So said before, so said again. Not often in my column do I have reprints of articles that have appeared previously. But recently, while proofreading one of my books, while simultaneously pondering the hardheaded, no listen stance of our different levels of government, I came across an article that I would feel remiss if I did not have it appear again. It was first published on 30-03-92, and though I’ll try to refrain an I-told-you-so, it is just as relevant today and will, it is hoped, be more listened to than it was back then.
“Because of my often expressed concern for the environment, over the span of any month, a horrendous pile of papers seems to cross my desk. Most of which are passed on to me by readers of my column, who are concerned, too, about the world in which we live.
“Recently I’ve been reading some rather powerful and disturbing scientific facts that frighten the proverbial britches right off of my butt. In the few paragraphs that entail, from beginning to end, my column, I’ll try, by the removal of technical jargon, to explain what I mean. The first statement of fact heading one of the papers reads: ‘Cancer now afflicts one out of three people in the USA.’ Do you read me, folks? Would it not be folly to think that the figures drop significantly north of the 49th parallel? And yet, to date, conventional medical treatments such as chemotherapy (poisoning), radiation (burning) and surgery (mutilation) have not been able to stop the progression of this fatal disease.
“In 1928, five years before my birth, a German biochemist, Otto Warburg, discovered the cause of cancer. In his book, The Metabolism of Tumours, he states how, under anaerobic (oxygen starvation) conditions in the body, when human (animal) cells either die off or revert to plant cells (fermentation), the cure for cancer would be found. For his efforts, Warburg received the Nobel Prize in 1931. In the academic field, things work slowly, so it was not until 1951, 20 years later, that the National Cancer Institute verified his work.
“Is this man not correct in his theory? Are plant and animal cells so different? If the fungi, in all its forms, that consume the dying tree not similar to the cancer that consumes the ailing body? Is it not nature’s way of clearing more quickly the used and abused debris from the environment? Is it not time that the medical establishment address the causes of the diseases rather than the symptoms?
“Let’s face it, folks, we have become a chemical society. In the USA between 1945 and 1985, the annual production of synthetic organic chemicals rose 15-fold from 6.7 to 102 million metric tons. Although many of these chemicals have been proven to cause cancer, our society continues to use these carcinogens to inject into the body, spray agriculture products and contaminate the air we breathe. Little wonder that the cancer rate affects close to 30 per cent of our population.
“Unfortunately, the environment has become so polluted that only a monumental, unified effort by every nation of the world could even begin to resolve the problem. For many, many years, scientists have been predicting the ‘Greenhouse Effect’: global warming, ozone depletion and the simultaneous reduction of oxygen and acceleration of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere. But no one is listening.
“Perhaps history is just repeating itself, for we are now in the same position as the Roman Empire centuries ago. During centuries of stability, vast intricate water systems provided the empire’s millions with safe water. Sewage disposal was reasonably well advanced, and the value of sanitation was well understood. But constant political conflicts rapidly dissipated all hard-won gains, and great plagues decimated the population. Does that not sound at all familiar, folks?
“Under the circumstances, those of us who want to live a healthier and happier life must do our part in protecting our own environment. We must purify the air we breathe, the water we drink and the food we eat. We must protect our sources of oxygen and ozone, which together form the healing properties of our bodies, without generating unwanted by-products or harmful side effects.
“Let me leave you with a quote from Dr. William Osler: ‘The desire to take medicine is perhaps the greatest feature which distinguishes man from animals.’ And from Thomas A. Edison: ‘The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.’ Food for thought, isn’t it?”
So there you have it, folks. Why is no one thinking? Do the math. Do you think that anything has changed for the better in the last 17 years? Would I be wrong in assuming that the similarity of having no tails is the reason that our medical field, well coached by the multi-national drug companies, takes for granted the use of humanity as guinea pigs? Just asking.
Take care, ‘cause we care.
barrie@barriehopkins.ca
519-843-4544