living in our toxic world

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Living in Our Toxic World Our Toxic World By Zahida Chaudhary, MD By Zahida Chaudhary, MD

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Dr. Zahida Chaudhary and James Ellermeyer talk about toxins in our environment, including what they do to our body. They also take a look specifically at DDT and the process of it getting into the public long before we could determine it’s negative effects. Want an audio version? Subscribe to our Podcast on iTunes! Follow the Educational Grand Rounds Playlist on Youtube! Want to join us for the live discussion? Check out our Social Media in the noon hour every Monday as we sit down on Google Hangout OnAir! Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, or Google+ to get updated with the link when we start!

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Living in Our Toxic World

Living in

Our Toxic WorldOur Toxic WorldBy Zahida Chaudhary, MDBy Zahida Chaudhary, MD

Page 2: Living in Our Toxic World

What are toxins?

• Metals, therapeutic drugs, industrial chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, fuels, herbicides and abused drugs (exogenous)

• Bacterial toxins, parasitic products, bile, hormones (endogenous)

• Substances that accumulate in the body producing toxicity.

• Toxins cause several disorders and are also predisposing factors or component causes of most of the diseases.

Page 3: Living in Our Toxic World

Synthetic chemicals

Of the 100,000 synthetic chemicals on the market today, very few have been thoroughly tested for harmful effects.

2002 USGS study: 80% of U.S. streams contain up to 82 wastewater contaminants, which include antibiotics, perfumes, detergents, drugs, steroids, disinfectants, etc

Page 4: Living in Our Toxic World

• Carcinogens: cause cancer

• Mutagens: cause mutations in DNA

• Teratogens: cause birth defects

• Allergens: cause unnecessary immune response

• Neurotoxins: damage nervous system

• Endocrine disruptors: interfere with hormones

Types of toxicants•The drug thalidomide, used to relieve nausea during pregnancy, turned out to be a potent teratogen, and caused thousands of birth defects before being banned in the 1960s.

Thalidomide baby” Butch Lumpkin learned to overcome his deformed arms and fingers to become a professional tennis instructor.

Page 5: Living in Our Toxic World

• Acute toxicity short but severe course, usually due to large exposure and reversible effect

• Chronic toxicity is persisting or progressing over a long period of time, mostly irreversible

• Local toxicity: seen in the restricted area of the body

• Systemic toxicity: Affecting the entire body system

• Synergistic effect: The working together of two toxic elements that produce an effect greater than the sum of their individual effects

Toxicity

Page 6: Living in Our Toxic World

Total load exceeds the body’s abilityto adapt the Damages:

Immune toxicityAsthma, Allergies, Cancers &

Chronic Disease

NeurotoxicityCognition, Memory, Sensory &

Motor Dysfunction

Endocrine toxicityReproduction, Libido & Metabolism

Toxic Overload Toxic Overload

Page 7: Living in Our Toxic World

Environmental Links to Health Concerns

• Air• Drinking Water• Food• Land/Soil• Built Environment Emergencies

Page 8: Living in Our Toxic World

Air pollution• Burning: Smoke from power plant,

waste incinerators, furnaces, motor vehicles, marine vessels, aircraft, volcanic activity, , and rocketry

• Fumes from paint, varnish, aerosol sprays and other solvents, chemicals used in agriculture and forest management, methane from landfills, emitted by ruminants, germs from hospital wastes

• Dust from desert land, radioactivity due to nuclear weapons, Radon gas from radioactive decay within the Earth's crust

Page 9: Living in Our Toxic World

FoodPesticides (through foods and sprays)

-Carcinogenic (Produce cancer):-According to the Environmental ProtectionAgency (EPA): 60 per cent of herbicides, 90 per cent of fungicides and 30 per cent of insecticides are known to be Carcinogenic, Mutagenic (produce mutants, effects on genetic material that can be inherited), and Teratogenic (Produce birth defects)

•Neurotoxic, Immunotoxic: causes immunosuppression

Page 10: Living in Our Toxic World

Land/SoilRisks & Benefits

RISKSBENEFITS•No bugs!

