PART TWO: The Biochemistry of Neurodegeneration

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http://www.redflagsweekly.com/conferences/mad_cow/2004_jan13_2.html

 

 

AN ECODETECTIVE’S JOURNEY INTO THE CENTER OF NEURODEGENERATIVE DISEASE

 

By RFD Columnist, Mark Purdey

 

High Barn Farm, Elworthy, Taunton, TA43PX, UK.

Tel; 00 44 1984 656832.

MadCowPurdey

 

 

 

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PAGE TWO

 

The Biochemistry of Neurodegeneration.

 

My environmental analysis confirmed the findings of other teams- that the

traditional foodchain of the Chamorro folk is markedly deficient in magnesium

(9). This problem was further exacerbated by the customary practise of adding

large amounts of salt to their meals - since sodium disrupts the uptake of

magnesium across the gut wall(10). Once magnesium is deficient in the biosystem,

then these rogue radioactive metals such as strontium 90 or barium are able to

substitute at the vacant magnesium sites on enzymes.(since these metals possess

a similar atomic arrangement to magnesium/calacium (8)) thereby disrupting the

healthy functioning of these enzymes.

 

The free radicals generated by the rogue replacement radionuclides could cause

mutations. In this respect, it is interesting that these neurodegerative

diseases stem from specific mutations in the enzymes that mediate the

metabolism of cholesterol/lipids (12) the guanosine triphosphate cell

signalling (13) – enzyme systems that are magnesium regulated in the healthy

mammal (8).

 

Another magnesium activated enzyme is glutamine synthetase(8), and once its

activity is knocked out of action during magnesium deficiency, then the highly

neurotoxic glutamate molecule builds up in the brain, thereby triggering the

whole downward spiral of these types of neurodegenerative diseases (14).

 

Likewise, the enzymes which regulate insulin metabolism are largely magnesium

activated. It is therefore no surprise to discover that the incidence rates of

diabetic/pancreatic disorders amongst the Chamarro people are at a high

intensity – particularly in those suffering from Groote syndrome

 

More relevant to the pathogenesis of Groote suyndrome is the exposure to

strontium or barium atoms which leads to a loss of free sulphate in the

biosystem (15)(16). For the reactive forms of these metals are well recognised

to couple up with sulphur, thereby starving the nervous system of one of its

most crucial structural caretakers - the sulphated proteoglycan heparin

molecules (8). Once deprived of their sulphur co partners, these ingenious

proteoglycans will cease to perform their function in ‘ sparking’ the electro

signals that regulate the growth and maintenance of the complex infrastructure

of neuronal networking(17). Neurodegenerative wasting ensues.

 

Interestingly, loss of proteoglycans activity has been shown to be responsible

for invoking the cornerstone pathogenic mechanisms which underpin the cause of

neurodegenerative wasting conditions such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, multiple

sclerosis, Motor Neurone Disease, and BSE. Whilst individual genetics

determines which particular type of neurodegenerative disease will emerge at the

end of the day, it is the environmental exposure to these sulphur-capturing

pollutants, such as barium and strontium that represent the common causal

component shared by all of these diseases.

 

Barium and strontium are employed widely in industries manufacturing paper,

munitions, zinc refining, welding, rubber, glass, paint pigments, ceramics,

fabrics, TV components and as military atmospheric spray aerosols for enhancing

the efficiency of radio/radar signal communications(15)(16) during jet practise

and battlefield operations.

 

“Guamogeddon”

 

With two major US airbases and a nuclear submarine naval base in operation since

World war two, the former paradise isle of Guam has become one of the most

explosively contaminated locations on this earth – well evidenced by that fact

that Guam was christened the ‘coconut curtain’ during the pre-1962 period when

the isle was out of bounds to any foreign visitors who were not approved by the

US military.

 

The Chamorro elders remember the multitude of bombs that were dropped in the

bays during the US invasion of Japanese occupied Guam towards the end of World

War Two. Whilst the US liberation of Guam was unanimously welcomed, one of the

downsides of the conquest involved the toxic liberation of barium-based

explosives into the marine ecosystem following the detonation of so many bombs.

Wherever the warplanes from the US Hornet aircraft carrier were involved in

heavy bombardments during June /July 1944 – eg. along the coasts of Guam, Rota

island, Irian Jaya (New Quinea) and Southern Japan – the clusters of

neurodegenerative disease have subsequently emerged (1-3). Other bombs were

exploded (from crashed bombers ) in a tiny area of the New Guinea highlands; the

local Fore tribe of that region had gotten hit, and subsequently developed an

epidemic of TSE during the 1950s – called kuru.

 

And ever since the war, the US navy have been carting waste munitions – gone

beyond their expiry date - up to the central mountainous backbone of the island

and then disposing them within an extensive spread of sealed off wilderness

under military occupation.

 

Ironically, the former Senator of Guam, Angel L.G Santos, had only just launched

the publication of a major action report on the radioactive contamination of

Guam (18)- on behalf of the ‘Blue Ribbon Panel Committee’- when he plunged into

a rapid attack dementia / neurodegenerative wasting condition which tragically

killed the poor man within two months. His disease was diagnosed as Creutzfeldt

Jacob disease – related to the infamous mad cow syndrome and ‘Kuru’. Hearsay has

it that the Senator had been earthing up discarded US ordnance on his own small

farm; suggesting that his home grown fruit and vegetables had become

contaminated, which, in turn, had contaminated him, leading to his rapid demise

health-wise.

 

Considering the clear-cut correlation that exists between the distribution /

timing of the cluster of neurodegenerative disease on Guam and the

distribution/timing of nuclear contamination ( See map), one wonders why all of

the ‘expert’ teams of US scientists visiting Guam have failed to recognize such

a blatantly obvious causal association.

 

Apart from the raft of research teams which have ended up promoting the

widely-held theory of cycad consumption as the cause of the epidemic (1)(2), a

fresh research team was dispatched more recently to the ‘atomic frontline’ from

the US Dept of the Interior. This research was led by William Miller and Richard

Sanzolone who conducted a professional geochemical survey of the environment

around the epicentre of the cluster (19). But all of the positive ground gained

in their excellent geochemical study was blown apart by the bizarre conclusion

arrived at in this paper. The authors had plumped for the assumption that Guam

syndrome had been caused by yet another ‘natural toxin’ – the toxic blooms of

blue green algae; a phenomenon which they had only casually noticed along the

estuaries of the three rivers where the three affected villages are sited.

 

Not long after this study was finished, the natural water supplies to the

villages were abruptly terminated and replaced by the main supply that fed the

rest of the island – no reasons given. When the Mayor of Umatac pressed for an

explanation, the US governing authorities supplied him with papers that included

a copy of the unpublished paper by Miller et al (19), which made anecdotal

reference to these blue-green algae toxins as the source of the problem. But how

could such a circumstantially-derived explanation provide a sufficiently

watertight basis for cutting off the water? Furthermore, no actual analysis had

been carried out to determine the presence of this toxin in the drinking water,

plus all three villages had been drawing their drinking waters from the mountain

springs and not from the estuary stages of the rivers where the toxic blooms

were purportedly spotted. One is tempted to believe that this was a cover story

for a much more serious contamination of the springs that

could have resulted from the long term disposal of munitions in the mountains

above the villages (See map).

 

NEXT PAGE: The ‘free radical’ legacy of radioactive metal contamination – DNA

damage and deformed proteins.

 

 

 

 

 

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