Sunday, December 23, 2012
Unfortunately, the majority of seafood these days is loaded with toxic metals like mercury.
Many types of fish are also contaminated with industrial chemicals like PCBs, dioxins, and pesticides like DDT.
These toxins are absorbed by the smallest ocean plants and animals at the low end of the food chain.
As larger ocean dwellers come along and consume these contaminated plants and prey, the toxins accumulate and become more concentrated in the bodies of the bigger fish.
Unfortunately, the largest predators in the ocean end up heavily laden with toxins.
This includes tuna, which many people regularly feed their cats. Some dogs, but mostly kitties, end up eating a lot of potentially contaminated tuna.
Ethoxyquin: A Potentially Deadly Preservative in Pet Food Containing Fish
The fish in pet food is heavily preserved during the manufacturing process using a chemical preservative called ethoxyquin, which is known to be a cancer-causing agent.
Ethoxyquin is banned from use in human food except in very small quantities allowed as preservatives in spices.
I have experienced first-hand the heartache of ethoxyquin poisoning with my best friend, Gemini, a Rottweiler.
When Gemini was seven and I was in my sophomore year of vet school, she went into liver failure after consuming food containing ethoxyquin. I got the food for free from a major pet food manufacturer who was giving away the stuff to vet students.
It was determined Gemini's liver failure was caused by the ethoxyquin in that food.
Needless to say, not only was I overwhelmingly disturbed that I had unintentionally harmed my dog, but I became very angry that a major 'veterinary line' of dog food contained chemicals that had the potential to kill the pets we were learning how to save as vet students.
It was then and there that I committed not to feed Gemini processed food ever again. It was actually the beginning of my quest to have clean, healthy, pure foods in the pet food supply chain, which is an ongoing battle to this day.
It's Really Hard to Avoid Ethoxyquin in Formulas with Fish Meal
Unfortunately, ethoxyquin is still being used in many pet foods currently available on the market. It is used to preserve the fat in almost all fish meals – fat that is made from waste products.
Always remember that if the label doesn't list exact ingredients, including the exact meat source, you have absolutely no idea what's in that food. And because ethoxyquin is added before the raw ingredients are shipped to the pet food manufacturers, it doesn't get listed or disclosed on the product label.
The pet food company you purchase your cat's or dog's food from may not be adding ethoxyquin, but that doesn't mean it isn't in the fish meal in that food.
Don't make the mistake of assuming if the fish meal product label doesn't list ethoxyquin, it's not in there. Unless the label specifically states the formula is ethoxyquin-free, or you call the manufacturer's 1-800 number and are told it's not in the raw materials they purchase nor added during their own manufacturing process, you should assume the formula contains ethoxyquin.
Fish meal also happens to be one of the main pet food ingredients also contaminated with mycotoxins.
Then What Kind of Fish Can I Feed My Cat? Aren't Cats Designed to Eat Fish?
It's true cats seem to love seafood meals, but it's weird because kitties didn't evolve to eat fish.
Your favorite feline's ancestors came from the deserts of Africa. They didn't hunt giant tuna – or anything else -- in the sea. Your kitty's natural prey are small furry land dwellers like mice.
Because cats seem to love fish and the people they own love feeding it to them even though it's not their natural prey, it could be why kitties fed a lot of canned tuna run an increased risk of acquiring squamous cell carcinoma.
But even though the natural diet of cats isn't seafood, they absolutely can get addicted to fish.
And in fact, kitties tend to become addicted to any protein they consume exclusively. Pet food companies are acutely aware of this phenomenon, which is why most cat food formulas are either fish or chicken based. These are the proteins cats most often form addictions to.
Other Health Concerns from Feeding Fish
As many of you know, I talk a lot here about the need to rotate proteins in your pet's diet. That's because any food that is over-consumed can create an allergy over time.
And fish, as it turns out, is one of the most highly allergenic foods for felines. Allergies cause systemic inflammation. Cats that eat allergenic foods over and over can end up with lung inflammation that can also lead to asthma. And of course asthma is one of the more commonly diagnosed inflammatory conditions in cats.
There also appears to be a link between mercury and asthma, and ethoxyquin and asthma, so it's easy to start to see the bigger picture with regard to diet-related inflammatory conditions.
Fish fed in high amounts can also lead to thiamine deficiency, which can cause loss of appetite, seizures, and even death.
Long-term ingestion of fish in cat food can also deplete vitamin E resources. Vitamin E deficiency can also cause a really painful condition called steatitis, which is yellow fat disease. If left untreated, steatitis can also be life-threatening.
Seafood is a very rich source of iodine, but cats aren't designed to process a lot of iodine. Many animal nutritionists, including me, believe there's a link between cats consuming too many iodine-rich foods and hyperthyroidism.
There's also been a link established between pop-top cans or canned cat food and hyperthyroidism.
Pet food companies are now introducing 'low-iodine' formulas for hyperthyroid cats. How about we just avoid feeding cats fish-based food instead? Avoiding foods high in iodine seems like a good way to prevent hyperthyroidism in kitties.
Last but not least, the magnesium content in fish has been linked to urinary tract diseases in cats. A diet overloaded with the mineral magnesium can predispose your kitty to magnesium ammonium phosphate crystals, also known as MAP crystals or struvite crystals. Crystals are a big problem for many, many cats.
Is There Any Safe Fish to Feed Pets?
It may seem like I'm anti-seafood in general, but I'm really not. However, I do recommend you be very choosy about the fish you feed your pets. And I certainly don't recommend feeding an exclusive diet of fish protein to dogs or cats.
Fish are a rich source of omega-3 fatty acids, which are essential to your pet's well-being. If you supplement your pet's diet with fish, I suggest you use sardines packed in water. Sardines don't live long enough to store toxins in their bodies, and they're a terrific source of omega-3s.
Feeding wild caught salmon in rotation with other proteins is also an excellent way to get those omega-3s into your dog or cat. If you choose not to feed any fish, I recommend you supplement your pet's diet with krill oil or another omega-3 fatty acid.
I also recommend you scrutinize any fish-based commercial pet foods you may be feeding. As with any pet food, there can be quality issues.
Substandard ingredients are added to pet food, which means the runoff from the human food industry ends up in pet food formulas. And chances are there is mercury, ethoxyquin and other potentially carcinogenic preservatives in those fish-based diets.
Seems no matter what we do or where we go to find safe, healthy food, it has all been contaminated. The only way to make sure we are getting healthy food is to grow it ourselves. I found a wonderful unit that would fit on anyone’s balcony and provide enough food for a family of three year round if home canning is done. Unfortunately they are aware of the desperation that some people rightly feel when consuming food from an unknown source and consequently gouge the public. Since I’ve been in business, you can now get Diatomaceous Earth at pet stores. Problem is, they don’t tell you how to use it and charge many times what I charge. Supply and demand but I would like to find a way to intervene in that process. Building my own tower garden would be the obvious solution. There’s a great hydroponic store on Encinitas Blvd....I will start there.
Organic Jan
Sunday, March 11, 2012
Jan Rasmusen: Pet Advocacy
** I contacted Jan Rasmusen when I first started Flea Free Organically and was impressed with her then. I just viewed her site and can do nothing but to aspire to it. I will be contacting Jan in the hop for forming an alliance but even if we don’t I hope to give you access to the best and most helpful pet information that does not include sales tactics for some cause or other through links to her site and blog. We as pet owners and animal lover are held up by by greedy vets and retail promoters that generate the pet movement, 50+ billion a year that was not fazed by the recession. Because of our love for animal, we need advocacy and protection from this greed. I do a lot of research and Jan’s site is the best, most honest I’ve seen. Kudos, Jan. I will point my web attendee in your direction until I can accomplish at least in some part, you excellent advocacy.
Janelle Diters, Owner | Operator
Janelle Diters, Owner | Operator
Wednesday, February 29, 2012
Does FFO/DE Kill Good and Bad Bacteria?
I’ve added this articles because when you take supplements of any kind you have to use common sense.
One of the many questions I get regarding the use of FFO/DE is; will it kill beneficial bugs? The honest answer is yes, however, as stated in this article, ‘Does Colloidal Silver Kill Good and Bad Bacteria?’ since there are upwards of 7pounds of bacteria roaming around your body at any given time and given the rate at which it grows, the small about you are getting will not be enough to be concerned about. Just use common sense. If you feel you have to take larger quantities for a specific purpose, that fine just go back to the suggested dose when you have accomplished your goal. Antibiotics destroy a good portion of good flora but as soon as you stop taking it you go back to normal in a couple of days. You can also stop taking it for a few days and then resume to continue to get the detoxing benefits. Your exposure to heavy metals in ongoing in our environment as is your exposure to intestinal parasites, so maintaining a daily does is vital in our present toxic world.
Does Colloidal Silver Kill Good and Bad Bacteria?
Does Colloidal Silver Kill Both Good Bacteria as Well as Bad in the Human Body?
Many purveyors of commercial brands of colloidal silver claim that it does not kill the beneficial microorganisms that colonize the human intestinal tract and provide innumberable benefits to the body such as aiding in the digestion of foods, the extraction of nutrients from those foods, the assimilation of those nutrients throughout the body, and the processing of waste products from the body.
But the truth is, colloidal silver does indeed act as a broad spectrum natural antibiotic. As such, if enough mineral silver reaches the intestinal tract it most certainly can kill off the friendly (i.e., beneficial) bacteria that thrive there.
Colloidal silver simply has no way of knowing a beneficial microbe from an infectious microbe. If the microbe is sensitive to silver, then silver will kill it whether it is a beneficial microbe or an infectious one.
However, taking small daily doses of colloidal silver is not as problematic in this regard as you might think. That's because there are anywhere from three to seven pounds of beneficial microorganisms populating the entirety of the intestinal tract at any point in time. So if you are taking a small daily maintenance dose of colloidal silver – which most researchers put at about one tablespoon to one ounce a day of 5 ppm to 10 ppm in strength – you will not kill off very many of the friendly "gut bugs" that line the intestinal tract.
Why? For three reasons:
One, because such small amounts of colloidal silver get absorbed through the gut and into the bloodstream very rapidly, so much of it bypasses the intestinal tract anyway.
Two, because such a small amount of silver is no big threat in comparison to the sheer numbers of friendly microbes that colonize the intestinal tract.
And three, because the friendly microbes are so prolific at re-populating, any of the comparatively small numbers you do kill off while taking small amounts of colloidal silver on a daily basis will basically be replaced by the very next day by a growing new colony.
Small daily amounts of colloidal silver are taken by experienced users simply to keep a little mineral silver circulating throughout the body in order to prevent silver deficiency related issues, support the immune system, and help the body resist infection. (You can read more about colloidal silver usage in the Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual, which will be available soon at http://www.lifeandhealthresearchgroup.com/. Or go to http://www.thesilveredge.com/ and download their FREE report, "What's the Safest Daily Dosage of Colloidal Silver?")
