CBC’s documentary series “The Lens” aired a program last night titled Homo toxicus. The program detailed a woman who had her blood tested for environmental contaminants, and found over 110 chemicals including PCBs and known carcinogens. The program investigated the woman’s search to see whether or not these chemicals were playing a role in her health problems, including poor fertility.
The link to the trailer is here, though I do not know when the program is to be repeated.
In testing my own patients, I consider both serum and whole blood tests for chlorinated pesticides, PCBs, and volatile solvents.
Why run a Volatile Solvent Test?
Overexposure or chronic exposure to volatile solvents damages the central nervous system and causes chemical-driven liver and kidney damage. Benzene, in particular, has a severe toxic effect on the hematological system and is a recognized human carcinogen. Other solvents contribute to atrophy of skeletal muscles, loss of coordination, vision problems, and depression of the central nervous system.
Why perform chlorinated pesticide exposure testing?
Chlorinated pesticides have been identified in over 98% of all persons studied, have an affinity for lipid-rich tissues, and are stored in various organs and adipose tissues. These toxins also bioaccumulate in our bodies, increasing our toxic body burden over time, are powerful mitochondrial toxins, and may be the root cause of many chronic illnesses. Identifying this body burden is why pesticide exposure testing is important.
The primary toxic effect of this family of pesticides is at the site of nervous tissue and muscle membranes. These poisons are absorbed across the gut and interfere with nerve impulse transmissions. In humans, this interference normally shows up as chronic neurological problems including mood disorders and difficulties with learning and memory. These poisons have also been shown to cause fatigue, obesity, diabetes, certain cancers, immune dysregulation, allergies, heart disease, and a host of other problems.
Why perform polychlorinated biphenyl testing?
A PCB burden affects children more than adults. PCBs are most often passed to children through breastfeeding and trans-placental transfer. PCB exposure in children can impede neurobehavioral and immune system development. These impediments may cause delayed neurobehavioral development such as motor skills, short-term memory, and lower scores on intelligence, psychomotor, and behavioral tests. A lowered immune system can create many problems in children including allergies, sensitivities, and chronic infections.
Source: Metametrix lab testing
In reality, chemical toxicity is usually a clinical diagnosis, independent of the labs. You can find an increased amount of these chemicals in many patients, simply due to the polluted environment we live in. Some patients are gravely ill and improve with detoxification even though their system has relatively low amounts of these chemicals, and other patients can have high levels without acute or current illness.
Treatment is a good detoxification program which involves sauna, exercise, metal chelators, ozone colonic and blood treatment, intravenous vitamin C. The detoxification program usually lasts 4 weeks (I will be posting a page on this at www.pannaturopathic.com soon.
Clinically, you have to consider which patients are most likely to have their chronic illness significantly contributed to by the chemical toxicity. Detoxification can always be supportive, but it is most likely to be a main treatment that gives the most benefit in conditions such as:
- asthma
- chemical sensitivities (of course) that lead to chronic headaches, brain fog, fatigue
- patients who are seemingly allergic to “everything”
