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The FDA’s revised position on melamine, dated November 28,2008, deserves even more special attention. Melamine is toxic to the body, and has no business being ingested in any quantity. No food containing melamine should be ingested, and this is particularly true for infants. The facts regarding melamine toxicity are being distorted to make it sound like, to the general public, that melamine is safe. In my previous discussion on melamine, I addressed the toxicity of melamine and the associated cover-up. This time I shall discuss melamine, and any toxin for that matter, from a philosophical viewpoint. This discussion is adapted from the book Why Am I Sick? And What To Do About It , available on Amazon.

Ingestion of any toxin has absolutely no role in health. While the body can effectively eliminate certain toxins found in the environment, other toxins either cannot be readily eliminated from the body or are eliminated from the body very slowly. When this happens, damage to the body results. Since this damage often occurs at the cellular and sub-cellular level, it often goes undetected until considerable damage has accumulated. By the time damage is detected at the system level, the disease process initiated by the toxin has been in progress for quite some time. Obviously, removing ourselves from the exposure to the toxin is the appropriate countermeasure. In addition, methods can be used to hasten the elimination of certain toxins from the body. Fortunately, in most cases, the body is able to repair the damage cause by these toxins.

Toxins are a unique form of stress encountered by the body in the sense that they not only invoke the body’s natural stress response as chemical stressors, but also have a mechanism of toxicity that subsequently causes tissue damage. This tissue damage further invokes the body’s stress response. In essence, the natural stress response of the body is invoked by both by the toxic chemical stressor and the tissue damage caused by the toxin. This factor is often overlooked by those publishing “safe exposure limits” of their favorite toxin.

For every controversy regarding any toxin presented in the discussion, two opposing positions can be found. One position is that the substance is known to be toxic and therefore can cause harm to the body. This position is substantiated by biochemists, professors, and other independent researchers. The other position maintains that the toxin is safe. This is the position that will calm the public, and is often financed by those having a vested financial interest involving that toxin in one way or another. One cannot legislate away the detrimental effects of a toxic compound. In addition, propaganda cannot be used to reduce the toxicity of a toxin.

Governments have issued documents defining safe exposure levels to various toxins, such as Mercury and other heavy metals, pesticides, and various organic and inorganic compounds, and now, melamine. The safe exposure level is determined through extensive research, and the safe exposure limit is typically set at a level where symptoms are not evident. This research is performed by men and women who have PhDs and specialize in biochemistry and human disease. Various factors are taken into consideration and, based upon the findings, a number is generated representing the upper limit of safe exposure. The fundamental problem with this methodology is that we talking about a toxin. The safe exposure level of the toxin is therefore zero. If the PhD performing the research arrived at a safe exposure level of zero, they would be fired from their job, plain and simple. The truth is that, since these toxins are present and eliminating them is impossible, something must be done to make the public feel safe. Exposure limits, therefore, are set, published, and adhered to, giving the illusion of safety. This amounts to nothing more than a game of “how much can we get away with and not get caught.” In other words, a game is being played in setting limits to how much damage that can be done to the body, and, at the same time, keeping the damage undetected as far as physical or mental symptoms are concerned. The stated intent of setting these limits is always related to, in one way or another, the protection of the health of the public. The real reason, however, is to avert any legal liability as a result to exposure to these toxins. Obviously, not being a participant in such a game would be in the best interest of health.

The same nonsense of setting safe limits is also applied to human laboratory tests designed to measure exposure to toxins. In this case, however, the nonsense is carried quite a bit further. Limits of the presence of heavy metals, various organic and inorganic compounds, or other toxic compounds are set for the urine, blood, or hair by various organizations. Several quantitative methods are available for determining whether a toxic level exists. Different organizations publish different limits of these toxins, and no agreement can be found as to what constitutes a safe level. To complicate matters further, occupational limits in exposed workers are also defined, and safe exposure levels to the toxins used in industry are different from the limits for the general population. For example, for the general population, the upper limit of Lead found in the blood should not exceed 19 ug/dl. For industrial exposure, the limit defined by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is 40 ug/dl. If the level exceeds 60 ug/dl, according to OSHA, the employer must remove the employee from exposure to the hazard. While it appears that these limits are as a result of careful and extensive research, they represent nothing but pure nonsense. The question arises as to why 39 ug/dl is safe and 41 ug/dl is not safe. Another question arises as to why employment in industry warrants a higher safe exposure level as opposed to someone who does not work. The cynical observer would question why all these figures published by the government all mysteriously ends in a zero. Why is 40 ug/dl the accepted limit, and not 37.5 ug/dl? For any test designed to measure the level of a known toxin in the body, regardless of whether the toxin is being measured in the blood, urine, hair, or other tissue, the only safe level of that toxin is zero. Furthermore, determining safe levels of exposure based upon the factor of employment is, at best, absurd.