However, it is important to understand that once you exceed an ounce of colloidal silver a day, a fair amount of the mineral silver does indeed goes through the intestinal tract and can kill off larger numbers of the friendly microbes your body depends upon for a number of functions. So experienced colloidal silver users tell us that once they exceed an ounce a day – for example, when taking larger daily dosages to help fight off a cold, flu or other infection – they also supplement with lactobacillus acidophilus, or some other product containing friendly microbes.
Many experienced colloidal silver users suggest that the simplest way to replenish the body's beneficial micro-flora is to eat some yogurt containing high beneficial bacteria counts each day during the time of increased silver consumption, and for a few days after having consumed the larger amounts of silver.
You can learn more about the safe, common-sense usage of colloidal silver by getting a copy of the brand new 60-minute, studio-quality Colloidal Silver Secrets Video which is now available in both DVD and VHS formats at http://www.lifeandhealthresearchgroup.com/
One of the many questions I get regarding the use of FFO/DE is; will it kill beneficial bugs? The honest answer is yes, however, as stated in this article, ‘Does Colloidal Silver Kill Good and Bad Bacteria?’ since there are upwards of 7pounds of bacteria roaming around your body at any given time and given the rate at which it grows, the small about you are getting will not be enough to be concerned about. Just use common sense. If you feel you have to take larger quantities for a specific purpose, that fine just go back to the suggested dose when you have accomplished your goal. Antibiotics destroy a good portion of good flora but as soon as you stop taking it you go back to normal in a couple of days. You can also stop taking it for a few days and then resume to continue to get the detoxing benefits. Your exposure to heavy metals in ongoing in our environment as is your exposure to intestinal parasites, so maintaining a daily does is vital in our present toxic world.
Does Colloidal Silver Kill Good and Bad Bacteria?
Does Colloidal Silver Kill Both Good Bacteria as Well as Bad in the Human Body?
Many purveyors of commercial brands of colloidal silver claim that it does not kill the beneficial microorganisms that colonize the human intestinal tract and provide innumberable benefits to the body such as aiding in the digestion of foods, the extraction of nutrients from those foods, the assimilation of those nutrients throughout the body, and the processing of waste products from the body.
But the truth is, colloidal silver does indeed act as a broad spectrum natural antibiotic. As such, if enough mineral silver reaches the intestinal tract it most certainly can kill off the friendly (i.e., beneficial) bacteria that thrive there.
Colloidal silver simply has no way of knowing a beneficial microbe from an infectious microbe. If the microbe is sensitive to silver, then silver will kill it whether it is a beneficial microbe or an infectious one.
However, taking small daily doses of colloidal silver is not as problematic in this regard as you might think. That's because there are anywhere from three to seven pounds of beneficial microorganisms populating the entirety of the intestinal tract at any point in time. So if you are taking a small daily maintenance dose of colloidal silver – which most researchers put at about one tablespoon to one ounce a day of 5 ppm to 10 ppm in strength – you will not kill off very many of the friendly "gut bugs" that line the intestinal tract.
Why? For three reasons:
One, because such small amounts of colloidal silver get absorbed through the gut and into the bloodstream very rapidly, so much of it bypasses the intestinal tract anyway.
Two, because such a small amount of silver is no big threat in comparison to the sheer numbers of friendly microbes that colonize the intestinal tract.
And three, because the friendly microbes are so prolific at re-populating, any of the comparatively small numbers you do kill off while taking small amounts of colloidal silver on a daily basis will basically be replaced by the very next day by a growing new colony.
Small daily amounts of colloidal silver are taken by experienced users simply to keep a little mineral silver circulating throughout the body in order to prevent silver deficiency related issues, support the immune system, and help the body resist infection. (You can read more about colloidal silver usage in the Ultimate Colloidal Silver Manual, which will be available soon at http://www.lifeandhealthresearchgroup.com/. Or go to http://www.thesilveredge.com/ and download their FREE report, "What's the Safest Daily Dosage of Colloidal Silver?")
However, it is important to understand that once you exceed an ounce of colloidal silver a day, a fair amount of the mineral silver does indeed goes through the intestinal tract and can kill off larger numbers of the friendly microbes your body depends upon for a number of functions. So experienced colloidal silver users tell us that once they exceed an ounce a day – for example, when taking larger daily dosages to help fight off a cold, flu or other infection – they also supplement with lactobacillus acidophilus, or some other product containing friendly microbes.
Many experienced colloidal silver users suggest that the simplest way to replenish the body's beneficial micro-flora is to eat some yogurt containing high beneficial bacteria counts each day during the time of increased silver consumption, and for a few days after having consumed the larger amounts of silver.
You can learn more about the safe, common-sense usage of colloidal silver by getting a copy of the brand new 60-minute, studio-quality Colloidal Silver Secrets Video which is now available in both DVD and VHS formats at http://www.lifeandhealthresearchgroup.com/
Sunday, February 19, 2012
Food for Thought
I’ve just republished Signs and Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity here again. There still is not enough attention on this subject in the Medical field any more than the fact that 70 % of the population are plagued with parasites. Now, what if there was a simple cure for both? Have you ever been to one of that spa’s that has a mud bath? The ‘mud’ they use is Diatomaceous Earth. It detoxes and smoothes the skin. It’s also used as a facial. Internally it does double duty. You may be aware that you have parasite but did you know you probably also have worms. Yes, worms…that your doctor doesn’t tell you about. Why would he do that. It might make you will and then he’d never see you again! That and the fact that the cure is worse. He would prescribe a pesticidal toxin. And, he’d have to do it every month or so and that would do you humans what it does to dogs and cats. I don’t like the taste of Diatomaceous earth but I take it in juice and it’s not so bad. After you read the article again if need be. Just so you get the picture that many of our health issues are manmade. Our food supply is tainted and we are now in a position where we have to protect ourselves any way we can. Odd isn’t it that even in destroying nature we can still go to it for solutions what is causing the problem in our food supply. There are other solutions for detergent and glass cleaners. You don’t need those little smelly laundry sheets. Put a sprig of rosemary in there instead and if you know have the balls to put in your dryer put some organic hair softener in the wash. It works and it doesn’t have the fake industrial flower smell. I yes, it will even get the dog hairs off. There are latterly hundreds of alternatives that can be use in place of the chemicals that now lurk in our water table and soil. Hopefully my book ‘Better Choices’ will have those solutions that people will use. Like using vinegar and baking soda to keep your drains clean and it’s a lot more fun to watch when it bubbles up. Do this once a month and you will never need either a human or chemical plumber again. Think of things like lemon juice, vinegar, baking soda and Diatomaceous earth as alternatives. DE has dozens of uses, listed on the Flea Free Organically website. So, I hope you re-read the Signs and Symptoms of Heavy Metal Toxicity. A think about signing up Organic Jan’s new letter. It will have everything that will be in the book to help you rethink what you do daily that can detox our would, maybe not for us but for who we leave it to.
To Your Health
Organic Jan
To Your Health
Organic Jan
Signs and Symptoms of Metal and Chemical Toxicity
Signs and Symptoms of Metal and Chemical Toxicity
Heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity lead to the accumulation of toxins in our tissues and organs causing nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances and the breakdown of the immune system, the central nervous system, and the organs of the body. This breakdown of bodily organs and systems will encourage numerous diseases and disorders (listed above) to take hold in the body.
It is important to know some of the early signs and symptoms of environmental toxicity so that you can take action to reverse it. The following is a few of the many symptoms of heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity:
• Environmental allergies
• Food allergies
• Brain fog
• Coated tongue
• Extreme fatigue
• Frequent colds and flus
• Insomnia
• Loss of memory
• Metallic taste in mouth
• Muscle and joint pain
• Muscle twitching
• Night sweats
• Parasites
• Prone to mood swings
• Sensitive teeth
• Sensitive to smells
• Skin problems
• Sore or receding gums
"Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been associated with many health conditions, including heart disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders (including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS), and autism.
Disorders Linked to Heavy Metal and Chemical Toxicity
The following is a list of the most common disorders found by independent research studies to be directly linked to toxic metals and chemicals:
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Alzheimer's disease
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Autism Spectrum disorders
• Auto-immune disorders
• Candidiasis • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Gulf War Syndrome
• Hypertension
• Insomnia
• Infertility
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)
• Multiple Scleroris
• Parkinson's disease
• Schizophrenia
• Thyroid disorders
In animals:
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, paint, canvas and contaminated waters.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our government standards increased the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals.
I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder/soda (there are non metallics in health food stores)
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese (buy aged)
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite (Canadian Bentonite has minute amounts that flush out )and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
Heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity lead to the accumulation of toxins in our tissues and organs causing nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances and the breakdown of the immune system, the central nervous system, and the organs of the body. This breakdown of bodily organs and systems will encourage numerous diseases and disorders (listed above) to take hold in the body.
It is important to know some of the early signs and symptoms of environmental toxicity so that you can take action to reverse it. The following is a few of the many symptoms of heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity:
• Environmental allergies
• Food allergies
• Brain fog
• Coated tongue
• Extreme fatigue
• Frequent colds and flus
• Insomnia
• Loss of memory
• Metallic taste in mouth
• Muscle and joint pain
• Muscle twitching
• Night sweats
• Parasites
• Prone to mood swings
• Sensitive teeth
• Sensitive to smells
• Skin problems
• Sore or receding gums
"Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been associated with many health conditions, including heart disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders (including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS), and autism.
Disorders Linked to Heavy Metal and Chemical Toxicity
The following is a list of the most common disorders found by independent research studies to be directly linked to toxic metals and chemicals:
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Alzheimer's disease
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Autism Spectrum disorders
• Auto-immune disorders
• Candidiasis • Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Gulf War Syndrome
• Hypertension
• Insomnia
• Infertility
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)
• Multiple Scleroris
• Parkinson's disease
• Schizophrenia
• Thyroid disorders
In animals:
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, paint, canvas and contaminated waters.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our government standards increased the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals.
I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder/soda (there are non metallics in health food stores)
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese (buy aged)
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite (Canadian Bentonite has minute amounts that flush out )and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
Thursday, February 16, 2012
The following article has a permanent place on our website. It is extremely important for anyone who considers themselves environmental savvy to read.
So there you have it. Question is, what do we do with it? I was aware of this problem 20 years ago. Thankfully there are people like Dr Dodd who recognizes and are willing to see that the king is not wearing any clothes. I love that phrase. It’s been a part of my personality all my life and I have not made many friends because of it. Right now I have to battle local Veterinarians who don't like what I’m doing. But that’s ok, as long as I can do something to fight back, otherwise its won't be the food that kills me, it will be the apathy.
Organic Jan
Chronic Heavy Metal Poisoning
- Silent Killer in Pets
In 1984 it came to my attention that a very serious health hazard exists in the form of heavy metal contamination of the food and water chain. The heavy metals involved are Aluminum, Nickel, Copper, Iron, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury, Selenium and Lead. I sent 20 documented ill animal cases with hair analysis and analysis of the food and water they consumed to government authorities, media and prominent medical and veterinary doctors I knew, both in orthodox and holistic practices. With the cover letter I included all the blood tests, and clinical medical records of these cases. From the media the response was "the subject was not topical" from my US congressmen and from the FDA: "we are looking into the matter". I contacted the FDA yearly for 4 years then I gave up asking for an investigation. I concentrated my efforts with the pet owner and our association of holistic veterinarians.
