What do respnsible doctors and biologists say?
Many doctors who directly observe the development of diseases in the population and care for those affectetd see symptoms of the chronic mass poisoning more clearly than some people who as medical officers and presidents of medical associations put their status and good names to use as appraisers ( see above).
Doctors in practices and clinics register the permanet increase in diseases associated with air pollution ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_pollution ):
allergies ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allergy ),
asthma ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma ),
neurodermitis ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neurodermitis ),
atopic eczema ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atopic_eczema )
tumors ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor ),
neural diseases ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neural_disease ).
They also see the increase in diffuse symptoms which have not yet developed into classic diseases but cause extreme chronic discomfort to patients: clearly increasing
nervous irritations like ADHD (attentiom deficit/ hyoeractivity disorder - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ADHD ),
lack of concentration,
intolerance ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intolerance )
and other forms of
social misconduct,
mental syndroms which can be explained by disruptive foreign substances on the lipid structures ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipid ) of the nerves ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nerv ). But also unspecific dysfunctions of other organs - liver, cardiovascular system, skin changes - are on the rise. The chronic mass poisoning is in full swing ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison ).
A warning example is provided by the well researched behavior of DDT ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DDT ) in the environment ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environment ) (In the book, Figure 7) ( 23 ).
* DDT
The insecticide DDT (dichlorodiphenyltrichlorethane) was sprayed in tropical regions in large amounts to fight the malaria vector (anopheles mosquito). DDT evaporated and appended itsself to dust particles in the air, which became condensation nuclei for raindrops. The toxically laden raindrops conterminated leaves and grass, the soil and the surface water, where DDT accumulated in plankton and other smallest organisms. From there it was absorbed by slaughter animals, eggs or fish. Eventually it reached the end of the resspective food chain, the sea birds or humans. In the wing bones of albatrosses in the Antarctic, which only feed on fish, so much DDT was accumulated that those bones broke when they beat their wings. So the damage due to DDT and dioxins/ furans affects us humans less in a direct way, through air pollution, but rather indirectly through accumulation in our food, especially fatty animal products.
As shown by the example of DDT, all chlorinated cyclic hydrocarbons ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclic_hydrocarbon ) that are stable in the environment and long- lived behave like this , not only dioxins and furans ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dioxin / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Furan ). Some we use, like DDT, as insecticides, pesticides and herbicides. Even some hobby gardeners sometimes feel compelled to use such agents.
* The silent spring
But poison demands more poison to combat its consequences. and so, many people already tend to silently accept the increasing poisoning of our world as an inescapable fate. Only an American biologist once succeeded in opening the eyes of a broad public: Rachel Carson ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rachel_Carson ) with her book "Silent Spring" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silent_Spring ) ( 16 ). She enlightened people about the clouds of selectively produced
chlorinated cyclic hydrocarbons - insecticides ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insecticide ) and herbicides ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herbicide ) like
aldrin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aldrin ),
dieldrin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dieldrin ),
heptachlor ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heptachlor )
- under which our gardens and fields, animals and humans live. Such substances alien to nature, which are produced "chaotically" in more or less similar form also in waste incineration plants (WIPs), destroy the natural balance of microorganisms and smallest animals in the soil ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil ). They destroy soil fertility and biodiversity. It speaks for the politican John F. kennedy, then President of the USA, that he read Ms. Carsons book himself and arranged for objective verifications of her serious allegations. There were independent scientists in the USA then. Mrs. Carson was magnificently confirmed and acclaimed for her courage. But as servere as the shock was which "Silent Spring" caused, as quickly the warning was again forgotten, or rather "hushed up". What about the "Silent Spring" here? If there are still gardens in which the decline of birds breeds is not yet recognizable, then soon - with the increase in WIPs - the silence in our gardens will be loud and clear!
* Effects of poisoning
Only gradually is the negative influence of a hormone-like impact of chemicals like DDT on the reproductive capacity of humans and animals becoming clear ( 28 ). The substances with proven or assumed hormone- like effects include numerous halogenated organic products produced by combustion processes ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combustion ); besides dioxins/ furans also
alkyl ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alkyl ),
phenols ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phenol ),
PCB ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PCB ), or
their decomposition products. Several working mechanisms are being discused: those which already affect the maturing of sexual organs in the womb, and those which disturb hormone metabolism during adulthood ( 28 ).
In medical sience the attention of toxicology has only recently shifted to the damaging effects of small, chronically absrbed amounts of substances and from the classic doese- effect relations to dose- time relations ( 19 ). Carcinogens ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carcinogen ) - also some of the halogenated dioxins/ furans - function according to the dose- time principle. Their high bonding capacity or adhesiveness, which we already emasized for the soot ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soot ) and dust particles ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dust ), of course also comes into play in long- term contact with the cell structures of our body. Tetrachlorodioxin ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TCDD ) strongly binds with a special cell receptor called the Ah-receptor. Afterwards the dioxin receptor complex moves into the cell nucleus. There it leads to an activation of DNA ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DNA ) and therewith to increased protein synthesis ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protein ). The consequences can be dysfunctions of the cell, modified enzyme acitivities or even mutations of the genome with accelerated cell proliferation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mutation / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/genome / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_proliferation ). This is called a tumor promotion" - e.g., to liver cancer ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tumor_promotion / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer )! Tetrachlorodioxin is the most potent known carcinogen, effective on a much higher scale than other known carcinerogens, e.g., aflatoxins ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aflatoxin ) ( 19 ). But it acts chronically, over a long period.
