The Canaries Dropped from the Skies

For two years, the transport of mined lead into a seaside Australian community was an unrecognized source of contamination. Then thousands of birds began to drop dead out of the sky.
Scientists discovered lethal amounts of lead in the dead birds. These birds were killed by drinking water that had been contaminated by lead carbonate. Lead carbonate is much more toxic than other forms of lead; it easily infiltrates the lungs and is rapidly absorbed by the blood. It was also the type of lead found in the local Australian mine.
The researchers went on to discover massive contamination of the local populace through breathing in lead carbonate dust; the contamination was also in the soil that grew their vegetables and in their drinking water. Lead carbonate from the mine comprised between 30 and 93% of the total blood lead content in children younger than 6. The effects of lead toxicity include neurological, cardiovascular, and reproductive damage. In addition, lead has been linked to high blood pressure.
The CDC’s recent body burden screening revealed levels of mercury, lead, and other heavy metals in most Americans, and Johns Hopkins University researchers screened cord blood samples and found the majority of them contaminated with mercury in utero. It is becoming clearer that heavy metal poisoning is the etiology behind a host of symptoms like cognitive dysfunction, neurological problems, reproductive defects, and such cardiovascular problems as high blood pressure and heart attacks.
Insufficient diagnosis and treatment of heavy metal toxicity is a public health crisis; and many feel that conventional medicine’s refusal to even offer heavy metal screening and treatment may be tantamount to malpractice. Proper heavy metal toxicity treatment might include hyperbaric oxygen therapy and counter pulsation, and nutrients like co-Q10, fish oil, and alpha lipoic acid—treatments that integrative physicians have successfully used for decades. Yet many state medical boards discipline integrative physicians for these same medical practices.
We must make sure that governmental healthcare reform addresses the cause of illness rather than just treating the symptoms.