Environmental Toxins
The environment of the present century is not the same as that of previous centuries. This is obvious. Artificially and chemically synthesized products are everywhere. See any plastic? How about something made of particle board? Synthetic chemicals are everywhere; many of them are toxic. They are in disinfectants, detergents, cleaners, cosmetics, deodorant, lotions and creams, soap, hair dye, rubbers, plastics, inks, colognes and perfumes, toothpaste, mouthwash, carpet and building products and in the polluted air that we breathe. Our foods are full of chemicals, preservatives, food colorings and flavorings, pesticides and herbicides.
A special type of toxin is heavy metal poisoning. Heavy metal poisoning refers to metals like lead, mercury or cadmium; metals that are not normally found in the body in any significant amounts. Metal teeth fillings have been found to be a source of these as well as petroleum products, certain contaminants, fire retardants, dyes, inks and many cosmetics.
You can see that the body has to deal with an unprecedented array of environmental toxins in quantities that are greater than anything previously found in nature. This is not to say that the body has never had to deal with toxins. A campfire, for instance, creatures a significant amount of toxins for the body. There have always been poisonous plants, spider and insect bites, venomous snakes and lizards, mold, fungus toxins, spoiled foods and microbial toxins. In fact, it is probably a good thing for us that the body has had these to deal with. If it hadn’t, it may not have developed the pathways to detoxify and rid itself of the newer, present day toxins that surround us.
The problem that exists is basically one of amounts. The total amount of toxins that the body has to deal with daily is very great at present while at the same time, the amount of good nutrition consumed that is required by the body in order to detoxify these poisons is much less. When the body has more toxins entering it than it can detoxify and excrete, the levels will build in the body to a point where it causes malfunction and body problems. Of course, the toxicity is different for each toxin. Some may take a long time to create a problem. A clothing detergent would be a good example of this. It is hard to believe that a detergent could have a toxin in it that is harmful to the body. You would think it would never be allowed on the market. But if you think about it, your body never gets a break from it. It is next to your skin all day because it is on your clothes and it is next to you all night because it is on your sheets. After a considerable period of time, it may build up in your body to a point where it causes problems. Then there is the other extreme like pesticides or food poisoning. These can cause instant effects. Another consideration is the time and difficulty involved for the body to expel the toxin. Food poisoning is expelled relatively quickly as anyone who has had bad food poisoning can testify to (vomiting and diarrhea). Pesticides or spider bites, for instance, can stay in the system for years if the exact correct handling is not pursued.
Because Chemicals, Heavy Metal Poisons and Biological toxins are underlying causes of disease, they can cause a wide variety of symptoms depending on which tissues are affected from each toxin. If the poison affects the thyroid, the person will have thyroid problems, if the poison affects the bone marrow, the person will have problems with their blood. If it affects the liver, the person will have liver and digestion problems and so on.
Due to the fact that poisons and chemicals break down tissues, secondary infections can be assumed to be associated with the areas of the body that are poisoned. Usually, the body doesn’t need extra immune support to handle these. Once the toxins are removed, the body’s immune system will automatically go in and handle the infection in most cases. However, it is a good idea to include lymphatic and excretory support to deal with the associated pus and debris. If specific detoxifying nutrition is given without this support, the detoxifying process can be most uncomfortable.
In summary, today we have a problem with too many toxins in too large amounts coming into our bodies and not enough toxins being successfully kicked out. The solution is obvious. Minimize or eliminate the toxins coming in (as much as possible) by using and surrounding yourself with chemical free products and give the body what it needs to expel the toxins out of the body. This includes exact specific nutrition, exercise and special detoxifying programs. Nutritional support alone can usually keep toxins to a level where competent body function can be resumed. Some more disciplined individuals may wish to do a deeper Gung Ho type detoxification program for a cleaner, longer lasting result.
Cause Point Correlative Testing can help you to identify if chemicals and toxins are affecting you and what effects they are causing. It can also guide you as to nutritional supplementation that specifically targets the particular type of toxin present in your body and helps the body expel it so that competent body function can once again be restored. If a person has a problem with the body and the underlying environmental poison in the body is not addressed, this problem will be chronic and the symptoms will keep repeating. Drugs to handle the symptoms fail to address the underlying causative factor and indeed, because drugs themselves are toxins, often add to the problem in the long term scope of things.
If you know someone with a chronic body problem that is not responding to classical methods, have them call the office at (260) 459-6160 (Ft. Wayne) (773) 929-3964 (Chicago) for an appointment.
David A Murdock, DC
