ADD-can_a_poisoned

Can A Poisoned Environment Play A Major Role in a Child's Ability to Learn?

It is no wonder that our children are the sickest the world has ever seen in the history of the human species.
We continually poison our environment with the 60,000 chemicals in use today (with 2,000 new ones developed every year). We drop 4 billion tons of these chemicals on our world. Elements such as mercury, aluminum, and arsenic, which are known to cause chronic toxicity to human beings, are building up to dangerous levels in our bodies.
Thanks to modern technology, we have created a world that is alien to the human species, one to which- our biochemistry has increased difficulty adapting. When we cannot adapt, we begin to show various signs of illness or disease; this means we are no longer in equilibrium within ourselves and between ourselves and our environment.
For the past several years, parents have become increasingly concerned about their children's learning difficulties. Yet this was not a major problem for children growing up in the 1700s or the early 1800s. As late as 1950, according to a study by Dr. Lendon Smith, there was one child in each classroom with Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD). Today, it is more like five or six. The answer to this problem is not more band-aid drugs like Ritalin or intense psychotherapy. The answer is to find out why ADHD is on the increase.
ADHD is an epidemic of the post-industrial revolution era, like the other chronic diseases of our world such as multiple sclerosis (MS), lupus, cancer, chronic fatigue (CFIDS), etc.
Traditional medical approaches to these chronic ailments have not been particularly effective in changing anything about these illnesses or their progress. During my 19 years of practicing pediatrics, internal medicine, and gynecology as a family physician, I became thoroughly disillusioned with the approach I had been taught to use because, except for acute illnesses, very rarely did anyone get well. That is why I embarked on a journey of discovery to try to find the "magic bullet" which would explain this gnawing enigma.
I learned that traditional medicine did not seek to find the root cause for these diseases, which behaved far differently than bacterial and viral infections. Instead, we were told to employ band-aid approaches to chronic diseases such as MS, rheumatoid arthritis, CFIDS, lupus, scleroderma, cancer, Lou Gehrig's disease, ulcerative colitis, etc.
Worse, we fell flat completely when we attempted to deal with the chronic illnesses of children: chronic infections, eczema, asthma, learning disabilities (like ADHD), etc. Why? Because there is no clear answer, no "magic bullet," no simple solution found in virus or bacterium. We are all biochemically individual, and these illnesses related to the failure of the individual to adapt to our increasingly alien planet. Each one of us reacts differently to the 60,000 chemicals surrounding us daily. Our ability, or in these cases, inability, to adapt to these chemicals sets these diseases in motion, not some unknown virus.
A learning disability is defined as "a disorder in one or more of the basic psychological processes involved in understanding, or in abnormal language spoken or written, which results in an imperfect ability to listen, think, speak, read, write or spell." Specific examples of the characteristics of a child with a learning disability include: short attention span; poor memory; inability to follow directions; difficulty distinguishing between letters, numbers and sounds; inappropriate responses; restlessness; saying one thing but meaning another; discipline difficulties; inability to change; poor listening or memory skills; inability to follow multiple directions; difficulty telling time or right from left; difficulty naming familiar things or people; difficulty sounding out words; reverse letters, reads, writes poorly; poor coordination; difficulty understanding words or concepts; late speech development; late gross or fine motor development; impulsiveness.
On paper, that sounds fine, but I have to ask the question "why" whenever I encounter a process that calls out to be explained. Is this a disorder of the psychological process? Isn't a psychological process one which has at least some neurochemical origins. For that matter, everything that relates to the mind has at least some basis in the chemistry of the brain. Therefore, could a learning disability be the result of a chemical imbalance in the brain? And why is there all this abnormal neurochemistry now? Why wasn't there all this abnormal neurochemistry in 1790?
The human species has not changed genetically in one million years (that is how long it takes for genetic change). Thus, it must be a change in the environment in which we live since "we" are the same as we were in 1790. So what are the changes that have taken place since that time, and how do they relate to the inability of our children to learn today?
Look at what we need to survive: air, water, and food. These characteristics of our environment have all changed dramatically in the last 200 years. Prior to the industrial revolution, there was very little about the environment that was harmful to the health of the world's inhabitants except the other living things that could hurt us: predators, bacteria, fungi, viruses, etc.
Then, 200 years ago, we began to escalate the pace of our living on all fronts. To do that, we needed to develop methods of energy production. We found ways to produce new items using chemicals. The birth of the chemical industry was borne of our need to live better, move faster, and beautify our environments.
As a result, in 200 years, we have produced trillions of tons of chemicals utilizing mercury, lead, cadmium, arsenic, and aluminum to work in our industries. Take a look at these "heavy" metals and how ubiquitous they are in our world. Then look at what symptoms they can cause when they accumulate in the body. Many of them affect the brain, and thus, they can play a role in learning difficulties.
All of these chemicals and heavy metals contaminate our food, our air, and our water. If an individual's detoxification system works efficiently, he can clear a fair amount of these toxic agents and not have a problem. But if there is a large burden, even the best system does not work well enough and the individual gets sick. If an individual's detoxification system is impaired due to genetic or nutritional defects, the body will simply store large amounts of these toxic agents.
My search lead me to this finding-there are three reasons why some children have difficulties learning while most do not: genetics, nutrition, or environmental toxins.
We cannot say much about the genetic aspect except that we have observed that there can be a genetic "predisposition" for immune system abnormalities leading to sensitivity (allergic) problems, which in turn are related to learning disabilities. For example, if a three year old child has a genetic enzyme defect, he/she may need six times the normal amount of vitamin B6 to accomplish the same neurochemical processes as a normal child. This affected child may develop a significant learning disability because of this lack of Vitamin B6, even though the parent is giving him a vitamin with some B6 in it.