Biochemistry is a very well defined and well understood scientific field. Biochemistry does not lie. If the biochemist can clearly demonstrate the disruption to the biochemical processes of the body caused by a particular toxin, and can clearly show exactly how the toxin is toxic, no further discussion or argument is necessary. If a particular compound is shown to disrupt a particular chemical reaction through a specific mechanism of action, no guidelines or legislation issued by any governmental organization is going to affect the biochemical reaction. When something is defined as a toxin, in most cases the mechanism of actions is clearly understood and demonstrable. In other cases, the mechanism of action of the toxin is unknown, which, in a way, is indicative of a potentially more dangerous toxin. If the mechanism of action is not known or not fully understood, no one really knows exactly how that toxin is poisoning the body. A toxin in which the mechanism of action is unknown is analogous to Pandora’s Box.

Melamine is a toxin for which safe exposure limits have now been set for the sole purpose of calming the public. The limit of melamine exposure has been set at 1 part per million (ppm). This limit, as expected, is the proberbial “round number,” and represents pure nonsense as arrived at through junk science. This limit will ultimately be refined, and defined for specific age groups. Just like with Lead, there is no safe exposure limit to a toxin that can, and will, cause harm to the body. Since we are talking about a toxin, the safe exposure limit is therefore zero. Avoiding any food imported from China would be the only prudent measure regarding melamine.

The FDA’s official statement, revised on November 28, 2008, can be found here: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/melamine.html

How the FDA determined what level of melamine is safe can be found here: http://www.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/melamra4.html

A list of products tested by the FDA can be found here: http://www.fda.gov/oc/opacom/hottopics/melamine/testresults.html

A three year child made it a habit to have her mother lay in bed with her as she fell asleep. Her mother’s presence gave the child some type of comfort, knowing that mommy is right there beside her. Once the child fell asleep, the mother would quietly sneak out of the room. This is not unusual for a child of that age, but at some time, the child must be broken of this desire.

The mother tried in many ways to break her daughter of this behavior. The parent gently explained to the child that mommy has her own bed, and that’s where mommy sleeps. This, not surprisingly, did not convince the child. The mother, as many parents do, attempted to bribe the child, telling the girl that if she slept in her bed alone, she will buy her a new toy from the local toy store. The child, however, with her own view of the universe and the way things should be, could not be easily bribed. The possibility of receiving a future toy simply could not outweigh the comfort of mommy next to her as she fell asleep. The parent failed in every attempt of reasoning with the child.

One night, the child started to cry, and wanted mommy to sleep with her in her bed. Giving in to the child, the mother consoled and comforted the child as she lay down to sleep. Thinking to herself “how did I get here again,” the mother got an idea. With the daughter almost asleep, the mother started to cry. The three year old girl asked “what’s wrong mommy?” Still crying, the mother said “I want to sleep in my own bed.” The child took her mommy by the hand, and led her back to her own bed. Pulling back the covers, the parent got into her own bed. The child tucked her mommy in, gave her a kiss, and said “you sleep here mommy, you’ll be OK here.”

The child never again asked her mother to lie in bed with her as she fell asleep.

The holiday sesaon is upon us!  With his unusual sense of humor, Dr. Robert Zee puts the events of the season in quite an interesting perspective.  The following is an excerpt from the book Why Am I Sick? And What To Do About It , by Dr. Robert Zee, available on Amazon today. This is a timely message considering the holiday season is just around the corner. Permission is granted to distribute this post in electronic form provided is distributed in its entirety, including this paragraph.