I ran routine hair analysis on every sick dog and cat that was presented to me along with the routine laboratory diagnostic tests of blood tests, urinalysis, physical exams, etc.: I tested a few horses as well. The initial heavy metal testing was terminated in 1989, but resumed in 2000-2001 and I have found contamination is much worse today. To my knowledge there has been very little research on pathologies caused by combinations of toxic metals, with chemicals like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides for that matter. This happens in the real world outside of pure science. There remain little government guidelines for Agribusiness and Industry to protect public health.
I began including hair analysis for heavy metals when I encountered my first case of chronic heavy metal poisoning, in my own cat, "Sambo", a 19-year-old neutered male cat. I had kept him in excellent health with homeopathy and acupuncture for years, until Aug. 13, 1984, I woke up to the fact that old "Sambo" wasn't looking so good - his glossy black coat had turned to a dull, dry, gray; his skin was dry and scurfy; he was sleeping more than usual and his third eyelids were showing. Although he was eating well, his vital signs were normal and was responsive to his environment, nevertheless I knew something was wrong. In short Sambo was showing all the signs of a creeping chronic degenerative process of pathology. A blood test taken 8/14/84 revealed low level pathology of the bone marrow, liver, pancreas and kidney. His hair analysis showed very high aluminum levels (45 ppm as compared to human tolerable hair analysis levels of .05 ppm). There were also elevated levels of mercury, lead and cadmium.
The director of the Analytical Research Labs (ARL) in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr.Eck, called me by telephone and inquired if this cat was still alive, for he had never seen such high levels of aluminum in man or animal. I said, yes, and that he was under my care and being treated with nosodes (homeopathic remedies made from specific causative agents of pathology, in this case, aluminum, mercury, cadmium and lead). The enclosures of the actual hair analysis tests before and after treatment show a dramatic lowered levels of the metals in succeeding monthly hair analysis run on the newly grown hair from the shaved areas from previous testing. Sambo had been fed a "wholistic " commercial cat food formulated by a veterinarian, using Vit E as a preservative: Cornucopia Stars dry food, and a combination of varied Cornucopia canned foods: Beef liver, and poultry. The ratio of dry food to canned food was on a 50-50- basis. He was supplemented with a multiple vitamin-mineral tablet daily.
With homeopathic nosodal treatment Sambo began recovering, over the next three months. Serial monthly hair analysis revealed a dramatic lowering of the heavy metals, and clinically the cat and his blood tests improved. Then 5 months later the symptoms returned. In January 1985 I began suspecting the Cornucopia food was the source of the heavy metals. Samples of both the canned and dry foods fed, were submitted to three different laboratories for testing. Two labs tested with flame photometer, the other, (ARL) with atomic absorption. Atomic absorption method is more accurate in measuring quantitatively. I have spent over $1500 of my own money to investigate this problem and found very high levels of aluminum as well as other metals in the food.
I brought this problem to the attention of the manufacturer, and he said he knew he had aluminum contamination in his pet food when it was producing "Alzheimer"-like symptoms in his 4-year-old test dogs. He said he was rectifying the problem. (Why didn't he pull his pet food off the market when he knew he had a problem?)
I submitted other pet foods: Cornucopia Stress dog canned and kibble (tested 855 parts per million (ppm) aluminum along with, 17 other commercial dog and cat food (Health Valley Natures, Hill's Prescription Science Diets, Safeway's Thrifty, Purina, Nature's Choice, Iam's, Avo Derm, Wysong, ANF, Natural Life, Natural Pet Products, Premium Natural Style, Nature's Choice, Alpo, Blue Mountain Home Style Stew, Kal Kan, and Carnation's Bright Eyes.). These contained various levels of aluminum, mercury, cadmium and lead. It was the levels of aluminum I was interested in, because it was in all the foods tested, and at a much higher level than the other heavy metals. Aluminum is a mineral but acts like a metal, chemically and physiologically.
The pet foods tested by atomic absorption methods showed aluminum levels ranging from the lowest of 17 ppm (in canned wet foods) to 855 ppm in the kibbled product. Kibble production by dehydration would, as expected, increase the content of the metals over canned. I was shocked at the high levels in well-respected products made by conscientious manufacturers. I believe they just don't know about the widespread contamination problem so have never tested for it. I submitted human consumption food for testing, that is fed to sick animals in my hospital when they refuse regular pet food, such as Gerber's strained baby meats, chicken, beef and lamb, Star Kist Tuna and Swanson's Mixin" Chicken in Broth. All contain aluminum, (also lead and mercury), Gerber's Turkey less than 1 part per million aluminum, and Gerber's Lamb, 1.8 ppm. Tuna and Chicken seem to be the worst, at 7.2 ppm in Star-Kist Fancy Albacore Solid White and Gerber's Strained Chicken at 3.0 ppm and 5.8 ppm in Swanson's.
What really astounded me was the health food herbal yeast and kelp products being sold for people and supplemented by some of my pet owners to their animals. These showed high levels of aluminum: Barley Green powder 25 ppm, Raspberry Leaf 390, Nettle 585, powdered alfalfa 120, Herbal Protein Powder 1380! Kelp 495. I telephoned many of the storeowners carrying these foods, and some of the manufacturers. There seemed to be a universal disinterest in even investigating such a health hazard. More disturbing is the few investigational studies to determine what levels of these metals are tolerable in man and different animals before pathologies are seen. The only references I could find was 300 ppm mercury in a swordfish killed a human victim in the San Francisco Bay area. This was discovered when a doctor ordered a toxicology scan. I learned this from the toxicology department of the California State Public Health Dept. Acute lead poisoning occurs at levels of 5 ppm lead in the liver and 10ppm in the kidney of a dog causing death. (Ettinger: Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine.) Then I found our own government had published a book on heavy metal toxicity in domestic livestock: Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980.
How do metals produce toxicity? All metals are toxic to cells. They compete with the nutritional minerals in the body thus rendering them unavailable to the necessary processes to maintain health. For example, let's take just one small example: you will see on a sample hair analysis that Aluminum displaces calcium and makes it unavailable for building bone, teeth and health of the muscle function (including the heart muscles) thereby weakening these structures. Low calcium levels lead to osteoporosis, dental caries, periodontal disease, muscle cramping, colic and heart disease. Other mineral disturbances are a lowering of zinc, phosphorous, manganese, iron and magnesium. Aluminum has a double whammy as it increases the zinc and copper in the body to secondary toxic levels.
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
A few illustrative cases:
I had a dog brought to me in a hypoglycemic coma. The referring vet had found a large mass on the pancreas with ultrasound. Suspecting a tumor, he had wanted to do a laparotomy. Fortunately the owner wanted a second opinion. EAV revealed a cyst, not a tumor of the pancreas that was producing extra insulin. The cause??? Aluminum deposits in the pancreas of the Beta acinar cells that specifically produce insulin. I gave the dog an intravenous injection of the necessary nosode of aluminum homeopathy, he came out of his coma, and in 1 week the cyst was gone. His blood glucose became balanced after the aluminum was discharged from the body.
My own married daughter called me in extreme pain, her OBGYN had palpated an enlarged left ovary the size of an orange, and wanted to do emergency removal of the ovary. EAV of my daughter revealed a cyst caused by aluminum. I gave her the oral tablet nosode Aluminum 60C, 3 times daily for 1 week, after which both ultrasound and palpation were negative for any abnormality in the ovary.
Case #1: "Sambo" after the initial hair analysis showed aluminum, lead and arsenic, I started the nosodal homeopathic chelation of these heavy metals. I monitored him over a period of 5 months (8/13/84 to 1/2/85) with blood tests, hair analysis and clinical response until all became normal. His coat resumed its black, glossy look, and he began playing again. I had changed his food to detoxified - (please see Newsletter #7 How To Detoxify The Food) fresh meat, vegetables and grains with vitamin-mineral supplementation.
His case led me to start testing all my sick animal patients for heavy metal poisoning.
Case #2: "Chad" Mobley, a 13 year old, male Golden Retriever. He was submitted to me for treatment of bilateral hind leg paralysis, very offensive skin condition showing large areas of baldness, greasy, stinking odor coming from the skin itself (Seborrhea), a "measles" look to the abdomen skin, with oozing serum from several lesions; a "lick granuloma" (area of the skin where dog constantly chews until it is open and bleeding in the center, but the areas around it tries to heal by building up a large, thickened mass of scarring tissue) on his right forepaw. He was being fed ANF (this pet food we were later able to prove has a double whammy: containing aluminum and a preservative ethoxyquin which has shown to be carcinogenic), Purina Hi Protein and Iams. Chad's blood test showed low-grade anemia, hypothyroidisin, and liver pathology. The hair analysis showed increased levels above acceptable for humans of: aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury; with a gross disruption of his nutritional minerals, a loss of sodium, potassium, lowered calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and chromium. There was an increase of copper retention resulting in an additional low-grade copper toxicity. The analysis of the foods showed:
ANF 30- 186 ppm aluminum (Dr. Eck at ARL, and I have found in animals that consume foods containing over 30 ppm aluminum, will gradually start showing pathology. The speed and intensity of pathology developed is proportional to the amount of aluminum consumed and the length of time consuming it.
Purina Hi Protein- 50.2 ppm aluminum
Iams- 91 ppm aluminum.
Chad was treated for a period of one year with natural detoxified food, hypoallergenic diet (Chad was allergic to beef, milk products and brewers yeast), desensitization to pollens, fleas and food groups, acupuncture and chiropractic as well as chelation of the heavy metals with homeopathy; Chad made a full recovery. He was not only walking but also running, his coat came back with a luster, and turned a deep reddish gold, his lick granuloma disappeared and his blood tests and thyroid normalized.
Case #3: "Hummer" Weinstein, 6 yr old spayed female collie cross.
Diagnosis Auto Immune Syndrome (AIDS in a dog, is not due to the same virus as man's but the pathology is the same, and the prognosis is fatal.)
"Hummer" came to me from the east coast when her owner moved to California. All blood tests were positive for AIDS. She had been treated with steroids (a mistake doctors make for man and animals, steroids depress an already failing immune system) and antibiotics. She was being fed a variety of commercial canned and dry food: Alpo, COOP dog food in cans, Mealtime kibble and Tender Chunks.
Alpo tested 17.9 ppm aluminum
Kal Kan puts out Mealtime and chunks- I did not test these specifically but their meat stew and seaside supper I tested and are 187 ppm and 8.1 ppm aluminum respectively
Hair analysis showed 13 ppm aluminum, with mercury and lead above acceptable levels. Nutritional minerals of the body were all disrupted: there were lowering of calcium, magnesium, manganese, and chromium with loss of sodium and potassium (Na and K) from the body, and toxic elevations of copper and iron.
