Environmental toxicity: an alternative way of assessing heavy metals - Letters to the Editor

Townsend Letter for Doctors and Patients,  Dec, 2003  by Thomas Nissen

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Editor:

Numerous scientists worldwide are supporting the view today that all life processes are being determined by subtle electromagnetic and photon phenomena [see Prof. Dr. A. Popp, Dr. Voll (EAP), Dr. Schimmel (Vega System) and many more). All electrically active metals (ions) and particularly, heavy metals, can disturb the harmony of the electromagnetic and photon energies in the body, causing disharmony and disease. They also can increase the production of free radicals million-fold.

It has been stated that 90 % of all chronic and serious illnesses could be prevented if we were able to eliminate the 600 most dangerous environmental toxins (Dr. J. Higgensen, Head of Cancer Research, WHO, Geneva, Switzerland). Every health practitioner is fully aware of the devastating influence heavy metals and/or ionic metals can have on our mental, emotional and physical health and well-being.

Until recently, most health care professionals and researchers assumed that heavy metals had to be taken into account only when a patient showed definite symptoms of 'poisoning.' We realize now that our health and well-being is affected by much lower levels of heavy metals than previously assumed. Health authorities constantly correct 'permissible' maximum levels downwards.

It is becoming more difficult to accurately determine the appropriate drug profile in a given case, because the respective simile of symptoms has undergone a shift due to the presence of heavy metal ions. In fact, this phenomenon may be observed for the majority of the classic Hahnemann remedy profiles and it is fair to say that at the present time the effectiveness of any antioxidant therapy is significantly compromised by the presence of heavy metal ions. It is therefore important to first identify the heavy metal in question and the degree of its involvement. Then, as the cause of the condition, the heavy metal ions must be removed and cleared out.

In cases of acute heavy metal poisoning (commonly the result of accidents or extreme workplace related contamination), clinical toxicology is generally able to provide an effective quick response with the DMPS procedure administered as mobilization test and antidote. However, hardly any appropriate treatment or diagnostic procedure is available for cases of long-term heavy metal contamination. No satisfactory method exists for the early recognition of heavy metal contamination.

Two Types of Metals

The methods used to detect heavy metal contamination are cumbersome and costly and in some instances can't differentiate between organically bound and free metal atoms (e.g. Cu, Zn in spectrometric analyses). Recent research has shown that it is essentially electrically active heavy metal atoms not bound with organic complexes that actively destroys molecular compounds and thereby cause the formation of free radicals. Up to a certain point, a healthy body is able to bind (i.e. chelate) free heavy metal atoms, i.e. neutralize their electromagnetic charge and clear them out. If this mechanism is no longer able to function because too many toxins have accumulated in the organism, the number of free radicals will increase, especially if the body is suffering an antioxidant deficiency at the same time. In such cases, administering antioxidant supplements will not solve the real problem, namely the accumulation of heavy metal ion deposits in the body.

Unfortunately, traditional methods like hair or blood analyses are not able to uncover these connections for the simple reason that the organic sample is destroyed in the course of the analysis. Such procedures are therefore unable to differentiate between metal atoms bound with organic complexes and unbound and therefore electro-magnetically active ions, a difference that is crucial in the assessment of the overall situation.

A New Way to Assess Heavy Metals

In 1925 Helmut Fischer of the Siemens Concern in Berlin succeeded in detecting heavy metal ions by means of a dithizone process. As a reagent, dithizone is able to indicate the presence of heavy metal ions in qualitative and in quantitative terms. In binding with them, colored complexes are formed in the interior of the molecule which are soluble in non-polar organic solvents. The coloration of these solutions is very intensive, its particular coloration determined by the atomic radius of the respective metal present in the complex. The reaction times of the heavy metal ions vary; therefore, depending on their respective concentrations, different colorations may occur from which one can, in addition to the qualitative conclusions (the dithizone reagent binds to Cu, Zn, Cd, Hg, Pb, Mn, Co, Ni,) also semi-quantitative ones regarding the contaminant. (At the lower ppm level, even at the ppb level).

The dithizone heavy metal reagent allows the detection of free heavy metal ions in bodily liquids like urine and saliva. By administering the test reagent as an exploratory measure, contaminations from amalgam fillings or from the environment (cadmium, lead, zinc, copper, manganese, nickel and cobalt--pointing to infections, organ or system disorders) can be identified on the spot, the potential health problem, as well as the need for detoxification before any specific therapy is administered. The test reagent is therefore an important aid in the decision making process during the initial evaluation and detoxification therapies, recommended as urgent and necessary counter-measures, can be monitored with the test reagent administered.