From MetroWest Daily News July 14, 2015

• Russell: Congress can do more to fight ‘hidden health risks'

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   By Laura Henze Russell
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  Guest Columnist

  Posted Jul. 14, 2015 at 3:52 PM 
  
  
  

  The 21st Century Cures bill, passed the U.S. House of Representatives on July 10th, would provide $8.75 billion in funding over five years to the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and $550 million in additional funds for the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to speed discovery and approval of drugs and devices. It needs a little tweaking by the Senate as it takes up its own biomedical innovation bill to accomplish the ultimate objective of curing the most Americans at the least possible cost. This can enable us to begin to pay down the national debt, and finance efforts on more complex health problems.

  We would do well to focus attention on the common causes of chronic diseases, and the hidden health epidemics that are endemic to our time. These include Lyme and various tick-borne coinfections, mold that is hidden and off the radar screen, and surprisingly, medical and dental devices that are not pre-tested for biocompatibility in individual patients to ensure the materials are “right for you.”

  An increasing number of medical and dental professionals, ill and recovering patients, medical researchers, and public health professionals now consider these hidden health risks as a major driver of chronic diseases that impact Americans across the age spectrum, as transmission of microorganisms, heavy metals and the like can occur through direct exposure, and prenatally and via breast feeding. Device illnesses for people with genetic susceptibilities include such common FDA approved products as artificial joints, cardiac devices, dental amalgam, Essure contraceptive coils, implants, mesh, and stents. I have personal experience with one of these products, and friends with all of them.

  With the progress of Precision Medicine in recent years, clinicians are discovering the varied causes behind a range of chronic disease diagnoses. These conditions are legion, and include ADHD, allergies, arthritis and Alzheimer’s; chronic fatigue, diabetes, fibromyalgia, and heart disease; gastrointestinal problems, fungal and yeast infections, skin irritation and rashes; Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson’s, peripheral neuropathy and tremor; and behavioral, cognitive, memory, mobility, mood and mental status challenges. Surprisingly, good clinicians using the principles of functional medicine are able to properly diagnose and “reverse engineer” some of these diseases, when the specific genetic susceptibilities and toxic inflammatory triggers are revealed by genetic and toxic screening.

  It is time for the nation’s health system to catch up. With 21st Century Cures and other bills concerning FDA medical device regulations and taxes in Congress, we have a chance to reboot the system in several ways. There is broad bipartisan and public support from America’s families, who serve as patients, parents, caregivers, relatives and friends to people with a growing number of such health challenges, which tend to multiply as they mature and age.

  It is important to do 21st Century Cures and Device legislation right. Here are some Big Ideas.

   1) Focus attention on common causes of chronic diseases: bad combinations of gene types and toxins outside and within the body, including medical and dental devices. These diseases need remediation and reverse engineering, not lifelong medication. Prompt diagnosis and proper treatment can forestall a future of costly prescriptions for symptom control, joint replacement surgeries, mobility aids, memory care, etc.
  

  • 2) Rebalance federal health priorities, research, surveillance and spending so it focuses on the biggest, most prevalent, easiest-to-resolve health burdens of chronic inflammatory autoimmune and neurological diseases impacting the body and brain. Focus on common, everyday health risks - especially for those with common genetic variants in their methylation and immune pathways - such as mercury, Lyme and co-infections, and mold. These are endemic, and the hidden epidemics of our time.

    3) Medical and Dental Device Safety Urgent Reform (MEDDSURGE) as regulations years out of date and UDIs alone do not go far enough. Patients must get labels, written informed consent for dental fillings, prior biocompatibility screening to determine if a device is "right for you" before installation, entry of all device information into EMRs (not just dental records) seen by one's doctor and big data, and a revised MedWatch Form 3500 with a new section specifically designed for dental device adverse reactions.

    4) Redirect Medical Device Tax to a Victims Medical and Dental Device Illness Compensation (MEDDIC) Fund. Many patients wind up with harm after the fact as we still prescribe devices based on averages rather than individual tolerance vs. toxicity pre-testing. Somebody has to pay for remediation, treatment, recovery, lost income, and high uncovered medical, dental and care expenses patients have incurred.

    While we are promoting 21st Century Cures, it would be wise to end 19th Century dentistry. Nobody is filing patents to perfect amalgam anymore - not even the ADA - only to mitigate its harm. And stop open season on women and men via reproductive system, heart, joint and other implants that are not well tolerated by those with methylation and immune variations. Test for tolerance or toxicity first.

    Call your Representative and thank them for their vote, and Senators Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren at 202-224-2742 and 202-224-4543, respectively, and ask them to Rebalance Attention to Chronic Diseases and Medical Device Safety, Focus on the Common Causes and Hidden Health Risks for Chronic Diseases, and Reform FDA Regulations for Precision Devices and Safety via MEDDSURGE and the MEDDIC Fund.

    Restore, safeguard and protect the health of Americans for the health and well-being of us all.

    Laura Henze Russell is the Principal of Precision Research & Communications: Precision Health. She was an invitee at the White House Champions of Change Precision Medicine Event July 8th, and also attended the NIH Precision Medicine Advisory Committee Work Group on Patient Engagement and Health Equity July 1-2, 2015. Her summaries of these events are athttps://storify.com/LauraHRussell/nih-precision-medicine-patient-engagement-health-e andhttps://storify.com/LauraHRussell/white-house-champions-of-change-precision-medicine.

