Natural Vs Chemical Debate : Who's trying to fool Mother Nature?

[Guest guest]

Who's trying to fool Mother Nature?

by Neil E. Levin, CCN, DANLA

(distributed by Health Supreme)

http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/sepp/2006/01/28/chemicals_better_than_nature_per\

haps_not.htm#

 

 

The scientists at Sense About Science (SAS) have issued a document, with much

publicity, that is a thinly veiled attempt to assure us not to be afraid of

synthetic chemicals (Making sense of chemical stories). I have read it and am

afraid that they have issued a most unscientific document, containing few

references and more fittingly called a chemical industry public relations piece.

But it may be convincing to people who lack a working knowledge of chemistry.

 

Their assertion that “synthetic chemicals are often much safer for human

health than so-called ‘natural' ones” is backed up only by the most simplistic

arguments, without giving references from published scientific literature. The

first obvious problem is that the processes of synthesizing chemicals usually do

not result in 100% pure substances. There are often impurities that do not exist

in similar, natural chemicals in food or in the unpolluted, natural environment

that our human bodies have evolved to deal with for hundreds of generations. So

we are frequently dealing with not just a synthetic chemical, but the impurities

that are wed to it. And not just one ‘foreign molecule', as the scientific

community used to call such chemicals, but unstudied mixtures of tens of

thousands of such foreign chemicals that are now present in our food and the

environment.

 

Yet the SAS report astonishingly claims that lab-made chemicals can eliminate

“some of the impurities and toxic effects that are present in natural sources”,

as if the food matrix that natural chemicals are found in are considered a

problem. Certainly man-made chemicals are the main source of persistent toxins

in the environment. The report also ignores the hormone disrupting effects of

many classes of man-made chemicals. The US Environmental Protection Agency finds

‘compelling evidence' of these effects:

 

“In recent years, some scientists have proposed that certain chemicals might

be disrupting the endocrine system of humans and wildlife. A variety of

chemicals have been found to disrupt the endocrine systems of animals in

laboratory studies, and compelling evidence shows that endocrine systems of

certain fish and wildlife have been affected by chemical contaminants, resulting

in developmental and reproductive problems. Based on this and other evidence,

Congress passed the Food Quality Protection Act in 1996, requiring that EPA

initiate EDSP to screen pesticide chemicals and environmental contaminants for

their potential to affect the endocrine systems of humans and wildlife.”

 

The EPA issues a Toxic Release Inventory (TRI) report of hundreds of chemicals

known to be toxic, stating that: “The chemicals that are reported under TRI can

have significant adverse effects on human health and the environment. They

include carcinogens -- chemicals that cause cancer, such as dichloroethane and

benzene – and mutagens – chemicals that can cause changes in human cells, such

as ethylene di-bromide as well as chemicals that cause reproductive and

developmental effects.”

It is not accurate for the SAS report to state that: “Although synthetic

products may contain substances known to be harmful in large quantities, the

amounts contained in consumer products are so negligible that they would not

even have an effect when all products are considered.”

 

Who is even investigating these millions of potential multiple chemical

interactions? Adding minute doses of various chemicals together may not reveal

the true body burden to an individual. If chemicals are difficult to detoxify

and a person has a diminished capacity to do so due to inflammation, illness or

nutrient deficiencies, the cumulative toxic effects could be dramatic.

 

The government of the UK has acknowledged the problem inherent in large

amounts of chemicals in the environment. The Department for Environment, Food

and Rural Affairs has reported:

 

“There are, however, concerns about the risks to the environment and to human

health which might be present from some of the chemicals we use, as was set out

in the Government's Chemicals Strategy " Sustainable production and use of

chemicals " :

" In recent years there has been growing concern about the possible effects of

man-made chemicals on human health through environmental exposure. Some

confidence can be gained from the fact that many chemicals have been used

regularly over time without causing gross effects. However, in some cases

effects are subtle and damage to the environment or to human health has only

been discovered after large quantities of chemicals have been released. " (p14,

1.5. 1999)”

 

The authors of Making sense of chemical stories also seem to be unfamiliar

(perhaps unsympathetic) with the science of multiple chemical sensitivity. This

is the science relating to the concept that at some point the total toxic load

upon the body, which is mainly processed by the liver, may overwhelm the body's

ability to detoxify and safely excrete excess chemicals, whether natural or

synthetic. The use of certain nutrients to be utilized in these processes –

notably antioxidants, minerals and amino acids - are ‘limiting factors'

affecting an individual's detoxification capacity and chemical clearance rates.

