Chemicals

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.

People associate certain colors with certain flavors, and the color of food can influence the perceived flavor in anything from candy to wine. For this reason, food manufacturers add these dyes to their products. Sometimes the aim is to simulate a color that is perceived by the consumer as natural, such as adding red coloring to glacé cherries (which would otherwise be beige).

While most consumers are aware that food with bright or unnatural colors (children's cereals such as Froot Loops) likely contain food coloring, far fewer people know that seemingly "natural" foods such as oranges and salmon are sometimes also dyed to mask natural variations in color. Color variation in foods throughout the seasons and the effects of processing and storage often make color addition commercially advantageous to maintain the color expected or preferred by the consumer.

New studies now point to synthetic preservatives and artificial coloring agents as aggravating ADD and ADHD symptoms, both in those affected by these disorders and in the general population. Several major studies show academic performance increased and disciplinary problems decreased in large non-ADD student populations when artificial ingredients, including artificial colors, were eliminated from school food programs. But we must wonder what other negative effects are being caused by these pretty colors.

The food colors are known by E numbers that begin with a 1, such as E100 (turmeric) or E161b (lutein). The most common synthetic dyes used in food include:

• FD&C Blue No. 1 – Brilliant Blue FCF, E133 (blue shade)
• FD&C Blue No. 2 – Indigotine, E132 (indigo shade)
• FD&C Green No. 3 – Fast Green FCF, E143 (turquoise shade)
• FD&C Red No. 40 – Allura Red AC, E129 (red shade)
• FD&C Red No. 3 – Erythrosine, E127 (pink shade, commonly used in glacé cherries)
• FD&C Yellow No. 5 – Tartrazine, E102 (yellow shade)
• FD&C Yellow No. 6 – Sunset Yellow FCF, E110 (orange shade)

The following dyes are only allowed by the FDA for specific limited applications (most people don't eat orange peels, but how many people eat hot dogs and sausage?):

• Orange B (red shade) - allowed only for use in hot dog and sausage casings.
• Citrus Red 2 (orange shade) - allowed only for use to color orange peels.

Because of the concern of health risks related to chemical dyes, more natural dyes have been developed as seen below. Unfortunately, these are not quite as natural as the paints extracted by simple berries in the times of old. The extraction process has proven many of these ""natural" dyes to induce reactions from hives, to allergies to anaphylactic shock!

• Caramel coloring (E150), made from caramelized sugar, used in cola products and also in cosmetics
• Annatto (E160b), a reddish-orange dye made from the seed of the achiote.
• A green dye made from chlorella algae (chlorophyll, E140)
• Cochineal (E120), a red dye derived from the cochineal insect, Dactylopius coccus
• Betanin (E162) extracted from beets
• Turmeric (curcuminoids, E100)
• Saffron (carotenoids, E160a)
• Paprika (E160c)
• Elderberry juice
• Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius), a green food coloring
• Butterfly pea (Clitoria ternatea), a blue food dye

Because food dyes are generally safer to use than normal artists' dyes and pigments, some artists have used food coloring as a means of making pictures, especially in forms such as body-painting. Food colorings can be used to dye fabric, but are usually not wash-fast when used on cotton, hemp and other plant fibers. Some food dyes can be fixed on Nylon and animal fibers. Red food dye is often used as theatrical blood. Synthetic dyes may have excellent application in these areas, but they do not belong in the human body. Check the labels for the mentioned dyes, both natural and synthetic and do your best to avoid them.

Fluoride in drinking water was originally added in the 1940s to prevent tooth decay, or that was the cover story. The hard truth is that fluoride can do little to nothing to prevent decay. Studies have now shown that fluoride causes dental fluorosis (decreasing density) in 10% of the population! (see photo)

Even more disturbing than the cosmetic impact that fluoride can have on teeth, research is also linking fluoride to cancer (particularly bone cancer), gene mutations, reproductive problems, and neurotoxicity. In fact, in 1999, the EPA's Headquarters Union of Scientists took a stand opposing fluoridation of drinking water supplies. So why is Fluoride still in our city water, toothpaste and so many items? Fluorides have been used to modify behavior and moods of human beings. It is a known fact that fluoride compounds were added to the drinking water of prisoners to keep them docile and inhibit questioning of authority, both in Nazi prison camps in World War II and in the Soviet gulags in Siberia.

FACTS OF FLORIDE:

• Fluoride exposure disrupts the synthesis of collagen and leads to the breakdown of collagen in bone, tendon, muscle, skin, cartilage, lungs, kidney and trachea.
• Fluoride stimulates granule formation and oxygen consumption in white blood cells, but inhibits these processes when the white blood cell is challenged by a foreign agent in the blood.
• As little as 0.2 ppm fluoride stimulates superoxide production in resting white blood cells, virtually abolishing phagocytosis. Fluoride depletes the energy reserves and the ability of white blood cells to properly destroy foreign agents by the process of phagocytosis. Even micro-molar amounts of fluoride, below 1 ppm, may seriously depress the ability of white blood cells to destroy pathogenic agents.
• Fluoride confuses the immune system and causes it to attack the body's own tissues, and increases the tumor growth rate in cancer prone individuals.
• Fluoride inhibits antibody formation in the blood.
• Fluoride depresses thyroid activity.
• Fluorides have a disruptive effect on various tissues in the body.
• Fluoride promotes development of bone cancer.
• Fluorides cause premature aging of the human body.
• Fluoride ingestion from mouth rinses and dentifrices in children is extremely hazardous to biological development, life span and general health.

No matter what your dentist or anyone else has been taught, the facts are more than clear. Fluoride is a dangerous poison that does not belong in the human body. Stop drinking commercial water, stop using toothpaste with fluoride and don't let the dentist use fluoride on your teeth!

Primary Exposure Sources Include: Toothpaste, Tap Water, Infant Formula, Processed Cereals, Soda, Tea, Wine, Beer, Juices, Mechanically de-boned chicken, Fish/Seafood, Teflon on cooking pans, Fluoridated salt, Anesthetics and Cigarettes.

Alternatives

Look for natural toothpaste, however, be careful to read the label and know what you're buying. For instance, beware of sodium monofluorophosphate and sodium lauryl sulfate which are oral care agents linked to neurotoxicity, developmental and reproductive toxicity, and possibly cancer. Many people think their non-fluoride toothpaste is healthy. However, it is much more difficult to find toothpaste that doesn't contain Sodium Laurel Sulfate (originally created as an engine degreaser). The bottom line is that personal care products are not regulated, and those that claim to be natural can be far from it. Look for a simple natural, non-fluoride toothpaste with only familiar ingredients, and skip all of the bells and whistles like "whitening," "enamel strengthening," and "multi-action."

And of course, stop drinking commercial water! Drink steam distilled water or get a whole house reverse osmosis system. Remember you absorb more fluoride in a shower than you do drinking the nasty stuff!