Monona Rossol on thu 24 apr 97
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 22 Apr 1997 06:59:10 EDT
From: Marvin Giles
Subject: Re: Manganese/other metals/Prkinson's
----------------------------Original message----------------------------
Recent australian research shows that Parkinson's (& Alzheimers)
> syndromes seems to correlate well with histories of head/brain injuries
> in earlier life. Apparently boxers virtually all exhibit similar
> symptoms in later years.
> Hopefully this information will prevent another tangled endless thread.
I was going to leave this alone, but--- can't help it. Two years ago my
husband, who was forty four, was diagnosed with Parkinsons. We did a lot
of research. If you are curious,there is a wealth of information on the
Internet. Do a search for Parkinsons Disease. There are numerous factors
that can contribute to development of this condition. The ones I remember
off hand, because they apply to my husband, are: family history of
neurological problems, exposure to pesticides (you can probably put heavy
metal exposure in here too), living in rural areas, and head trauma. The area
of the brain involved seems to be sensitive to many different assaults.
Symptoms do not develop until 90%+ of the relevant cells are gone. This means
you do a lot of damage before you know about it. Parkinsons takes away first
your ability to control your movement, then your ability to move and can lead
to dementia and a host of other unpleasant side effects. Using manganese in
clay and glaze may not be enough to produce symptoms now, but if you add in
all the other factors, why take the risk that you are adding the straw to
break the camels back?
Kristen Giles
mgiles@onramp.net
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First, Kristen Giles, I'm deeply sorry about your husband's illness.
I also want to thank you for a gloriously common sense answer to the
discussion. You are so right: there are many things that will destroy the
particular cells in the brain that transmit our brain's intent to our muscles.
Older literature simply said that Parkinson's is an inherited condition.
Manganese was known to cause the identical symptoms because the disease was
seen in Manganese miners and others who worked with manganese. But it was
not really appreciated that these were indeed the same disease from different
causes.
The turn around in Parkinson's research came in 1982 when a small group of
heroin addicts shot up a designer drug similar to Demerol. All developed
instant, complete, and permanent Parkinson's. NOVA did a PBS program about
them called the "Frozen Addicts."
The drug contained an impurity that was identified. The chemical had been
around for years and was used in some research laboratories. Now they found
that even laboratory workers had been affected because it also absorbed
directly through the skin. One Danish researcher was found in a mental
hospital misdiagnosed with catatonia when what he had was a Parkinson's so
profound he could not move or talk. He had been there, fully aware and
trapped in that state, for years.
The 1982 incident reawakened Parkinson's research. Researchers could now
easily induce the condition in animals to test medications and they could
look for other chemical causes. Boy, did they find them. Some are drugs and
medications. Solvents, certain pesticides, plastic monomers, head trauma,
other toxic metals, and on and on. What Kristen says is so true. The brain
is vulnerable to many types of assaults.
And there are many *other* types of chemically- and trauma-induced brain
damage. They include learning difficulties, short term memory loss,
depression, and a whole range of preceptive and mood effects. Many of these
types of brain damage are now known to result from exposure to alcohol,
solvents, other chemicals and drugs that people thought they were "getting
away with using."
Your brain is you. You are what you think and desire. Don't risk your
brain for anything as trivial getting "high" or being careless about
chemical use in the pottery.
Monona Rossol, industrial hygienist
Arts, Crafts and Theater Safety
181 Thompson St., # 23
New York, NY 10012-2586 212/777-0062
http://www.caseweb.com/acts/
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