A little something I wrote about pesticides

[David]

Most people don't understand just how problematic pesticides are not just for the environment and farm workers, but our entire society. Did you know that one of the most popular families of pesticides used in conventional agriculture, organophosphates, has been widely implicated in severe developmental neurotoxicity issues in children? As these studies showcase, these pesticides, found in normal amounts in children, not children with high exposure, are implicated in reduced IQ and cognitive abilities:

- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21507778
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21507776
- http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1003160/
- http://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/early/2010/05/17/peds.2009-3058.full.pdf+html
- http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/8978
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26057254

Take a few minutes to ponder the ramifications; the food we eat may literally be making us dumber. And yes, food is a major pesticide source despite what industry might claim: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18414640 and http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1408197/. Continuing on, the most important enzyme responsible for breaking down these pesticides in the human body is called serum paraoxanase. Some people have a lot of paraoxanase activity and are able to break down the pesticides really fast. Guess which subpopulation scientists are beginning to find has significantly reduced paraoxanase activity? People with autism: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16297937 -- and this year a large study found associations between organophosphates and autism: http://www.ucdmc.ucdavis.edu/publish/news/newsroom/8978. More work needs to be done on this front, but the early findings are concerning to say the least.

The data against organophosphates continues to pile up and has resulted in the thousands of scientists represented by the Union of Concerned Scientists wanting organophosphates banned. Unfortunately, politics wins at the EPA: http://www.ucsusa.org/our-work/cent...-scientific-integrity/epa-and-pesticides.html

I only spoke of the neurotoxicity issues above. Make no mistake, these pesticides cause harm across a variety of spectrums. Not just on children's nervous systems but everything from gestation duration and birthweight to reduced lung function and lower sperm count in humans to changing the behavior of bugs. Some example studies:

- http://ehp.niehs.nih.gov/1104615/
- http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25413219
- http://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2015/03/pesticides-result-in-lower-sperm-counts/
- http://news.berkeley.edu/2015/12/03/breathing-capacity-pesticide-exposure/

There will be a time when society looks back in shame on its use of pesticides. But make no mistake, the greed of some chemical manufacturers and the cognitive dissonance of those who utilize these pesticides will result in unquantifiable damage before we get to that point. Educate yourself and do what you can to protect your family in the meantime.

 

[jwfoise]

And now a possible link between pesticides and autism
http://time.com/4313156/mosquito-spraying-autism-pesticides/

A new study finds a correlation between the aerial spraying of pesticides to kill mosquitoes and an increased risk of developmental delays and autism among kids.

In the new findings, presented at the Pediatric Academic Societies 2016 meeting, researchers looked at the rates of autism and developmental delays from eight zip codes in a region of New York that is exposed to yearly airplane pesticide spraying to prevent mosquito-borne disease like eastern equine encephalitis virus. They compared those to the rates in 16 zip codes where the pesticide spraying doesn’t happen. (Other forms of pesticide spraying could still occur, like manual spreading.) They controlled for factors like poverty and gender variation across the zip codes.

The authors report that kids living in zip codes where the spraying was done each summer had around a 25% higher risk of an autism diagnosis or developmental problem compared to kids living in areas without the aerial spraying. “Several studies have previously reported links between pesticide and autism risk,” says Dr. Steve Hicks, an assistant professor of pediatrics at Penn State College of Medicine in an email to TIME. “Our data suggests the way in which pesticides are applied might play some role. Studies of pesticides in animal models show they can affect certain neurotransmitters in the brain, but their exact molecular effects on brain development are still being explored.”

 

[Beach]

It is interesting when reading about pesticides. I hope that eventually a cause for autism can be discovered. It is such a terrible disease. What has made we wonder about autism is why is the disease almost exclusively found in males? Some females can be diagnosed with autism but the disease for what ever reason is largely a male condition. It's a little like AIDS. AIDS is almost exclusively found in males. In the west at least 90% of those diagnosed with AIDS are males, largely found in two groups, those that are gay and drug users.

Have you read any of the alternative theories on diseases caused by pesticides and chemicals but instead are officially listed as being caused by a virus? There are a number of well known virus diseases that a number of people feel are instead caused by chemicals. hard to say what is true. Much of medicine is more religion based I personally feel.

At this moment, right now, the world is watching with great concern about the Zika virus. Dire health issues can be brought about by the virus particularly for mothers to be it is said. At first a clear cause of the birth defects was unknown. A virus was reported to possibly be the cause. Some said instead the condition is caused by pesticides. The theory on pesticides eventually went out of vogue. You can read some about that here ~

"Propaganda Machine Takes Aim at Zika Virus"

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2016/02/16/zika-virus.aspx

&

"Zika freakout: the hoax and the covert op continue"

https://jonrappoport.wordpress.com/2016/01/29/zika-freakout-the-hoax-and-the-covert-op-continue/

Keep an open mind with this. One has to. Some feel that AIDs is caused by recreational drugs, at least in the west. The conspiracy goes to the top. Even the noble prize winner for discovering HIV, Luc Montagnier has given interviews saying he believes HIV is a harmless passenger virus. Instead other causes for AIDS can be found.

it isn't to hard to see why he, and others believe this. The common belief is that an HIV test is required to be diagnosed with AIDS. that isn't the case. It is possible to give an AIDS diagnosis using what is called the Bangui definition. You can read about the bangui definition below. It is largely used in Africa and Asia. There testing due to costs isn't always possible. Many people in Africa live in dire poverty. A patient giving vague descriptions of diarrhea and weight loss can be diagnosed with AIDS.