* Dr. Rosins microcosm modell and HCF-134a
Some years ago, when Prof. Dr. H. Rosin ( http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Rosin / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_Rosin ) and Dr. H. Preisendanz at the municipal Hygieneinstitut of Dortmund ( www.dortmund.de ) had little time to demonstrate first damaging effects of the new refrigerant HCF 134a, tetrafluorethane ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetrafluorethane ), they quickly built the "microcosm model", shown as foto in the book.
It consists of 8 columns, each representing an active component of our environment, our biosphere ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Biosphere ):
high- energy UV radiation ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/UV_radiation ),
lightning discharge ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lightning ),
fresh water ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water ),
sandy soil ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sand ),
green plant ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetation ).
blog soil,
chalky soil with vegetation and
anaerobic swamp ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swamp ).
All parts of the microcosm are connectetd via gas hoses. The gas supply is regulated by a control unit. It was suspectetd that HFC- 134 forms water- soluble decomposition products, namely
hydrofluoric acid ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrofluoric_acid ) and
trifluoroacetic acid ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trifluoroacetic_acid )
when after leaking from refridgerators ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Refrigerator ) and deep freezers it is released into atmosphere and exposed to sunlight. When these acids return with rainwater they might possibly - after conversion into monofluoroacetic acid ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Monofluoroacetic_acid ) - threaten all life in the biosphere. It was necessary to identify this risk at an early stage.
The damaging effects of flue gases from waste incineration plants (WIPs) also can be revealed quickly with such "field tests in the microcosm". You would only have to add, e.g., a column with
vegetables ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vegetable ) a column with
small animals and/ or a Column with
human cell cultures as are commonly used in viral diagnstics. Already the environmental hygienists from Dortmund ( www.dortmund.de ) were worried that a terrible environment would develops if electronic waste with its brominated and fluorinted flame retardant were to be incinerated in the presence of catalytically functioning metals, especially copper and silver ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Copper / http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silver ). They wanted to warn about these dangers. Unfortunately, they were forced to remove this privatly built and paid model from the municipal institute within 24 hours after word of it spreed through newspaper reports. They did not know at the time that a large waste incineration plant (WIP) was planed in Dortmund ( www.dortmund.de ). So the only alternative left to Prof. Rosin and Dr. Preisendanz was to undertake the uphill task of informing the public in writing, of theoretical peruasion work. With their practice project, the eco fridge "Greenfreeze" ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greenfreeze ), they still scored a success because Greenpeace ( www.greenpeace.com / www.greenpeace.de ) was able to mobilize the board public and, with the help of the "East bonus" which existed then, find an established refrigerator producer in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge, ex. DDR/ GDR).
High hurdles, even violent ones, have been placed in the way of [b]cryogenic recycling / Kryo- Recycling[/b] of electronic waste. Prof. Rosins cry of complaint: "Why are public servants no longer allowed to serve the public?" became a wellknown saying, but remained a "pious wish".
Doctors in hospitals and medical practices also have had similar disgraceful experiences.
Ecologically active doctors´associations like the
Ökologischer Ärtebund / www.oekologischer-aerztebund.de and
IGUMED / www.IGUMED.de, or organizations like
Greenpeace ( www.greenpeace.at ),
www.ippnw.de or
BUND / www.bund.net (Friends of the Earth Germany)
offer in individueal cases only a setting for lectures and information, but at least that! Activities which could codetermine industrial policies, as the case of the eco fridge "Greenfreeze" are taboo. Unfortunataly, a great deal of knowledge beneficial for the future is suppressed in this way.
( 16 ) Carson, R.L.: Der stummeFrühling (1970) C.H. Beck Verlag, Munich (2007)
( 19 ) Dekant, W., S. Vamvakas: Toxikologie - für Chemiker und Biologen. Spektrum Akademischer Verlag. Heidelberg (1994)
( 23 ) Forth, W., D. henschler, W. Rummel, K. Starke: Allgemeine und spezielle Pharmakologie und Toxikologie. BI-Wissenschaftlicher Verlag, Mannheim (1992)
( 28 ) Greenpeace Studie: Angriff auf das Hormonsystem. Kurzfassung der Studie: Reproduktionsschäden und Umwelthormone - ein neues Umweltproblem? Greenpeace, Hamburg (1996)
Next chapter: http://sites.google.com/site/kryorecycling/umweltschutz