The dog was anemic, no platelets were being formed by the bone marrow, and she had liver and kidney pathology, was vomiting, dehydrated and wouldn't eat. I took her off of all drug therapy, put her on supportive homeopathy remedies, along with natural, detoxified diet, did ozone intravenous therapy (German technique of bombarding the patient's blood with ozone then transfusing the blood back into the patient- - this produces a rich supply of oxygen to all the organs of the body, and stimulates the immune system,) along with a variety of other energy stimulating techniques:
acupuncture, Pulsating Electromagnetic field therapy, EAV, color therapy, etc.
The heavy metals were chelated out of "Hummer" with the specific homeopathic metal remedies.
"Hummer" made a progressive recovery over several months intensive treatment and was Aid's negative for 5 years. Unfortunately, Miss Weinstein started to feed Cornucopia despite my blanket warnings sent in letterform to all my clients, and Hummer died of a hemolytic (hemorrhaging) crises 2 years later.
This is a landmark case because to my knowledge no other case of Canine Aids has ever been treated successfully. It may hold some promise for human aids victims for the pathological consequences in the body are the same. I realize there is a specific human virus involved, but something besides the virus has to weaken the body's immune system first for the virus to find fertile grounds to grow in-maybe chemical and heavy metal intoxication of the food, water and environment plays a larger part than the virus theory. I know from animal medicine it does. I would like to see intensive studies done in hair and tissue analysis of chemicals, and heavy metals.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, pain, canvas and contaminated waters. This problem is seriously troubling ecologists and biologists in the ocean's fish and food chain. Mercury has been covered somewhat in the local news media. We are warned not to eat the fish from the bays and deltas around San Francisco and East Bay, due to the high mercury content from industrial pollution.
Local fishermen complain of the visible mercury "burns" on the skin of the fish caught in our East Bay waters. It is estimated that over 60,000 fetuses will develop methyl mercury toxicity in utero this year from mothers eating swordfish, shark, and tuna fish (reference: a recent TV 20-20 program.) The MD's tell them nothing, the FDA is impotent and our government fails to confront the problem.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies.
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our new government standards will increase the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Payback time for mining and industry businesses. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed (with my methods outlined in newsletter #7), organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals. I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
So there you have it. Question is, what do we do with it? I was aware of this problem 20 years ago. Thankfully there are people like Dr Dodd who recognizes and are willing to see that the king is not wearing any clothes. I love that phrase. It’s been a part of my personality all my life and I have not made many friends because of it. Right now I have to battle local Veterinarians who don't like what I’m doing. But that’s ok, as long as I can do something to fight back, otherwise its won't be the food that kills me, it will be the apathy.
Organic Jan
Chronic Heavy Metal Poisoning
- Silent Killer in Pets
In 1984 it came to my attention that a very serious health hazard exists in the form of heavy metal contamination of the food and water chain. The heavy metals involved are Aluminum, Nickel, Copper, Iron, Cadmium, Arsenic, Mercury, Selenium and Lead. I sent 20 documented ill animal cases with hair analysis and analysis of the food and water they consumed to government authorities, media and prominent medical and veterinary doctors I knew, both in orthodox and holistic practices. With the cover letter I included all the blood tests, and clinical medical records of these cases. From the media the response was "the subject was not topical" from my US congressmen and from the FDA: "we are looking into the matter". I contacted the FDA yearly for 4 years then I gave up asking for an investigation. I concentrated my efforts with the pet owner and our association of holistic veterinarians.
I ran routine hair analysis on every sick dog and cat that was presented to me along with the routine laboratory diagnostic tests of blood tests, urinalysis, physical exams, etc.: I tested a few horses as well. The initial heavy metal testing was terminated in 1989, but resumed in 2000-2001 and I have found contamination is much worse today. To my knowledge there has been very little research on pathologies caused by combinations of toxic metals, with chemicals like pesticides, herbicides and fungicides for that matter. This happens in the real world outside of pure science. There remain little government guidelines for Agribusiness and Industry to protect public health.
I began including hair analysis for heavy metals when I encountered my first case of chronic heavy metal poisoning, in my own cat, "Sambo", a 19-year-old neutered male cat. I had kept him in excellent health with homeopathy and acupuncture for years, until Aug. 13, 1984, I woke up to the fact that old "Sambo" wasn't looking so good - his glossy black coat had turned to a dull, dry, gray; his skin was dry and scurfy; he was sleeping more than usual and his third eyelids were showing. Although he was eating well, his vital signs were normal and was responsive to his environment, nevertheless I knew something was wrong. In short Sambo was showing all the signs of a creeping chronic degenerative process of pathology. A blood test taken 8/14/84 revealed low level pathology of the bone marrow, liver, pancreas and kidney. His hair analysis showed very high aluminum levels (45 ppm as compared to human tolerable hair analysis levels of .05 ppm). There were also elevated levels of mercury, lead and cadmium.
The director of the Analytical Research Labs (ARL) in Phoenix, Arizona, Dr.Eck, called me by telephone and inquired if this cat was still alive, for he had never seen such high levels of aluminum in man or animal. I said, yes, and that he was under my care and being treated with nosodes (homeopathic remedies made from specific causative agents of pathology, in this case, aluminum, mercury, cadmium and lead). The enclosures of the actual hair analysis tests before and after treatment show a dramatic lowered levels of the metals in succeeding monthly hair analysis run on the newly grown hair from the shaved areas from previous testing. Sambo had been fed a "wholistic " commercial cat food formulated by a veterinarian, using Vit E as a preservative: Cornucopia Stars dry food, and a combination of varied Cornucopia canned foods: Beef liver, and poultry. The ratio of dry food to canned food was on a 50-50- basis. He was supplemented with a multiple vitamin-mineral tablet daily.
With homeopathic nosodal treatment Sambo began recovering, over the next three months. Serial monthly hair analysis revealed a dramatic lowering of the heavy metals, and clinically the cat and his blood tests improved. Then 5 months later the symptoms returned. In January 1985 I began suspecting the Cornucopia food was the source of the heavy metals. Samples of both the canned and dry foods fed, were submitted to three different laboratories for testing. Two labs tested with flame photometer, the other, (ARL) with atomic absorption. Atomic absorption method is more accurate in measuring quantitatively. I have spent over $1500 of my own money to investigate this problem and found very high levels of aluminum as well as other metals in the food.
I brought this problem to the attention of the manufacturer, and he said he knew he had aluminum contamination in his pet food when it was producing "Alzheimer"-like symptoms in his 4-year-old test dogs. He said he was rectifying the problem. (Why didn't he pull his pet food off the market when he knew he had a problem?)
I submitted other pet foods: Cornucopia Stress dog canned and kibble (tested 855 parts per million (ppm) aluminum along with, 17 other commercial dog and cat food (Health Valley Natures, Hill's Prescription Science Diets, Safeway's Thrifty, Purina, Nature's Choice, Iam's, Avo Derm, Wysong, ANF, Natural Life, Natural Pet Products, Premium Natural Style, Nature's Choice, Alpo, Blue Mountain Home Style Stew, Kal Kan, and Carnation's Bright Eyes.). These contained various levels of aluminum, mercury, cadmium and lead. It was the levels of aluminum I was interested in, because it was in all the foods tested, and at a much higher level than the other heavy metals. Aluminum is a mineral but acts like a metal, chemically and physiologically.
The pet foods tested by atomic absorption methods showed aluminum levels ranging from the lowest of 17 ppm (in canned wet foods) to 855 ppm in the kibbled product. Kibble production by dehydration would, as expected, increase the content of the metals over canned. I was shocked at the high levels in well-respected products made by conscientious manufacturers. I believe they just don't know about the widespread contamination problem so have never tested for it. I submitted human consumption food for testing, that is fed to sick animals in my hospital when they refuse regular pet food, such as Gerber's strained baby meats, chicken, beef and lamb, Star Kist Tuna and Swanson's Mixin" Chicken in Broth. All contain aluminum, (also lead and mercury), Gerber's Turkey less than 1 part per million aluminum, and Gerber's Lamb, 1.8 ppm. Tuna and Chicken seem to be the worst, at 7.2 ppm in Star-Kist Fancy Albacore Solid White and Gerber's Strained Chicken at 3.0 ppm and 5.8 ppm in Swanson's.
What really astounded me was the health food herbal yeast and kelp products being sold for people and supplemented by some of my pet owners to their animals. These showed high levels of aluminum: Barley Green powder 25 ppm, Raspberry Leaf 390, Nettle 585, powdered alfalfa 120, Herbal Protein Powder 1380! Kelp 495. I telephoned many of the storeowners carrying these foods, and some of the manufacturers. There seemed to be a universal disinterest in even investigating such a health hazard. More disturbing is the few investigational studies to determine what levels of these metals are tolerable in man and different animals before pathologies are seen. The only references I could find was 300 ppm mercury in a swordfish killed a human victim in the San Francisco Bay area. This was discovered when a doctor ordered a toxicology scan. I learned this from the toxicology department of the California State Public Health Dept. Acute lead poisoning occurs at levels of 5 ppm lead in the liver and 10ppm in the kidney of a dog causing death. (Ettinger: Textbook of Veterinary Internal Medicine.) Then I found our own government had published a book on heavy metal toxicity in domestic livestock: Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980.
How do metals produce toxicity? All metals are toxic to cells. They compete with the nutritional minerals in the body thus rendering them unavailable to the necessary processes to maintain health. For example, let's take just one small example: you will see on a sample hair analysis that Aluminum displaces calcium and makes it unavailable for building bone, teeth and health of the muscle function (including the heart muscles) thereby weakening these structures. Low calcium levels lead to osteoporosis, dental caries, periodontal disease, muscle cramping, colic and heart disease. Other mineral disturbances are a lowering of zinc, phosphorous, manganese, iron and magnesium. Aluminum has a double whammy as it increases the zinc and copper in the body to secondary toxic levels.
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
A few illustrative cases:
I had a dog brought to me in a hypoglycemic coma. The referring vet had found a large mass on the pancreas with ultrasound. Suspecting a tumor, he had wanted to do a laparotomy. Fortunately the owner wanted a second opinion. EAV revealed a cyst, not a tumor of the pancreas that was producing extra insulin. The cause??? Aluminum deposits in the pancreas of the Beta acinar cells that specifically produce insulin. I gave the dog an intravenous injection of the necessary nosode of aluminum homeopathy, he came out of his coma, and in 1 week the cyst was gone. His blood glucose became balanced after the aluminum was discharged from the body.
My own married daughter called me in extreme pain, her OBGYN had palpated an enlarged left ovary the size of an orange, and wanted to do emergency removal of the ovary. EAV of my daughter revealed a cyst caused by aluminum. I gave her the oral tablet nosode Aluminum 60C, 3 times daily for 1 week, after which both ultrasound and palpation were negative for any abnormality in the ovary.
Case #1: "Sambo" after the initial hair analysis showed aluminum, lead and arsenic, I started the nosodal homeopathic chelation of these heavy metals. I monitored him over a period of 5 months (8/13/84 to 1/2/85) with blood tests, hair analysis and clinical response until all became normal. His coat resumed its black, glossy look, and he began playing again. I had changed his food to detoxified - (please see Newsletter #7 How To Detoxify The Food) fresh meat, vegetables and grains with vitamin-mineral supplementation.
