THE PRICE OF LIVING IN A TOXIC WORLD

What is the price we pay for living in a toxic world? Estimates show nearly 12 million children in the United States under age 18-an astonishing 17 percent-have one more learning, developmental, or behavioral disabilities. Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) affects 8 to 10 percent off all school-age children (a conservative estimate-the prevalence may be as high as 17 percent. Learning disablities may affect up to 10 percent  of  schoolchildren in public schools. Some 1.5 million children take Ritalin or a similar medication for ADHD, with the number taking this type of drug doubling every four to seven years since 1971. As parents, teachers and physicians, we struggle so desperately to help children affected by these developmental and emotional problems that we forget to focus on the fact that environmental substances might have caused these problems in the first place. And the scientific community is now certain that complex interactions between genetic and environmental factors cause the bulk of these neurocognitive and developmental problems. Most important, we now know that exposure to environmental toxins is preventable.
The Toxics Release Inventory (TRI) showed that during 1997, atotal of 2.58 billion pounds of toxic chemicals were released in the United States by the large industrial companies required to report under the TRI. Of the Top 2 TRI chemicals (those twenty with the largest total releases), some 75 percent are either known or suspected to be neurotoxins. More shocking is that nearly a billion pounds of these neurotoxins were released by facilities into the air and surface water, allowing them to be inhaled, absorbed, or ingested through air, food and water.
Fortunately, savvy parents can substantially reduce their child’s exposure to potentially dangerous toxins, especially to the most damaging ones. We know we can’t keep our children free all chemical exposure, but we can certainly try to minimize thier exposure to the worst offenders, especially during the most critical-and vulnerable-period of brain growth.

AVOIDING TOXIN THAT MAY DEPLETE YOUR CHILD’S BRAIN POWER

From the moment they are conceived and for the rest of their lives, children are exposed to innumerable toxins that are potentially harmful to their brains, including lead, pesticides, plastic, solvents, and other industrial subtances. And even things that you may think perfectly safe for your baby, from his teething ring to the cuddly toys you put in his crib to the pajamas he wears every night, could pose a potential threat to your child’s brain.


Childrens’ developing brains, along with their immature reproductive and immune systems, are unable to adequately detoxify the scores of chemicals to which they are exposed. Because of children’s smaller size and lower body weight, chemicals have the potential to pack a one two knockout punch to their nervous systems. Pound for pound of body weight, children consume more food, breathe more air, and drink more fluids than adults. Because children’s metabolism are faster than adult’s, they also absorb toxins faster.For example, children absorb approximately half of the lead they swallow, while adults absorb only the most critical stages of brain growth, resulting in lowered IQ levels, behavioral problems, and learning disabilities that can last a lifetime.


If you think that goverment regulatory agencies are going to keep your child safe from toxic overload, think again. Even when the government attempts to regulate toxin, these regulations are based in search typically gauges the effects of the toxin on the physiology a 155-pound adult male, which bears little resemblance to that if children with young are still rapidly developing.


In all fairness, U.S. government agencies, such as the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), and Food and Drug Administration (FDA), have taken steps to lower our exposure to many toxin to more acceptable levels. But many critics-including me-feel strongly that the legal levels are still far to high, especially for children. What’s even more alarming is the fact that government agencies regulating levels of toxic substance estimate the exposure for one an average-size young male. But children are exposed to multiple toxins in varying mixtures throughout their development and have immature detoxification systems that are easily overload.

Mercury in Your Childs Vaccinces

Many researchers believe that the use of thimerosal ( a form of ethylmercury, a known neurotoxin) as a preservative in vaccines is directly related to the meteoric rise in the rate of autism. Since 1991, the incidence of autism has increased 1,500 percent from one in every 2,500 children, to one in every 166. Interestingly, it was in 1991 that the CDC and the FDA recommended giving three additional vaccines (all of which contained thimerosal) to extremely young infants, often in the first month of life. After studying the controversy extensively, I must tell you that I do believe there is a relationship between the thimerosal in vaccines given to infants and very young children and the surge in cases of autism in our country.