Health and sickness quite predictably follow periodic seasonal patterns. The great yearly downturn in health begins on October 31, but is not readily apparent until a few months later. To kick off the annual down slide of health, all the kids dress up in costumes and go house to house knocking on every door in hopes of bagging the coveted treasure – candy. For the next two weeks, sugar enters their body like a tsunami, paving the way for a Candida albicans yeast overgrowth in the intestines, and creating blood sugar swings that resemble an EKG. This results in mood swings and crankiness, and the parents give in by giving the kids even more candy just to quiet them down. Unknowingly to the kids, the parents sneak some of their candy while they are away in school, desperately trying to reduce the private stash so the kids will not gorge themselves on something that is so unhealthy. Then comes the big feast on the fourth Thursday in November. In preparation for the festivities revolving around the large meal, the hosts make their guest lists, buy all sorts of food – vegetables, bread, pies, cakes, wine, and the twenty two pound bird that will be the centerpiece of the celebration. When dinnertime finally arrives, the whole home is filled with more stress than a bad day on Wall Street. The kids are cranky, the wrong team won the big football game, and the one relative with more than one screw lose somehow showed up at dinner anyway despite many desperate attempts to leave him off the guest list, quite by accident of course.

For the next few days, the menu is the same, with the words "turkey again" seeming to echo around the house. All the desserts that were left over seem to have disappeared first, and everyone is frantically searching around for something to satisfy their sugar craving. In keeping perfect tradition, the stress level rises higher than Mount Everest as the events turn from eating to shopping. Panic arises as everyone wants to be the first in line to get this year’s coveted new toy, Roto-Annihilator, an ugly piece of molded plastic with its head mounted on a turret, a remote control, a computer inside, imported directly from China. With any luck, junior is really not interested in that toy this year and hopefully spare anyone from having to wait in lines or searching the internet to find one. The shopping spree continues for four more weeks, with stress levels rising each day.

In anticipation of the next great celebration at the end of December, choir practice for the Christmas caroling adventure is mandatory, never mind the fact that everyone has sung these songs their entire life, and knows them quite well by now. To make things worse, the kids are let out of school as the parents are trying to arrange dinner plans for the big event. Every spare moment is used frantically to find that Roto-Annihilator contraption from China because, at the last minute, junior decided he needed one because Johnny down the street is getting one. Checking every store, Roto-Annihilator cannot be found anywhere, and the Korean knock off, Roto-Flunkkor, simply will not do.

After returning from church on Christmas Eve, the parents try to get the kids to sleep, which finally happens at 2:00 A.M., and two hours later the parents finally get to sleep. The kids are then up at 5:30 A.M., tearing open boxes and packages, many of which were wrapped only three hours earlier. Within no time, the living room looks like a dump truck backed up and dropped a load meant for the local toy store. A little time later, the remote control toy aircraft somehow flew itself around inside and shredded everything in sight, including the furniture. No one seems to know how the plane could fly by itself, primarily because no one was around when it happened. Right before the crash landing, the plane’s propeller chopped the head off that stupid Roto-Annihilator thing, which, in the future, will prove to be a blessing. The parents try to restore order and clean up the home so it looks presentable when the guests arrive, shoving presents back under the tree and in the corner. As usual, the relative with more than one screw loose arrives late, opens his presents, and wonders why, yet again, he got four brand-new screwdriver sets.

For the next week, the kids are off from school, and everyone’s emotions are running in high gear. Finally, New Years Eve gets here, and in a day or so everything will be back to normal. The adults all go out and get drunk in order to forget about the last three months, only to repeat the same thing next year. Finally, some semblance order seems to be restored when the holiday season is finally over.

However, that is not the end. For the last three months, everyone has been stressed, and the immune system was being compromised and is now most likely functioning at its yearly low. All the refined carbohydrates, desserts, and foods served during the holiday season, which are not typically served during the rest of the year, has taken their toll on the digestive system and immune system, not to mention the mind. As a result, colds, the flu, and other seasonal maladies seem to run rampant, being passed from person to person. Just as one person in the family gets over it, another one gets something else and passes it around. Nevertheless, soon Spring is on its way, and everyone will begin to feel better. Since Spring is bathing suit time, it is time for everyone to go on a diet, and lose those extra pounds gained over the holiday season. The newly discovered diet and a desperate attempt to lose some weight now put the body into a nutritional deficit mode, and everything eaten turns to fat. Severe lack of energy follows, and what looked to be a promising new year starts off as a disaster.

A type of individual, however, can be found that rarely, if ever, gets sick. Oddly, this type of person also rarely, if ever, seeks the advice of any health care professional. How could excellent health be afforded to this group of people considering the fact they are not even searching for it? What are they doing that the majority of society is not? Equally important, what are they not doing that the majority is constantly doing? Do they have a secret? If so, what is their secret? Why are they not sharing it with others? If we can somehow learn their secret, and apply those principles to our life, will it make us healthier too?

Their secret is explored in the book Why Am I Sick? And What To Do About It ,  available on Amazon today.