His case led me to start testing all my sick animal patients for heavy metal poisoning.
Case #2: "Chad" Mobley, a 13 year old, male Golden Retriever. He was submitted to me for treatment of bilateral hind leg paralysis, very offensive skin condition showing large areas of baldness, greasy, stinking odor coming from the skin itself (Seborrhea), a "measles" look to the abdomen skin, with oozing serum from several lesions; a "lick granuloma" (area of the skin where dog constantly chews until it is open and bleeding in the center, but the areas around it tries to heal by building up a large, thickened mass of scarring tissue) on his right forepaw. He was being fed ANF (this pet food we were later able to prove has a double whammy: containing aluminum and a preservative ethoxyquin which has shown to be carcinogenic), Purina Hi Protein and Iams. Chad's blood test showed low-grade anemia, hypothyroidisin, and liver pathology. The hair analysis showed increased levels above acceptable for humans of: aluminum, cadmium, lead and mercury; with a gross disruption of his nutritional minerals, a loss of sodium, potassium, lowered calcium, magnesium, iron, manganese, zinc and chromium. There was an increase of copper retention resulting in an additional low-grade copper toxicity. The analysis of the foods showed:
ANF 30- 186 ppm aluminum (Dr. Eck at ARL, and I have found in animals that consume foods containing over 30 ppm aluminum, will gradually start showing pathology. The speed and intensity of pathology developed is proportional to the amount of aluminum consumed and the length of time consuming it.
Purina Hi Protein- 50.2 ppm aluminum
Iams- 91 ppm aluminum.
Chad was treated for a period of one year with natural detoxified food, hypoallergenic diet (Chad was allergic to beef, milk products and brewers yeast), desensitization to pollens, fleas and food groups, acupuncture and chiropractic as well as chelation of the heavy metals with homeopathy; Chad made a full recovery. He was not only walking but also running, his coat came back with a luster, and turned a deep reddish gold, his lick granuloma disappeared and his blood tests and thyroid normalized.
Case #3: "Hummer" Weinstein, 6 yr old spayed female collie cross.
Diagnosis Auto Immune Syndrome (AIDS in a dog, is not due to the same virus as man's but the pathology is the same, and the prognosis is fatal.)
"Hummer" came to me from the east coast when her owner moved to California. All blood tests were positive for AIDS. She had been treated with steroids (a mistake doctors make for man and animals, steroids depress an already failing immune system) and antibiotics. She was being fed a variety of commercial canned and dry food: Alpo, COOP dog food in cans, Mealtime kibble and Tender Chunks.
Alpo tested 17.9 ppm aluminum
Kal Kan puts out Mealtime and chunks- I did not test these specifically but their meat stew and seaside supper I tested and are 187 ppm and 8.1 ppm aluminum respectively
Hair analysis showed 13 ppm aluminum, with mercury and lead above acceptable levels. Nutritional minerals of the body were all disrupted: there were lowering of calcium, magnesium, manganese, and chromium with loss of sodium and potassium (Na and K) from the body, and toxic elevations of copper and iron.
The dog was anemic, no platelets were being formed by the bone marrow, and she had liver and kidney pathology, was vomiting, dehydrated and wouldn't eat. I took her off of all drug therapy, put her on supportive homeopathy remedies, along with natural, detoxified diet, did ozone intravenous therapy (German technique of bombarding the patient's blood with ozone then transfusing the blood back into the patient- - this produces a rich supply of oxygen to all the organs of the body, and stimulates the immune system,) along with a variety of other energy stimulating techniques:
acupuncture, Pulsating Electromagnetic field therapy, EAV, color therapy, etc.
The heavy metals were chelated out of "Hummer" with the specific homeopathic metal remedies.
"Hummer" made a progressive recovery over several months intensive treatment and was Aid's negative for 5 years. Unfortunately, Miss Weinstein started to feed Cornucopia despite my blanket warnings sent in letterform to all my clients, and Hummer died of a hemolytic (hemorrhaging) crises 2 years later.
This is a landmark case because to my knowledge no other case of Canine Aids has ever been treated successfully. It may hold some promise for human aids victims for the pathological consequences in the body are the same. I realize there is a specific human virus involved, but something besides the virus has to weaken the body's immune system first for the virus to find fertile grounds to grow in-maybe chemical and heavy metal intoxication of the food, water and environment plays a larger part than the virus theory. I know from animal medicine it does. I would like to see intensive studies done in hair and tissue analysis of chemicals, and heavy metals.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, pain, canvas and contaminated waters. This problem is seriously troubling ecologists and biologists in the ocean's fish and food chain. Mercury has been covered somewhat in the local news media. We are warned not to eat the fish from the bays and deltas around San Francisco and East Bay, due to the high mercury content from industrial pollution.
Local fishermen complain of the visible mercury "burns" on the skin of the fish caught in our East Bay waters. It is estimated that over 60,000 fetuses will develop methyl mercury toxicity in utero this year from mothers eating swordfish, shark, and tuna fish (reference: a recent TV 20-20 program.) The MD's tell them nothing, the FDA is impotent and our government fails to confront the problem.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies.
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our new government standards will increase the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Payback time for mining and industry businesses. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed (with my methods outlined in newsletter #7), organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals. I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
Saturday, February 4, 2012
We Have a New Website!!!
We finally have a website that we control. It’s a fun site with coupons and money savers and new affiliate products that help us and our pets. There are articles of interest posted bi-monthly with a permanently placed article on 'Greedy Vets' and how to spot them, newsletter an 'Pet Pic' of the week.
Much of the content will have excerpts from the book: Better Choices, as does this blog. Where still working on it so forgive any editing problems for now.
To Your Health
Farmacy not pharmacy
Organic Jan
http://www.fleafreeorganically.com
Much of the content will have excerpts from the book: Better Choices, as does this blog. Where still working on it so forgive any editing problems for now.
To Your Health
Farmacy not pharmacy
Organic Jan
http://www.fleafreeorganically.com
Our business purpose it find a way to stop poisoning pet and people. I have posted this article before but feel its importance merits a second posting.
-------------
Signs and Symptoms of Metal and Chemical Toxicity
Heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity lead to the accumulation of toxins in our tissues and organs causing nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances and the breakdown of the immune system, the central nervous system, and the organs of the body. This breakdown of bodily organs and systems will encourage numerous diseases and disorders (listed above) to take hold in the body.
It is important to know some of the early signs and symptoms of environmental toxicity so that you can take action to reverse it. The following is a few of the many symptoms of heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity:
• Environmental allergies
• Food allergies
• Brain fog
• Coated tongue
• Extreme fatigue
• Frequent colds and flus
• Insomnia
• Loss of memory
• Metallic taste in mouth
• Muscle and joint pain
• Muscle twitching
• Night sweats
• Parasites
• Prone to mood swings
• Sensitive teeth
• Sensitive to smells
• Skin problems
• Sore or receding gums
"Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been associated with many health conditions, including heart disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders (including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS), and autism.
Disorders Linked to Heavy Metal and Chemical Toxicity
The following is a list of the most common disorders found by independent research studies to be directly linked to toxic metals and chemicals:
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Alzheimer's disease
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Autism Spectrum disorders
• Auto-immune disorders
• Candidiasis
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Gulf War Syndrome
• Hypertension
• Insomnia
• Infertility
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)
• Multiple Scleroris
• Parkinson's disease
• Schizophrenia
• Thyroid disorders
In animals:
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, paint, canvas and contaminated waters.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our government standards increased the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals.
I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder/soda (there are non metallics in health food stores)
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese (buy aged)
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite (Canadian Bentonite has minute amounts that flush out )and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
-------------
Signs and Symptoms of Metal and Chemical Toxicity
Heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity lead to the accumulation of toxins in our tissues and organs causing nutritional deficiencies, hormonal imbalances and the breakdown of the immune system, the central nervous system, and the organs of the body. This breakdown of bodily organs and systems will encourage numerous diseases and disorders (listed above) to take hold in the body.
It is important to know some of the early signs and symptoms of environmental toxicity so that you can take action to reverse it. The following is a few of the many symptoms of heavy metal poisoning and chemical toxicity:
• Environmental allergies
• Food allergies
• Brain fog
• Coated tongue
• Extreme fatigue
• Frequent colds and flus
• Insomnia
• Loss of memory
• Metallic taste in mouth
• Muscle and joint pain
• Muscle twitching
• Night sweats
• Parasites
• Prone to mood swings
• Sensitive teeth
• Sensitive to smells
• Skin problems
• Sore or receding gums
"Heavy metal toxicity in humans has been associated with many health conditions, including heart disease, attention deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), Alzheimer's disease, immune system disorders, gastrointestinal disorders (including irritable bowel syndrome, or IBS), and autism.
Disorders Linked to Heavy Metal and Chemical Toxicity
The following is a list of the most common disorders found by independent research studies to be directly linked to toxic metals and chemicals:
• Attention Deficit Disorder
• Alzheimer's disease
• Asthma
• Arthritis
• Autism Spectrum disorders
• Auto-immune disorders
• Candidiasis
• Chronic Fatigue Syndrome
• Epilepsy
• Fibromyalgia
• Gulf War Syndrome
• Hypertension
• Insomnia
• Infertility
• Kidney disease
• Liver disease
• Lou Gehrig's disease (ALS)
• Multiple Scleroris
• Parkinson's disease
• Schizophrenia
• Thyroid disorders
In animals:
Pathologies produced by chronic Aluminum poisoning
This is the most important because it is the most prevalent found in all animal hair analysis I have tested. Aluminum has a predilection for the brain and nervous tissues therefore it touches every organ in the body via its nerve connections. This means it contributes to arthritis, kidney failure, Congestive Heart Disease, liver diseases, hypoglycemia as well as Diabetes Mellitus, Leaky Gut syndrome with resultant multiple allergies and skin diseases, endocrine dysfunctions (sterility, hypo and hyper thyroidism, deficiencies in pancreatic enzymes with the inability to digest food properly, Cushing's Syndrome, ovarian cysts), bone marrow depression with anemia, poor clotting ability, and weakened defenses against infection. These animals are more prone to succumbing to bacterial, viral and fungal diseases.
Other Heavy Metals and their pathologies
Mercury in toxic amounts (I'm talking more than .05 ppm in a man weighing approximately 180 pounds) prevents the body's cells from transporting glucose, thus reducing energy available to the body. It causes convulsions, anorexia, tremors, swollen gums and behavior problems in animals. Mercury is rapidly absorbed from coal fumes, contaminated seafood, paint, canvas and contaminated waters.
Lead is picked up by animals drinking from ceramic bowls, or from the water itself. Dogs that guard gas stations or come in contact with peeling paint or just live in the city all build up lead intoxication. Lead contaminates canned food from lead seams of the can. This lead intoxication causes widespread damage to the animal's nervous system, brain, heart, lungs and kidneys. Lead also displaces calcium.
