Ray Aldridge on tue 11 apr 00
At 03:24 PM 4/10/00 EDT, you wrote:
>----------------------------Original message----------------------------
>Actually, aluminum is suspected to be a contributing factor in Alzheimer's
and
>many other diseases. It is certainly not innocuous.
Taking caution to an extreme would of course mean that absolutely nothing
is innocuous, but in the real world, aluminum appears to be one of the most
innocuous of elements.
The evidence of aluminum's role in Alzheimer's is pretty tenuous, and is
based on 20 year old observations that autopsied victims' brains contain
elevated amounts of the element. But this does not, obviously, prove that
aluminum had anything to do with the condition, since there's no way to
know which came first. Healthy old folks also have elevated levels of
aluminum, so it may simply be an accelerated symptom of aging. However...
there is a study that shows increased rates of AD among elderly populations
whose drinking water contains high levels of aluminum, in the form of
aluminum sulphate, which is used to remove particulates from drinking water
in some areas.
Still, aluminum is the third most common element in the Earth's crust, and
it strikes me as absurd that we would have evolved with a vulnerability to
such a common element, at least in its usual unrefined forms. Furthermore,
the forms in which potters use this element are remarkably insoluble-- far
less bioavailable than metallic aluminum (or rather the salts which form on
aluminum pots and pans.)
If there were really anything to worry about, then why don't a whole lot of
old potters suffer from AD? We spend all day with our hands immersed in
alumina.
Ray
Aldridge Porcelain and Stoneware
http://www.goodpots.com
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