There is a simple way to avoid exposing your child to harmful mercury: requesting that only single-dose vials of all immunizations be used for your child. Thimerosal is added as a presertative to multidose vaccines to prolong their shelf life. Single-dose vials do not use thimerosal as a preservative, although they still may contain trace amounts from the manufacturing process. According to FDA guidelines, these vaccines are still considered "thimerosal-free" and the minute amount of thimerosal the contain does not pose a risk to your childs brain. You will likely have to pay a little extra for the single-use, thimerosal-free vial of the vaccine, but I encourage you to spend the extra money and take the time for the extra doctors visits.

The Proliferation of Immunizations over the Decades

In the early 1950s, children in the United States routinely received only four vaccines: tetanus, diphtheria, pertussis, and smallpox. Diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis were combined into one injection, called the DTP shot.
By the 1980s, in addition to the DTP vaccine, children were also receiving immunizations for mumps, measles, and rubella in one shot ( MMR ), as well as polio vaccine. Smallpox was no longer required beginning in the early 1970s.

In the past twenty years, several more immunizations have been mandated for children, including the Hemophilus influenza type b (Hib), hepatitis B, and varicella (chicken pox) vaccines, along with  changing the oral polio vaccine to an inactivated polio virus injection (IPV). And over the past several years, pneumococcal conjugate vaccine (PCV) has also been added to prevent pneumonia and meningitis caused by this bacterium. Today, the immunization schedule recommended for children by the Departement of Health and Human Services is almost bewildering. Children receive as many as twenty vaccines by 2 years of age, and many get as many as eigth injections in a single doctorsc visit.

The relationship between the tremendous increase over the past thirty years in the number of vaccinations children receive and the dramatic rise in the various neurological problems were seeing in children-including learning disabilities, ADHD, and a frightening increase in the diagnosis of autism-is impossible to ignore.

Immunizations  work by stimulating the immune system. In response to this stimulation, white blood cells dramatically increase their production of chemicals called cytokines, which produce inflammation that can damage delicate neurons. The more Immunizations at a given time, the higher the cytokine surge and subsequent risk of neuron damage. Scientific research now reveals a direct relationship between brain cytokines and variety of brain disorders, including ADHD, autism, and even Alzheimers disease. My feeling is, better to be safe than sorry.

According to the Centers for Disease Control, there is actually a range of times (such as between 1 and 4 months, or between 6 and 18 months) that is acceptable for children to receive each particular Immunization. You can create a brain-friendly schedule by reducing the number of Immunizations your child receives at each doctors visit. Be sure to request single-dose vials of each vaccine. This means that you will have to return to the doctor for more doses of the vaccine is administered at each visit. Of course, this not the most convenient suggestion, as it means several more visits to the doctors office. But I trully believe that separating Immunizations to reduce the amount of vaccine your child receives at any one time will definitely reduce the risk of serious reactions. 

Vaccinations : Making Intelligent Choices for Your Child

Do the standard childhood vaccinations against disease such as polio, tetanus, and whooping cough increase your child’s risk for autism or ADHD? There has been a great deal of controversy reported in the mainstream press as well as medical and academic publications about the safety of various  vaccines , as well as their impact on the developing brain.

I want to be clear that I beleive most of the childhood immunizations are essential. Compared with the risks to your child’s health of the actual illnesses the immunizations are designed to prevent, immunization creates a considerable challenge for the immune and nervous systems are undergoing rapid development. I also feel that there is a better, safer way to immunize children than the way it is commonly done today.

Infants are born with temporary immunity to certain diseases because their mother’s antibodies are transferred to them through the placenta. A breast-fed gets the continued benefits of additional antibodies from his mothers breast milk, which provides additional immunity.

But there are many diseases for which even breast-fed infants and children need to be immunized. Immunization entails using small amounts of a killed or weakened microorganism that otherwise could cause a particular disease. The microorganism might be a virus, such as the measles virus, or bacteria, such as pneumococcus. These microorganism stimulate the immune system to react as if there were real infectio. The immune system then fights off the “infection” and remembers the organism (in the form of  antibodies), creating what it needs to fight it off quickly if it enters the body  in the future.

The two critical issues surrounding childhood immunization are :

1.       The Problems created for children d their immune systems by combining vaccines.

2.       The debate surrounding mercury in vaccines and wheter or not it contributes to the increasing incidence of autism in children.