Cadmium pollution is becoming more common due to its presence in drinking water, cigarette smoke, auto tires and processed meats. It produces pathologies of the lungs, liver kidneys and reproductive organs. It displaces zinc also producing poor healing and premature aging. My work in EAV has shown its predilection for the stomach with reduced hydrochloric acid being produced by the stomach thereby rendering abnormal digestion of proteins that can lead to "Leaky Gut" Syndrome and allergies
Arsenic poisonings are of two types: organic and inorganic. Inorganic arsenic is found in rodenticides, weed killers, ant baits and insecticides, dips for ticks and sometimes used to rid tapeworms in sheep. People and animals consume pesticides and weed killers sprayed on foodstuffs.
Organic forms are actually fed to pigs and poultry to improve production and in the case of swine to treat diarrhea. People and animals consume this meat!
An acute large dose of arsenic causes gastrointestinal damage with profuse watery diarrhea, bleeding and death. Chronic, smaller doses of arsenic causes a non- specific wasting disease- remember "Arsenic and Old Lace"? It is the quintessential choice of poisoners because it mimics so many chronic diseases that cannot be diagnosed except with hair analysis. These are documented facts.
Now under President Bush, our government standards increased the allowable arsenic content of drinking water!!! It boggles the mind. Meanwhile the public's health and animal health go down the toilet. Just watch the cost of Medicare, medical insurance, and every other medical and veterinary expense skyrocket in this country.
What Have We Learned?
Heavy metals are contaminating our food, water and health supplements for animals and man. Heavy metals produce pathologies relative to quantity and period of time consumed. The major source of consumption is due to pollution of our air, water and soils by agribusiness, industry and the public.
The governmental agencies are not protecting us; we have to protect ourselves. I strongly recommend to all people and pet owners: consume and feed to your animals only detoxed organically grown produce. If you can't find organic buy and detox every fruit, grain, meat and vegetable you bring home to make your home made meals for your family and pets. I have found even organic foods in this country are polluted with heavy metals.
I find rice grown in India (Basmati rice) at the foot of the Himalayan Mountains is very clean and healthy and is what I feed my family and animals.
Stop using everything that contains aluminum that can be leached by acid foods (meats, tomatoes, citrus drinks, all soda drinks, etc.) I don't use any aluminum period, in my household. EAV studies have shown to me that aluminum is toxic to all cells. It goes to the brain and nervous system, thereby touching every organ in the body including the immune system. There are research studies published by scientists in this country showing aluminum can get into the brain of animals showing damage similar to that which occurs in human beings with senile dementia. There is evidence that aluminum contributes to the development of Alzheimer's disease (AZD) by both directly poisoning the brain and causing clumping of the neuron connector structures and by injuring the blood brain barrier allowing toxic wastes to enter brain tissue. One particular kind of toxic waste is known to selectively attack the very parts of the brain that become damaged in the AZD type of senile dementia. In my veterinary practice, I have seen aluminum causing ovarian cysts, pancreatic cysts resulting in hyper insulin comas, tumors and cancer. Dowsing has shown me that aluminum lowers the nutritional energy of food and water thus depriving the body of its needed energy. Throw out your aluminum pots and pans and replace them with cast iron, stainless steel or Pyrex. Don't wrap or Bar-B-Q or bake anything in aluminum foil. Bake your own goodies using aluminum baking powder replacements or buy from companies like Ener-G Foods. * Foods can be wrapped with, guess what, wax paper, or put in plastic containers. Other sources of Aluminum intoxication:
• Beverages from aluminum cans- soda pop and beer being acid, leaches the aluminum from the cans into the solution that is consumed by people. One wonders if the increased violence in our youth may have some basis in aluminum toxicity of the brain and nervous system.
• Use of anti-perspirants
• Drinking water (many municipal water add aluminum in flocculation process)
• baking powder/soda (there are non metallics in health food stores)
• drying agents in salt and other dry products
• processed cheese (buy aged)
• bleached flour
• fluoridation of water increases leaching of aluminum from aluminum cookware
But the far greater pollution of aluminum comes from Acid Rain falling on clay soils. Acid Rain is made by water (rain) combining with air emissions from combustion of fossil fuels. Trucks, automobiles, and industry burn fossil fuels. These produce nitrates, sulfates, carbonates and chlorates. The hydrogen molecule in rain chemically combines with these to form nitric acid, sulfuric acid, carbolic acid and hydrochloric acid respectively. Aluminum is the third most abundant element in the earth's crust. It is found in clay, (bentonite (Canadian Bentonite has minute amounts that flush out )and kaolin), and serpentine rock. They are composed of bound aluminum molecules. When acid rain falls on these type soils, it chemically releases the aluminum to be a free agent. If crops are grown in these locations (and almost every major agricultural areas in this country are downwind to industry air pollutants; and autos and trucks are everywhere), the roots of the crops take up the aluminum and incorporate it into the plant tissues. It is these vegetables, fruits, and grains we eat. Food- producing livestock eat the hay and grains grown here and also take in the aluminum in their tissues. Both man and animal eat the crops and the livestock. Aluminum concentrates as it goes up the food chain. Man and carnivores sit on top of the food chain. The free aluminum leaches through the soils and gets into the underground waters, polluting our drinking water, and the water that irrigates the livestock and crops. It's a vicious cycle that must be broken. We must stop using fossil fuels, and electricity generated by burning fossil fuels. We must look to alternative energy sources like wind, solar and hydroelectric power. We must make our government leaders stop squeezing every drop of fossil fuels out of this planet. We will be seeing a backlash of increased degenerative diseases in man and animals developing if we don't. There are many companies that are developing alternative energy, one I use is Green Mountain Energy* but there are others that may be registered with your state's Energy Commission. We can reduce auto emissions by fostering the development of electric cars, using our autos less by walking more, using bicycles (healthier for us) and combining several errand trips into one, and shopping in our homes via the internet.
References:
Mineral Tolerance of Domestic Animals, National Academy Of Sciences, 1980
Trace Elements, Hair Analysis and Nutrition, Passwater and Cranton, 1983, Keats Publishing Co. New Canaan, Ct.
Lancet (1:1028, 1987)
Lancet (2:849, 1988)
Special Report On Aluminum March 1989 Published by Alexander Grant, M.D. and Assoc. Inc., P.O. Box 1786, Indianapolis, IN 46206
Toxic Metal In Human Health And Disease 1989, Dr. Paul Eck and Dr. Larry Wilson, Eck Institute of Applied Nutrition and Bioenergetics, Ltd., 8650 N. 22nd Ave., Phoenix, AZ 85021
Green Mountain Energy Resources: 1-800-286-5856, Fax: (319) 399-2424 www.choosewisely.com
Ener- G Foods: 1-800-331-5222
Gloria Dodd, D.V.M. , graduate of the University of California School of Veterinary Medicine at Davis in 1960; private practitioner; pioneer in holistic veterinary medicine (the use of natural alternative therapies of acupuncture, chiropractic, natural nutrition, homeopathy, and magnetic field therapy); studied with medical naturopaths in Germany, South America and the U. S.; cofounder of the California Holistic Veterinary Medical Association 1981, member of CVMA since 1960, appointed Co-Chairperson for the Committee of Alternative Medicine on the Board of Governors CVMA ; international lecturer, teacher, and published in Prevention Magazine, California Veterinarian, American Journal of Acupuncture, Ultra Molecular Medicine and other journals. Nominated for OUTSTANDING WOMAN VETERINARIAN OF 1986 by the Association for Women Veterinarians. Visit her website at HolisticVetPetCare.com
Saturday, January 28, 2012
New Website...finally!
We welcome suggestions on our website, marketing...anything. I do my best to promote, marketing and graphics but I'm no expert so if any of you have any ideas, referrals or suggestions they are welcome. The new site address is the same as the old (http://www.fleafreeorganically.com) just a lot prettier and I'm in control!. Much like our product. The longer you use it, the more ways you use it, the more you are in control instead of the chemical companies. Try it on chrome and you'll see what I mean.
Organic Jan
Organic Jan
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
Texas Bulldog Owner Wins Verdict Against Hartz Mountain Pet Products
Texas Bulldog Owner Wins Verdict Against Hartz Mountain Pet Products
'Diesel' died less than 40 hours after flea and tick drops were applied
By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
Read more:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/03/hartz_mountain_court.html#ixzz0hzkS7T9P
A 72-year-old dog owner has won what may be a landmark decision against the country’s leading maker of pet care products and fueled the ongoing debate over the safety of topical flea and tick treatments.
A Texas jury awarded Frank Bowers $4,440.75 in the small claims court action he filed against Hartz Mountain Corporation.In this David-versus-Goliath court battle -- believed to be the first small claims court action of its kind --- Bowers alleged that Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops caused the death of his beloved Olde English Bulldog, Diesel.
The six-member jury deliberated less than 30 minutes before reaching a unanimous decision in favor of Bowers, who was widely considered the underdog in the case.
"When the bailiff walked in the courtroom and said we have a unanimous decision, I nearly passed out," said Bowers, who represented himself in the court action. “The jury said ‘we find Mr. Bowers’ integrity outweighed what was presented by (Hartz) attorney. He lost an animal of value and all costs he’s out are awarded to him.’"
“I just literally went numb,” Bowers added. “I caught up with three jurors in the hallway after the hearing. All I said to them was: ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’ And they just said: ‘we did our job.’”
Hartz told ConsumerAffairs.com that it believed the case was "without merit," but did not appeal because of the time and cost involved.
Sense of justice
For Bowers, the jury’s decision brings closure and a sense of justice to an emotional issue that started at 8:30pm on August 7, 2008. On that warm summer night in Texas, Bowers applied Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops to the 14-month-old, 68-pound, Diesel.
“I nipped off the top of the tube and put it on his back,” Bowers recalled. “I precisely used it as directed – nothing more, nothing less than directed.” By early the next morning Diesel had become gravelly ill.
“I went to my garage to work and I smelled this odor from excretion,” Bowers said. “Diesel was laying on the floor. He was shaking and having spasms of some kind. And he was passing a horrible odor of diarrhea.” Bowers called his daughter, who told him to immediately take the ailing dog to the vet.
Diesel’s health continued its rapid decline during the ride to his vet’s office, Bowers said.
“He continued to have bowel movements on the way. When we got to the vet’s office, he couldn’t walk. They got one of those stainless steel tables and took him back to an exam room.”
The veterinarian asked Bowers a battery of questions about Diesel, including one that caught him off guard.
“The vet asked me if I’d put any flea treatment on him,” Bowers said. “And I said: ‘yes, last night.’ I told him what it was and went back to the store to get a tube to show him.”
The vet, he said, took one look at the Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops and shook his head. “He said: ‘Oh, my God. He’s going to have kidney failure.’”
By 4 o’clock the next morning, Diesel’s kidneys had shut down.
“He was in total renal failure,” Bowers said. “The vet wanted permission to euthanize him. I said you know what’s best and I don’t want any animal to suffer. “I picked Diesel up around 7am and took him out in the country and buried him on my daughter’s 10 acres.”
This painful chapter in Bowers' life happened in less than 35 hours – from the night he applied the flea and tick drops to the morning of Diesel’s death.
He wanted answers
Bowers wanted answers. He wanted to know why Diesel’s health deteriorated so quickly.
The plain-spoken Texan went straight to the source. He called Hartz.