Detoxification is far more than just drinking tap water, contrary to the SAS

claim. 1-30

 

Many synthetic chemicals are inherently toxic “by nature”, so to speak, so

that their safety profiles are typically worse than natural products. Controlled

substances are regulated so tightly precisely because of their potential for

causing bodily harm. While natural products may occasionally have this

potential, as a general rule experience shows that they are less toxic than

drugs, which are typically made from synthesized chemicals. 31 This safety for

natural products is borne out by statistics from the American Association of

Poison Control Centers. 32

 

The Sense About Science authors ignore the persistence of man-made chemicals

in the environment, including people's bodies. The European Environment Agency

has released a report called Europe's environment: the third assessment (2003)

that makes a couple of relevant points on this topic:

 

Although hexachlorobenzene (HCB) emissions have decreased throughout Europe,

the rate of decrease has slowed markedly since 1990. HCB remains widely

dispersed throughout the region due to long-range atmospheric transport

processes and local ‘hot spots' that reflect high levels of local use or

contamination.

 

There is concern over the dispersion of polybrominated flame retardants in the

environment. Concentrations have risen steeply in Swedish human milk since the

1970s, despite these substances never having been manufactured in that country.

Although concentrations are now declining, they remain many times higher than

those in the 1970s.

 

In one part of its report, the SAS lists a number of chemical compounds that are

in green tea by their long chemical names. The point is that we shouldn't fear

chemicals just because they have unfamiliar, scary names. Fair enough, but why

shouldn't we fear man-made chemicals that have not been used safely for

thousands of years as components of common foods? This is the kind of misleading

argument that the report repeatedly resorts to, exploiting the ignorance of the

intended audiences: the media and the public. I don't see green tea on the EPA's

Toxic Release Inventory report, but I do see chemicals that the SAS report seem

to be positioning as safer than food, in some cases.

 

In the case of St. John's wort, the authors are mistaken in saying (in a

pre-release interview) that, since we do not know what its active ingredient is,

you cannot assess its dosage. Quite the contrary, there is a therapeutic

monograph on the use of this herb on www.herbalgram.org, as well as a good body

of science. 33-36

 

The identification of an active component has never been the sole determinant

of the use of herbs, even at the point when herbs were the predominant

therapeutics listed in medical reference works prior to World War II. The search

for an active component is a mindset that's more pharmaceutical than

nutraceutical, betraying an institutional bias against unpatentable natural

substances. Valuing the native genius of nature means realizing that a whole

herb may be gentler and more balanced than is a constituent molecule with a

specific drug-like action. Think aspirin versus white willow bark: the herb does

not commonly cause stomach bleeding, as the isolated drug –even as the

acetylated form – usually does.

 

The fact that St. John's wort may interact with some drugs should not be

considered a serious flaw, as the SAS people implied. A commonly used warning

statement on the label of St. John's wort products gives adequate cautions about

possible interactions. 37 Common foods and spices like ginger, garlic and

grapefruit also can interact with drugs, yet where are the scientists

complaining about these products?

 

For an article coming from a non-profit group that purportedly exists to

promote evidence-based science, I find their arguments to be unconvincing and

unrepresentative of the whole body of facts. The presence of nutrients and other

compounds, including trace elements, in food and food supplements is crucial to

the process of detoxification. The role of natural nutrients to help reduce the

total toxic load is essential to our understanding of the body's detoxification

capacity and processes.

 

I believe that ‘natural is better', because nature has a wisdom in producing

chemicals and our bodies have adapted to their presence. Many of these are

essential to life. I have seen many, many examples of this in the published

scientific literature. Nothing in the SAS report convinces me that I should

prefer being exposed to the not-quite-identical man-made versions of naturally

occurring chemicals or totally synthetic, environmentally persistent, man-made

chemicals. The SAS promises to use scientific evidence in its reporting, but my

review of the research convinces me that this promise was inadequately kept

regarding its report titled ‘Making sense of chemical stories'.

 

Neil E. Levin

Certified Clinical Nutritionist Diplomate in Advanced Nutritional Laboratory

Assessment

Bloomingdale, IL USA

 

 

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37 Warnings: Do not exceed 3 capsules daily, unless directed by a health care

professional. Larger amounts may contribute to photosensitizing reactions (skin

reddening) in the presence of strong sunlight or tanning beds. If you are

presently taking MAO-inhibitors or other anti-depressant medication, consult

your health care professional prior to use.

 

 

 

posted by Sepp Hasslberger on Saturday January 28 2006

 

 

 

 

" Our ideal is not the spirituality that withdraws from life but the conquest

of life by the power of the spirit. " - Aurobindo.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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