Thursday, January 31,
2013
This blog was written on the
site of the International Myeloma Foundation in response to a posting by the
eminent Myeloma authority Dr. Brian Durie.
By Hardy Jones
I was
diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma in 2003. In 1997 I had been diagnosed with
chronic mercury poisoning attributed to a diet high in tuna and swordfish -
large predatory fish known to carry high levels of heavy metals and organic
pollutants.
In 2005 I was tested for
organic pollutants such as those derived from agent orange, benzine, DDT, flame
retardants etc. I was found to be quite high in some of the congeners. The
story is best told in my book, The Voice of the Dolphins, but is also covered
on the Bluevoice web site.
I would say (in response to
Dr. Durie's intention to test 911 victims) the sooner the better on testing
9/11 victims. Even though it’s slow, POPs (persistent organic pollutants) do
break down and diminish. Also, if a person loses weight they will mobilize
POPs, which are lipophilic, and excrete them.
When I asked toxics expert
Arlene Blum about my POPs levels she said “Oh, too bad you didn’t get tested
when you were still eating lots of tuna etc. because your values would now be
only a shadow of what they may have been.” I had stopped eating large predatory
fish in 1997 after being found to have high mercury levels. My test for POPs
was run in 2005. I’m thinking of having myself tested again - 7 years after the
last test but the tests are expensive.
I’ve just heard from a top
marine mammal toxicologist that there is likely a correlation between levels of
mercury and other heavy metals and POPs. There are confounding problems but as
a general rule this analogy works.
I will be getting test
results from Peruvian dolphin-eating fishermen by Feb. 21. Our tests for
mercury etc. should/could be a proxy for POPs. These fishermen have epidemic
incidence of diabetes which Dr. Durie has tied to MM incidence.
It's great the IMF is doing
this work. Prevention Multiple Myeloma and other cancers is better than
suppressing disease with drugs, even though these drugs have been a godsend to
me. I would be happy to receive information from people who eat a lot of high
food chain predatory fish who have MM.
http://www.bluevoice.org/news_diabetes2.php
http://www.bluevoice.org/news_sharedfate.php