“But they did not care to discuss this with me,” Bowers said of the company’s customer service representatives. “They insinuated that I did something wrong. “At that point, I said my dog is dead and I need you pay. It’s about $4,000.”
Hartz balked at his suggestion, Bowers said.
“They said we won’t pay that, sir. It’s a risk you take when you use our products. I asked for this person’s supervisor, but she hung up on me.”
Bowers then sent the company a letter about Diesel’s death.
“I got no response,” he said. “This irritated me. They acted like I didn’t exist.
“About two months later, someone (from Hartz) called me and told me it was my fault (that Diesel died) or neglect that caused the death and they were not responsible.”
Bowers contacted a few attorneys to see if they’d take his case. “But none wished to be bothering Hartz as there was not enough money,” he said. The determined pet owner, however, didn’t give up or back down.
He took matters into his own hands and represented himself in court, specifically Small Claims Court, Precinct 3, in Travis County, Texas. Consumers in the Lone Star State can seek damages of up to $10,000 in their small claims court proceedings. Texas also allows jury trials in small claims court actions.
“I filed papers in small claims court,” said Bowers, who lives in Austin, Texas. “But the court called me a while later and said I needed to re-file my case because Hartz did not respond.”
Bowers filed his case again on July 28, 2009. “And this time, Hartz did respond to the court,” he said. “The court sent the company a registered and non-registered letter about my case. An attorney contacted the court and said she represented Hartz.”
The court wanted Bowers and Hartz to resolve the case through mediation. But that process wasn’t too productive, Bowers said.
“I looked at the girl (Hartz’ attorney) square in the eyes and said: ‘do you have a check for this amount -- $4,400?’ She said no. I said ‘then this mediation is over. At this time, there is nothing to negotiate.’”
Bowers and Hartz’ attorney then went back and talked to the judge.
“The judge said we’ll have to reschedule for another appearance,” Bowers said. “But I told the judge that I wanted a trial by jury. She said that’s your privilege. The attorney (for Hartz) didn’t like it. She wanted to settle this between her and I.
“Here I am -- 72-year-olds old. I have a high school education. I don’t have a law degree. But I still wanted a trial by jury. The judge asked me if I thought I could get a jury verdict in my favor and I said I wouldn't be here if I didn’t.”
Day in court
Bowers' day in court finally arrived on January 12, 2010.
Before the trial, each side had a chance to question a pool of potential jurors.
“I chose not to ask them any questions,” Bowers said. “But Hartz’ attorney kicked a few potential jurors off because they had pets. She also asked the jurors if they’d had any problems in the past with pet medications. She didn’t want any pet owners or people who had problems with pet medications on the jury. There were also no vets on the jury.”
In the end, a jury of three men and three women heard the case.
“The trial took less than two hours,” Bowers said. “I wasn’t able to tell the jury everything I wanted to.”
The judge, for example, wouldn’t allow Bowers to enter into evidence any of his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) documents about the adverse reactions dogs and cats have experienced from topical flea and tick products. The vets he wanted to call as witnesses also couldn’t make it to court that day.
“I had no witnesses,” Bowers said. “I was riding the brass rail by myself.” And he was up against Hartz’ savvy attorney, who he learned had taken a special course on flea and tick products to prepare her for the case.
“Hartz had all kinds of statements about flea and tick products and they had everything notarized so it could be entered into evidence,” Bowers said. “I didn’t know I needed to do that (get documents notarized). Hartz had statements from their vets, too.”
During the trial, Hartz also cross-examined Bowers about Diesel’s death. He’s glad they did.
“That’s when I got in the information that they wouldn’t let me enter,” Bowers said. “I entered it by blurting it from the witness box. The attorney asked me a question like ‘how did I know it was Hartz that killed my animal?’ And I said Hartz has killed many other animals.
“The attorney was screaming to get me to shut up and I just kept talking,” Bowers added. “The judge then told me to shut up. At that point, I looked at the judge and said ‘I’m sorry.’ And then I looked at the jury and smiled.”
Used as directed?
Hartz’ attorney also suggested that Bowers didn’t apply the flea and tick drops as directed.
“They screamed that over and over,” Bowers said. “But I precisely used it as directed.”
Hartz and other makers of fleas and tick products often cite the misuse of these treatments for adverse reactions. Pet owners, they say, may put a flea and tick product intended for a dog on a cat. Or they may apply too much flea and tick product on their pets.
Last summer, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center also studied its data on topical flea and tick products. That study revealed the likelihood of severe adverse reactions was significantly less when dogs and cats were treated according to directions.
“From the data we have collected, the adverse reactions tend to be mild, like skin sensations and stomach upset,” the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen said after the organization released its study. “We don’t have very many cases of true neurological issues when these products are properly used.”
Bowers, however, repeatedly told ConsumerAffairs.com that he used the Hartz flea and ticks drops as directed when he applied them to Diesel. He also told us the court didn’t give him the chance to cross-examine any of Hartz’ witnesses during the trial. “I wasn’t asked to,” he said. “I asked the judge why I could ask any questions and she said ‘that’s procedure.’”
The jury, however, wasn’t swayed by the witnesses or documents Hartz used in its defense.
After deliberating for less than 30 minutes, the jurors ruled in Bowers favor.
“I didn’t know what to think when I heard that,” he said, adding the $4,440 he won covers the cost of Diesel and the dog’s vet bills. “I was dumbfounded.”
Bowers is convinced the jury sided with him because of one issue that surfaced during the trial: whether the chemical Phenothrin, which is in Hartz Ultra Guard Flea and Tick Drops, is the same or similar to the chemical Permethrin. Bowers said he argued that, according to his “carnal knowledge,” those two are the same chemical compound.
“I kid you not, that is the thing that saved my case,” he said.
Hartz vehemently disputes that contention, saying those are completely different ingredients.
“The trade name for Phenothrin is Sumithrin,” the company’s spokeswoman, Anne Isenhower, told ConsumerAffairs.com. “Permethrin is a completely different ingredient that Hartz does not use in any of our on-animal products in the United States.”
Hartz also downplayed Bowers’ allegations and the jury’s decision. “This case was without merit and the allegations weren’t supported by evidence (presented in the trial),” said Isenhower, senior vice president, with GolinHarris, Hartz’ public relations firm. Hartz, however, did not appeal the jury’s decision because of the time and cost involved to pursue such action, Isenhower said.
Asked if Bowers’ case marked the first time a consumer has successfully sued Hartz over one of its topical flea and tick products, Isenhower said: “Yes, we believe so. We are not aware of any verdict against Hartz flea & tick drops.”
She had an identical comment when asked if Bowers’ case was the first small claims court victory against Hartz. “Yes, we believe so. We are not aware of any verdict against Hartz flea & tick drops.”
Safety defended
In spite of the jury’s decision, Isenhower defended the safety of Hartz flea and tick products.
“We’ve conducted extensive analysis of the adverse event reporting on our products as well as all topic treatments in the market,” she said. “Although Hartz is the leader in flea and tick retail sales, we are less than three percent of all adverse effects reported to the EPA in 2008 for topical dog flea and tick treatments.”
The safety of topical or “spot-on” flea and tick products has come under“intensified” scrutinyby the EPA for the past 11 months.
The agency started that probe last April, saying it had received more than 44,000 reports of adverse reactions associated with spot-on flea and tick products.
“Adverse reactions reported range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, the death of the pet,” the EPA said.
Data delayed
The agency told ConsumerAffairs.com that it planned to release its findings last fall. The EPA, however, has since delayed that release date.
“Due to the large amount of data and the complex technical issues associated with the review of the data, our report is not ready for public release,” the agency’s spokesman, Dale Kemery, told us in December 2009. "We anticipate publicly releasing the document in early 2010.”
The EPA will post its findings about topical flea and tick products, and any regulatory action it may take, on itsWeb site.
In the meantime, animal experts recommend pet owners consult their veterinarians about which flea and tick product to use on their dogs or cats.
Beware
Back in Texas, Bowers warns pet owners to be “earthly” aware of any topical flea and tick products they put on their animals.
“I think I’ll utilize just plain soap and water,” he said. “I use Head and Shoulders shampoo on my dogs now. I bathe them every time I see them scratching. “We used to get Myrtle Bush when I was a child growing up in Louisiana,” he added. “It was a natural killer of fleas.”
Bowers is also keenly aware that his legal victory could have ripple effects in courtrooms across the country. He suspects his case may serve as a rallying call for other pet owners who’ve seen their dogs or cats suffer burns, blisters, seizures, neurological problems, or even die after using topical flea and tick products.
His case, he said, may open the floodgates for similar lawsuits nationwide.
“I think this case will make pet owners wonder why they have not gone forward with their cases in small claims court,” Bowers said. “And if they do, my advice to them if get a trial by jury; I would never accept a non-jury trial.”
The amount of money consumers can recover in small claims court varies by state. And some states do not allow trials by jury in small claims court. ConsumerAffairs.com has a comprehensivesmall claims court guide.
Read more:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/03/hartz_mountain_court.html#ixzz0hzkJNJnL
Flea Free Organically | Organic Jan's Newsletter
http://www.fleafreeorganically.com
Subscribe to: Organic Jan's Blog: http://fleafreeorganically.blogspot.com
760-595-8458
• Prevents heartworm and intestinal parasites with regular use
• Removes toxins and heavy metals from the body
• Hairballs reduction
• Better elimination
• Cleaner colon, vein, and arteries
• Reduces Blood Pressure and Cholesterol by reducing Plaque
• Reduces/eliminate joint pain in humans and animals (I know this for a fact because I take a T. Daily
• Improves coat, energy and overall health as opposed to using toxins to just kill fleas and another to kill worms
• Reduces cat box and feces odor
'Diesel' died less than 40 hours after flea and tick drops were applied
By Lisa Wade McCormick
ConsumerAffairs.com
Read more:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/03/hartz_mountain_court.html#ixzz0hzkS7T9P
A 72-year-old dog owner has won what may be a landmark decision against the country’s leading maker of pet care products and fueled the ongoing debate over the safety of topical flea and tick treatments.
A Texas jury awarded Frank Bowers $4,440.75 in the small claims court action he filed against Hartz Mountain Corporation.In this David-versus-Goliath court battle -- believed to be the first small claims court action of its kind --- Bowers alleged that Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops caused the death of his beloved Olde English Bulldog, Diesel.
The six-member jury deliberated less than 30 minutes before reaching a unanimous decision in favor of Bowers, who was widely considered the underdog in the case.
"When the bailiff walked in the courtroom and said we have a unanimous decision, I nearly passed out," said Bowers, who represented himself in the court action. “The jury said ‘we find Mr. Bowers’ integrity outweighed what was presented by (Hartz) attorney. He lost an animal of value and all costs he’s out are awarded to him.’"
“I just literally went numb,” Bowers added. “I caught up with three jurors in the hallway after the hearing. All I said to them was: ‘thank you, thank you, thank you.’ And they just said: ‘we did our job.’”
Hartz told ConsumerAffairs.com that it believed the case was "without merit," but did not appeal because of the time and cost involved.