Diagnosing with the Bangui definition can be used in America also. The CDC allows it. From what I've read many have been given an AIDS diagnosis this way.

Often misunderstood also, AIDS officially is not one disease. It is many diseases. in America 31 diseases are officially recognized as being AIDS related. For example, if one tests positive for tuberculosis and positive for HIV then one will be diagnosed with AIDS, and receive medications for TB and AIDS. If one tests positive for TB but negative for HIV then a diagnosis for TB will be given and only TB medication will be given.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985_World_Health_Organization_AIDS_surveillance_case_definition

Probably the big disease with an alternative chemical explanation is polio. I won't go to much into that theory, but one of the better known, and largely forgotten names in history is nurse Sister Elizabeth Kenny. She was well known in her time though with the public. She was curing many of polio paralysis. Hollywood even made a movie on her life. Some say Sister Kenny was the second most popular female of her time in America, behind Eleanor Roosevelt. And as can be imagined Sister Kenny was not popular with the medical community. She was making them look poorly. Main medical treatment at the time was to immobilize limbs so that they could not move. Sister Kenny was doing the opposite, and saying without movement muscles deteriorate greatly. Sister Kenny's work with polio patients has largely been forgotten. Today is best known as the founder of physical therapy.

You can read a little about the alternative theories of polio below. The big thing is that we have many disease that cause paralysis. Back in the 1950s and earlier, the ability to diagnose a cause was limited by antiquated technology. Some diseases that causes paralysis today would have been called polio in the past. The iron lung never went away too. it was replaced by modern respiration machines, used commonly today.

"Smoke, Mirrors, and the “Disappearance” Of Polio"

http://drsuzanne.net/wp-content/upl...-Of-Polio-_-International-Medical-Council.pdf

Anyway, a bit of a ramble on alternative theories for different diseases that might be brought about by chemicals and pesticides.

Oh, almost forgot, I thought this an investing article about the politics that went on with the nutrient disease pellagra. Most people wanted pellagra to be caused by the virus.

"Pellagra and the Four Ds"

http://blogs.creighton.edu/heaney/2013/11/18/pellagra-and-the-four-ds/

excerpt:

2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the war on pellagra, a war that lasted nearly 25 of those years before victory could finally be declared. You have not heard of the war on pellagra? The celebration is not on your calendar? You’re not alone.

Why did it take so long? Was the science so intractable, like the current “war” on cancer? No. It was politics and pigheadedness that were the obstacles....

...Goldberger, convinced that diet was the culprit, conducted an experiment in a Mississippi prison farm, exposing prisoners to a diet like those eaten by people manifesting pellagra and – no surprise – they developed pellagra within a few months. Medical experts claimed that it wasn’t real pellagra and found other imaginary flaws in the project. Goldberger then went on to inoculate himself, his wife, and his assistant with blood and throat scrapings from pellagra patients – a test of the infectious hypothesis. But to no effect. He transferred skin scrapings and even fecal samples to healthy volunteers. Sometimes the recipients got temporarily sick, but they did not get pellagra. It simply was impossible to “catch” the disease. Still no one paid attention.

In fact southern politicians actively resisted the conclusion that diet was the culprit, fearing that the high prevalence in their states would cast their region in an unfavorable light if the disease was caused by poverty. They could accept infection (over which they had little control), but not poor diet due to socio-economic factors – for which they could be considered responsible. This was not the first time politics tried to discredit science – and certainly not the last.

Victory at Last

The story does not have an altogether happy ending. Fifteen years after starting on the project, Jozef Goldberger died of kidney cancer. He had not yet been vindicated and there was still, despite all his work, a prevalent view that pellagra was an infectious disease. Happily, the work was carried on by nutritional biochemists at the University of Wisconsin who were able conclusively to demonstrate that insufficient intake of niacin or nicotinamide was the entire explanation for the pellagra problem. By that time the truth could no longer be evaded. Steps began to be taken, first at a state level, and then finally by the U.S. government itself, to ensure that certain cereal products (mainly white bread flour) would be enriched with B vitamins, and specifically in this case, niacin. Doing so did not solve the underlying poverty, but it did help the inadequate diets of those trapped in poverty. In the United States, at least, pellagra is a disease of the past – fortunately – and it is doubtful today that most health professionals would recognize it if a case happened to come to their attention....

 

[jwfoise]

<snip>
Keep an open mind with this. One has to.

No, I actually I don't, and I suspect it is a bad idea. A lot of things people say or publish, particularly on the Internet, are just completely unsubstantiated garbage. One should keep a skeptical mind, in my opinion.

"A open mind is like an open window, without a good screen a lot of bugs get in".

 

[Beach]

No, I actually I don't, and I suspect it is a bad idea. A lot of things people say or publish, particularly on the Internet, are just completely unsubstantiated garbage. One should keep a skeptical mind, in my opinion.

"A open mind is like an open window, without a good screen a lot of bugs get in".

I understand jsfoise, The information presented is new and goes against the grain. While the people I mention are real, and the test true, it isn't something most will put much interest into buying into. There is little reason to change and buy into a new system.

Good luck discovering and proving that pesticides cause autism. You will need it.

 

[Bufford]

With all the weird diseases and health conditions many face around the planet, there is a good chance there are connections with the poisons sprayed on crops and just about everything else. If these chemicals kill pests and plants, there's good reason to believe they will have a negative impact on the health of humans.