. It is also used as a preservative in some foods, such as some types of Italian cheeses, dried foods, and fish. Formaldehyde is found in many products used every day around the house, such as antiseptics, medicines, cosmetics, dish-washing liquids, fabric softeners, shoe-care agents, carpet cleaners, glues and adhesives, lacquers, paper, plastics, and some types of wood products. Some people are exposed to higher levels of formaldehyde if they live in a new mobile home, as formaldehyde is given off as a gas from the manufactured wood products used in these homes.

Formaldehyde is used in many industries. It is used in the production of fertilizer, paper, plywood, and urea-formaldehyde resins. It is present in the air in iron foundries. It is also used in the production of cosmetics and sugar, in well-drilling fluids, in agriculture as a preservative for grains and seed dressings, in the rubber industry for the production of latex, in leather tanning, in wood preservation, and in photographic film production. Formaldehyde is combined with methanol and buffers to make embalming fluid. Formaldehyde is also used in many hospitals and laboratories to preserve tissue specimens.

Most of the formaldehyde you are exposed to in the environment is in the air. Formaldehyde dissolves easily in water, but it does not last a long time in water and is not commonly found in drinking water supplies. Most formaldehyde in the air also breaks down during the day. The breakdown products of formaldehyde in air include formic acid and carbon monoxide. Formaldehyde does not seem to build up in plants and animals, and although formaldehyde is found in some food, it is not found in large amounts.

The most common symptoms include irritation of the eyes, nose, and throat, along with increased tearing, which occurs at air concentrations of about 0.4-3 parts per million (ppm). Several studies of laboratory rats exposed for life to high amounts of formaldehyde in air found that the rats developed nose cancer. Formaldehyde is also known as methanal, methylene oxide, oxymethylene, methylaldehyde, and oxomethane. If you suspect Formaldehyde toxicity, look at your cosmetics and cleaning products, many dried or roasted fruits and nuts and even the materials used to build your home! These include: glues, plywood, fiberboard, insulation, particle board and timber paneling.