Sense of justice
For Bowers, the jury’s decision brings closure and a sense of justice to an emotional issue that started at 8:30pm on August 7, 2008. On that warm summer night in Texas, Bowers applied Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops to the 14-month-old, 68-pound, Diesel.
“I nipped off the top of the tube and put it on his back,” Bowers recalled. “I precisely used it as directed – nothing more, nothing less than directed.” By early the next morning Diesel had become gravelly ill.
“I went to my garage to work and I smelled this odor from excretion,” Bowers said. “Diesel was laying on the floor. He was shaking and having spasms of some kind. And he was passing a horrible odor of diarrhea.” Bowers called his daughter, who told him to immediately take the ailing dog to the vet.
Diesel’s health continued its rapid decline during the ride to his vet’s office, Bowers said.
“He continued to have bowel movements on the way. When we got to the vet’s office, he couldn’t walk. They got one of those stainless steel tables and took him back to an exam room.”
The veterinarian asked Bowers a battery of questions about Diesel, including one that caught him off guard.
“The vet asked me if I’d put any flea treatment on him,” Bowers said. “And I said: ‘yes, last night.’ I told him what it was and went back to the store to get a tube to show him.”
The vet, he said, took one look at the Hartz Ultra Guard Pro Flea and Tick Drops and shook his head. “He said: ‘Oh, my God. He’s going to have kidney failure.’”
By 4 o’clock the next morning, Diesel’s kidneys had shut down.
“He was in total renal failure,” Bowers said. “The vet wanted permission to euthanize him. I said you know what’s best and I don’t want any animal to suffer. “I picked Diesel up around 7am and took him out in the country and buried him on my daughter’s 10 acres.”
This painful chapter in Bowers' life happened in less than 35 hours – from the night he applied the flea and tick drops to the morning of Diesel’s death.
He wanted answers
Bowers wanted answers. He wanted to know why Diesel’s health deteriorated so quickly.
The plain-spoken Texan went straight to the source. He called Hartz.
“But they did not care to discuss this with me,” Bowers said of the company’s customer service representatives. “They insinuated that I did something wrong. “At that point, I said my dog is dead and I need you pay. It’s about $4,000.”
Hartz balked at his suggestion, Bowers said.
“They said we won’t pay that, sir. It’s a risk you take when you use our products. I asked for this person’s supervisor, but she hung up on me.”
Bowers then sent the company a letter about Diesel’s death.
“I got no response,” he said. “This irritated me. They acted like I didn’t exist.
“About two months later, someone (from Hartz) called me and told me it was my fault (that Diesel died) or neglect that caused the death and they were not responsible.”
Bowers contacted a few attorneys to see if they’d take his case. “But none wished to be bothering Hartz as there was not enough money,” he said. The determined pet owner, however, didn’t give up or back down.
He took matters into his own hands and represented himself in court, specifically Small Claims Court, Precinct 3, in Travis County, Texas. Consumers in the Lone Star State can seek damages of up to $10,000 in their small claims court proceedings. Texas also allows jury trials in small claims court actions.
“I filed papers in small claims court,” said Bowers, who lives in Austin, Texas. “But the court called me a while later and said I needed to re-file my case because Hartz did not respond.”
Bowers filed his case again on July 28, 2009. “And this time, Hartz did respond to the court,” he said. “The court sent the company a registered and non-registered letter about my case. An attorney contacted the court and said she represented Hartz.”
The court wanted Bowers and Hartz to resolve the case through mediation. But that process wasn’t too productive, Bowers said.
“I looked at the girl (Hartz’ attorney) square in the eyes and said: ‘do you have a check for this amount -- $4,400?’ She said no. I said ‘then this mediation is over. At this time, there is nothing to negotiate.’”
Bowers and Hartz’ attorney then went back and talked to the judge.
“The judge said we’ll have to reschedule for another appearance,” Bowers said. “But I told the judge that I wanted a trial by jury. She said that’s your privilege. The attorney (for Hartz) didn’t like it. She wanted to settle this between her and I.
“Here I am -- 72-year-olds old. I have a high school education. I don’t have a law degree. But I still wanted a trial by jury. The judge asked me if I thought I could get a jury verdict in my favor and I said I wouldn't be here if I didn’t.”
Day in court
Bowers' day in court finally arrived on January 12, 2010.
Before the trial, each side had a chance to question a pool of potential jurors.
“I chose not to ask them any questions,” Bowers said. “But Hartz’ attorney kicked a few potential jurors off because they had pets. She also asked the jurors if they’d had any problems in the past with pet medications. She didn’t want any pet owners or people who had problems with pet medications on the jury. There were also no vets on the jury.”
In the end, a jury of three men and three women heard the case.
“The trial took less than two hours,” Bowers said. “I wasn’t able to tell the jury everything I wanted to.”
The judge, for example, wouldn’t allow Bowers to enter into evidence any of his Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) documents about the adverse reactions dogs and cats have experienced from topical flea and tick products. The vets he wanted to call as witnesses also couldn’t make it to court that day.
“I had no witnesses,” Bowers said. “I was riding the brass rail by myself.” And he was up against Hartz’ savvy attorney, who he learned had taken a special course on flea and tick products to prepare her for the case.
“Hartz had all kinds of statements about flea and tick products and they had everything notarized so it could be entered into evidence,” Bowers said. “I didn’t know I needed to do that (get documents notarized). Hartz had statements from their vets, too.”
During the trial, Hartz also cross-examined Bowers about Diesel’s death. He’s glad they did.
“That’s when I got in the information that they wouldn’t let me enter,” Bowers said. “I entered it by blurting it from the witness box. The attorney asked me a question like ‘how did I know it was Hartz that killed my animal?’ And I said Hartz has killed many other animals.
“The attorney was screaming to get me to shut up and I just kept talking,” Bowers added. “The judge then told me to shut up. At that point, I looked at the judge and said ‘I’m sorry.’ And then I looked at the jury and smiled.”
Used as directed?
Hartz’ attorney also suggested that Bowers didn’t apply the flea and tick drops as directed.
“They screamed that over and over,” Bowers said. “But I precisely used it as directed.”
Hartz and other makers of fleas and tick products often cite the misuse of these treatments for adverse reactions. Pet owners, they say, may put a flea and tick product intended for a dog on a cat. Or they may apply too much flea and tick product on their pets.
Last summer, the ASPCA’s Animal Poison Control Center also studied its data on topical flea and tick products. That study revealed the likelihood of severe adverse reactions was significantly less when dogs and cats were treated according to directions.
“From the data we have collected, the adverse reactions tend to be mild, like skin sensations and stomach upset,” the ASPCA’s Dr. Steven Hansen said after the organization released its study. “We don’t have very many cases of true neurological issues when these products are properly used.”
Bowers, however, repeatedly told ConsumerAffairs.com that he used the Hartz flea and ticks drops as directed when he applied them to Diesel. He also told us the court didn’t give him the chance to cross-examine any of Hartz’ witnesses during the trial. “I wasn’t asked to,” he said. “I asked the judge why I could ask any questions and she said ‘that’s procedure.’”
The jury, however, wasn’t swayed by the witnesses or documents Hartz used in its defense.
After deliberating for less than 30 minutes, the jurors ruled in Bowers favor.
“I didn’t know what to think when I heard that,” he said, adding the $4,440 he won covers the cost of Diesel and the dog’s vet bills. “I was dumbfounded.”
Bowers is convinced the jury sided with him because of one issue that surfaced during the trial: whether the chemical Phenothrin, which is in Hartz Ultra Guard Flea and Tick Drops, is the same or similar to the chemical Permethrin. Bowers said he argued that, according to his “carnal knowledge,” those two are the same chemical compound.
“I kid you not, that is the thing that saved my case,” he said.
Hartz vehemently disputes that contention, saying those are completely different ingredients.
“The trade name for Phenothrin is Sumithrin,” the company’s spokeswoman, Anne Isenhower, told ConsumerAffairs.com. “Permethrin is a completely different ingredient that Hartz does not use in any of our on-animal products in the United States.”
Hartz also downplayed Bowers’ allegations and the jury’s decision. “This case was without merit and the allegations weren’t supported by evidence (presented in the trial),” said Isenhower, senior vice president, with GolinHarris, Hartz’ public relations firm. Hartz, however, did not appeal the jury’s decision because of the time and cost involved to pursue such action, Isenhower said.
Asked if Bowers’ case marked the first time a consumer has successfully sued Hartz over one of its topical flea and tick products, Isenhower said: “Yes, we believe so. We are not aware of any verdict against Hartz flea & tick drops.”
She had an identical comment when asked if Bowers’ case was the first small claims court victory against Hartz. “Yes, we believe so. We are not aware of any verdict against Hartz flea & tick drops.”
Safety defended
In spite of the jury’s decision, Isenhower defended the safety of Hartz flea and tick products.
“We’ve conducted extensive analysis of the adverse event reporting on our products as well as all topic treatments in the market,” she said. “Although Hartz is the leader in flea and tick retail sales, we are less than three percent of all adverse effects reported to the EPA in 2008 for topical dog flea and tick treatments.”
The safety of topical or “spot-on” flea and tick products has come under“intensified” scrutinyby the EPA for the past 11 months.
The agency started that probe last April, saying it had received more than 44,000 reports of adverse reactions associated with spot-on flea and tick products.
“Adverse reactions reported range from mild effects such as skin irritation to more serious effects such as seizures and, in some cases, the death of the pet,” the EPA said.
Data delayed
The agency told ConsumerAffairs.com that it planned to release its findings last fall. The EPA, however, has since delayed that release date.
“Due to the large amount of data and the complex technical issues associated with the review of the data, our report is not ready for public release,” the agency’s spokesman, Dale Kemery, told us in December 2009. "We anticipate publicly releasing the document in early 2010.”
The EPA will post its findings about topical flea and tick products, and any regulatory action it may take, on itsWeb site.
In the meantime, animal experts recommend pet owners consult their veterinarians about which flea and tick product to use on their dogs or cats.
Beware
Back in Texas, Bowers warns pet owners to be “earthly” aware of any topical flea and tick products they put on their animals.
“I think I’ll utilize just plain soap and water,” he said. “I use Head and Shoulders shampoo on my dogs now. I bathe them every time I see them scratching. “We used to get Myrtle Bush when I was a child growing up in Louisiana,” he added. “It was a natural killer of fleas.”
Bowers is also keenly aware that his legal victory could have ripple effects in courtrooms across the country. He suspects his case may serve as a rallying call for other pet owners who’ve seen their dogs or cats suffer burns, blisters, seizures, neurological problems, or even die after using topical flea and tick products.
His case, he said, may open the floodgates for similar lawsuits nationwide.
“I think this case will make pet owners wonder why they have not gone forward with their cases in small claims court,” Bowers said. “And if they do, my advice to them if get a trial by jury; I would never accept a non-jury trial.”
The amount of money consumers can recover in small claims court varies by state. And some states do not allow trials by jury in small claims court. ConsumerAffairs.com has a comprehensivesmall claims court guide.
Read more:http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2010/03/hartz_mountain_court.html#ixzz0hzkJNJnL
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