•Better looking fruit that is more visually appealing

•Bigger crops so farmers can make more profit

•People ingest pesticides with the

fruit and get sick

•Pesticides get into dirt and water

•Animals ingest pesticides and get sick

Most of us have heard that we can reduce the risk of getting sick without giving up the health benefits that fruit offers, by washing or peeling the fruit before we eat it but……

Page 11: Living in Our Toxic World

Exposure to Endocrine Disruptors

Hormones and neurotransmitters keepharmony with each other, body systemsand nature’s circadian rhythms. Loss ofthe harmony causes several disorders.

Abnormal neuroendocrine-response leads to:

Infectious diseases Diseases associated with endocrine anomaly like

obesity and diabetes Cancers Psychiatric diseases Degenerative diseases etc

Page 12: Living in Our Toxic World

• Some chemicals, once inside the bloodstream, can “mimic” hormones.

• If molecules of the chemical bind to the sites intended for hormone binding, they cause an inappropriate response.

• Thus these chemicals disrupt the endocrine (hormone) system.

Endocrine disruption

Page 13: Living in Our Toxic World

Central Case: Alligators and Endocrine Disruptors at Lake Apopka, Florida

• Biologist Louis Guillette found alligators with reproductive abnormalities in a Florida lake.

• The lake had been contaminated with pesticides.• Research revealed that chemicals in the lake were disrupting

the animals’ reproductive hormones.

Page 14: Living in Our Toxic World

DDT changed world history by:

preventing and combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases among the Allied soldiers invading Italy during WWII

-DT (dichloro-diphenyl-trichloro ethane) was developed as the first of the modern synthetic insecticides in the 1940s.

-It was initially used with great effect to combat malaria, typhus, and the other insect-borne human diseases among both military and civilian populations and also for insect control in crop and livestock production, institutions, homes, and gardens.

Page 15: Living in Our Toxic World

Preventing millions from dying

Page 16: Living in Our Toxic World

Dr. Paul Muller discover that DDT was effective in killing insects, and shortly after, he won the Nobel prize in medicine for this work.

Page 17: Living in Our Toxic World

What Went Wrong?

Page 18: Living in Our Toxic World
Page 19: Living in Our Toxic World

DDT usage today

Rachel Carson's book Silent Spring in 1962 stimulated widespread public concern over the dangers of improper pesticide use and the need for better pesticide controls.

In 1972, EPA issued a cancellation order for DDT based on adverse environmental effects of its use, such as those to wildlife, as well as DDT’s potential human health risks.

Since then, studies have continued, and a causal relationship between DDT exposure and reproductive effects is suspected.

Today, DDT is classified as a probable human carcinogen by U.S. and international authorities. This classification is based on animal studies in which some animals developed liver tumors.

DDT is known to be very persistent in the environment, will accumulate in fatty tissues, and can travel long distances in the upper atmosphere. Since the use of DDT was discontinued in the United States, its concentration in the environment and animals has decreased, but because of its persistence, residues of concern from historical use still remain.

Page 20: Living in Our Toxic World

Problems with Pesticides

Because most pesticides are broad-spectrum, they kill good bugs , not just pests.

Page 21: Living in Our Toxic World

Detoxification: Elimination of accumulated “toxins” from tissuesMany organs involved: liver, kidneys, digestive system, lymphatic system, skin, and lungs

Why detoxify?The body is only made to detoxify the natural toxins such as byproducts from metabolic processes, bacteria, and small amounts of stress

When we exceed this natural ability by living in an unnatural environment, these toxins interfere with regular metabolic processes and increase the acidity of the body.

increased acidity of the body leads to mineral deficiencies, welcomes bacteria, parasites, and viruses, and leads to genetic mutations (cancer)

Page 22: Living in Our Toxic World

Let Us Together Build a World In Which Every Person Has

And Lives in

Sanitation

Hygienic Environment

Safe Adequate water