  
  

Alzheimer's and the Fillings in Our Teeth - October 6, 2012

By Boyd Haley and Laura Henze Russell/Guest columnists 

MetroWest Daily News
Posted Oct. 6, 2012 at 12:01 AM Updated Oct 6, 2012 at 6:13 AM 

People, families and communities across the state and the nation are holding Walks to End Alzheimer's. As a result of rapidly advancing scientific research within the U.S. and a host of other nations, we now know enough to Run to End Alzheimer's.

Not someday, but soon. Not never, but starting right now.

The human body and brain evolved over centuries and eons in a natural environment. Gradually. Then industrialization hit, and better living through chemistry, biochemistry, metallurgy, electronics, radiology, technology, and nanotechnology took flight.

Unfortunately, our cells, membranes, nerves, and genes cannot keep up. They recognize new things as invaders, and try to fight them off. Autoimmune reactions, inflammation, and chronic diseases are the result. We read about big words like beta amyloid, demyelination, and oxidative stress, which are different ways of saying that the ways things work inside us go awry.

The germ theory of disease works for germs, but it does not explain the root of many of today’s health problems. It turns out the keys to the castle lie in understanding that today’s big chronic, devastating, costly diseases – like Alzheimer’s – are the result of nature, nurture, and exposures, both toxic and pathogenic. Pathogens are micro-organisms that can cause disease. Toxins are harmful chemicals, substances and metals that affect the body, brain, cells, and organs. They do so by messing up basic biochemistry, cell membranes, enzymes, and the like.The disease processes in the brain resulting from heavy metals poisoning and from chemical exposures are fairly similar. How our bodies, brains, cells and organs react to toxic substances varies by the substance, varies by our genes, and varies by their interactions over time (epigenetics). It is as if the instruments in a symphony are run over by a fleet of trucks, then they don’t work and sound so good anymore. Some stop playing altogether. Having multiple types of exposures makes it synergistically worse.

One of the biggest hidden health issues of our time is mercury toxicity from mercury amalgam dental fillings. These fillings have long been proven to off-gas mercury vapors in the presence of heat and abrasion. Not only when fillings are placed, but when they are removed, and also when you chew, grind teeth, drink hot liquids, shower, sauna, and jar your jaw in accidents, sports, and falls. The levels at which off-gassing happens is greater than previously thought.Research at multiple universities has demonstrated that exposure of normal brain tissue to mercury causes the same “footprint” of biochemical abnormalities as found in Alzheimer’s disease brain tissue. It shows that at very low concentrations, mercury and only mercury among the heavy metals, induces the disintegration of the “natural structure” that holds a neuron in place, leading to neurofibrillary tangles - a well-known diagnostic hallmark of Alzheimer’s. Since mercury vapors escape from amalgam fillings over time, and 80 percent on average enters the body, exposure would exacerbate the symptoms of anyone suffering from Alzheimer’s.

Is the problem increasing? Yes, markedly. The U.S. National Health and Nutritional Evaluation Surveys of 2000 and 2006 have shown that 2 percent and 30 percent, respectively, of American women have detectable levels of inorganic mercury in their blood. This 15-fold increase in women with inorganic mercury (not from fish) indicates that the overall exposure to mercury is increasing in mothers and putting our infants at risk for neurological diseases.

There is also hard medical, scientific and toxicological evidence that mercury is especially toxic to those with the ApoE4 gene, who do not clear mercury well. Sadly, but not surprisingly, ApoE4 is associated with higher rates of Alzheimer’s disease, and lots of other diseases as well. Researchers in the U.S. and other nations have found elevated mercury levels in the brains and cerebrospinal fluid of Alzheimer’s victims. Many Alzheimer’s victims show classic signs of mercury poisoning, but these signs are no longer recognized by most doctors.

As we unlock the fundamental causes of Alzheimer’s disease, we can unlock the keys to health and recovery. The body and brain is amazingly resilient when it is not under toxic assault. We can develop ways for those with the gene type that doesn't clear mercury well to better clear it. This is important, because mercury poisoning is the thief that keeps on taking. With the wrong gene type, mercury will stay in your body, cells and brains long after your fillings have been removed, replaced or fallen out.

We will be far better off, as people, as families, and as a nation, if we focus on health, reduce the impact of toxins, and let our bodies, brains and cells get healthy again.

We need regular, periodic testing for heavy metals and toxins as part of regular check-ups. We all experience lifelong, repeated, multiple, and multipoint exposures, so this just makes sense. We need mandatory reporting of adverse health impacts, to learn the scope of the problem.Where there are safer alternatives, such as for mercury dental amalgam, we should use them, and stop the nonsense of pretending amalgam is hard, safe and inert for all time – as long as it is in the mouth. We know it is a hazardous substance before it goes into the mouth, and after it comes out. Does the tooth fairy keep it safe and harmless in our teeth?

The FDA should immediately follow the recommendations of its own Scientific Advisory Panel in 2010 to restrict use of amalgam in young children, pregnant women, and people with a known “sensitivity” or “allergy” to mercury. Better yet, based on the growing medical, scientific and toxicological studies in the U.S. and a host of other countries, ban it, as Norway, Denmark and Sweden did in 2008-2009, with the EEC now on a track to follow suit.

This disease is devastating our citizens, our families, our nation. Let’s run, not walk, to end Alzheimer’s.  

Boyd Haley is President of CTI Science, board member of the International Academy of Oral Medicine & Toxicology, and professor emeritus of Chemistry and Biochemistry at the University of Kentucky. Laura Henze Russell is the founder and principal of Hidden River Health Challenge.