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Biological Baseline/ Detoxification Ability

Detoxification Ability:

The body constantly has to eliminate toxic material from its system.   Foods we eat and chemical pollution we are exposed to need to be converted to harmless by-products to be secreted. 

Intestinal bacteria and other micro-organisms can produce many toxic compounds that need to be safely removed from the system as well. 

The major organs which prevent the body from accumulating dangerous chemicals are the liver, kidneys, and lungs.  These organs, primarily the liver, use two categories of chemical reactions to neutralize toxic compounds.  A major process in detoxification uses small naturally occurring molecules in the body which the liver connects to toxic compounds.  Thus changing their chemical nature and allowing for easier removal from the system. 

This critical process relies on an adequate supply of naturally occurring amino acids, and other dietary compounds.  Under conditions of prolonged toxic stress, poor diet, or other health problems, these detoxification chemicals can become depleted.   

Sulfate is a critical compound of detoxification and is used by the liver to combine with many compounds as part of this detoxing process.  Urinary sulfate levels can indicate if a dangerous depletion of sulfur detoxification compounds is occurring.  If so, this can be supported by proper supplementation.  It is important for a good supplement program to take this critical process of the body into account and at the very least provide adequate amino acid nutrients. 

Oxidant Stress:

Antioxidants in the body have become well known in recent years because of their ability to protect the body from cellular damage caused by chemicals called ''free radicals''.  Antioxidants are thought to be critical for the prevention of many degenerative diseases including cancer and cardiovascular disease.  A well-documented measure of overall antioxidant protection is called lipid peroxides.  These molecules are generated as a part of metabolism and there relative levels provide a marker for overall antioxidant protection in the tissues.  High levels of lipid peroxides can indicate inadequate antioxidant protection in the tissues.  If you are under ''oxidant stream'' additional amounts of antioxidants would be required.  If lipid peroxide levels are in an unacceptable range, basic amounts of antioxidants could be recommended to assure you continued protection.       

Nitric Oxide Regulation:

Nitric Oxide (NO) has recently become widely recognized as a critical molecule involved in the functions and dysfunctions of practically all systems in the body.  The American Association for the Advancement of Science in 1992 named NO "The Molecule of the Year" as a result of the growing recognition of its widespread role in regulation of:
----Nervous system
----Blood pressure and clotting
----Immune system
----Gastrointestinal tract
----Liver detoxification
----Musculoskeletal system


NO is produced from the natural amino acid arinine.  It is generated by an enzyme called nitric oxide synthesis (NOS) in response to tissue demands.  For example, when an infection occurs NO is produced at the site of infection and stimulates white blood cells to attack the invading organisms.  The immune response is direct proportion to the ability of the body to generate adequate amounts of NO at the appropriate time.   Research has shown that NO activity can be significantly affected by nutrient insufficiencies and/or manipulations via supplementation. 

As with everything in life, balance is important.  Either inadequate or excessive production of NO can result in physiological imbalances leading to a wide variety of disease states.  Overproduction of NO can result in undue oxidant stress and depleted antioxidant system.  Too little NO is linked to immune suppression, high blood pressure, and gastrointestinal dysfunction. 

NO is highly toxic to tissues and is present for only a few seconds before it is converted to less toxic forms of nitric and nitrate which are excreted in the urine.  Consequently, a measure of nitrate in the urine is a good way to assess NO activity in the body.  Appropriate supplement program can then be designed to best optimize nitric oxide activity. 

• Bio-tech is a very pervasive industry, unregulated and dangerous. 
• Bio-tech is incompatible in its current uses to sustain health in living things.

• Bio-tech is a vector to take away clean organic food.  
• Food is our medicine. 

Project Camelot interviews Jane Burgermeister

Zane F Pollard, M.D. speaks on H.R. 3200

Friends:

      I have been sitting quietly on the sidelines watching all of this national debate on healthcare. It is time for me to bring some clarity to the table as your friend by explaining many of the problems from the aspect of a doctor.

      First off the  government has involved very few of us physicians in the healthcare debate. While the American Medical Association has come out in favor of the plan, it is vital to remember that the AMA only represents 17% of the American physician workforce.

     I have taken care of Medicaid patients for 35 years while representing the only pediatric ophthalmology group left in Atlanta, Georgia that accepts Medicaid. Why is this? For example, in the past 6 months I have cared for three young children on Medicaid who had corneal ulcers. This is a potentially blinding situation because if the cornea perforates from the infection, almost surely blindness will occur. In all three cases the antibiotic needed for the eradication of the infection was not on the approved Medicaid list. Each time I was told to fax Medicaid for the approval forms, which I did. Within 48 hours the forms came back to me, which I sent in immediately via fax and I was told that I would have my answer in 10 days. Of course, by then each child would have been blind in the eye. In each case the request came back denied. All three times I personally provided the antibiotic for each patient which was not on the Medicaid approved list. Get the point—rationing of care.

   Over the past 35  years I have cared for over 1000 children born with congenital cataracts. In older children and in adults the vision is rehabilitated with an intraocular lens. In newborns we use contact lenses which are very expensive. It takes Medicaid over one year to approve a contact lens post cataract surgery. By that time a successful anatomical operation is wasted as the child will be close to blind from a lack of focusing for so long a period of time. Again  extreme rationing. Solution -- I have a foundation here in Atlanta supported 100% by private funds which supplies all of these contact lenses for my Medicaid and illegal immigrants children for free. Again waiting for the government would be disastrous.

     Last  week I  had a lady  bring her child to me. They are Americans but live in Sweden as the father has a job with a big corporation. The child had the onset of double vision 3 months ago and has been unable to function normally because of this. They are people of means but  are waiting 8 months to see the ophthalmologist in Sweden. Then if the child needed surgery they would be put on a 6 month waiting list. She called me and I saw her that day. It turned out that the child had accommodative esotropia (crossing of the eyes treated with glasses that correct for farsightedness) and  responded to glasses within 4 days; no surgery was  needed. Again rationing of care.

     Last  month I operated on a 70 year old lady with double vision present for 3 years. She responded quite nicely to her surgery and now is symptom free. I also operated on a 69 year old judge with vertical double vision. His surgery went very well and now he is happy as a lark.  I have been told -- but of course there is no healthcare bill that has been passed yet -- that  these  2 people because of their age would have been denied surgery and just told to wear a patch over one eye to alleviate the symptoms of double vision. Obviously cheaper than surgery.

     I spent two years  in the US Navy during the  Viet Nam war and was well treated by the military. There was tremendous rationing of care and we were told specifically what things the military personnel and their dependents could have and which things they could not have. While in Viet Nam, my wife Nancy got sick and got essentially no care at the  Naval Hospital in Oakland, California. She went home and went to her family’s private internist in Beverly Hills. While it was expensive, she received an immediate work up. Again rationing of care.

    For those of you who are  over 65, this  bill in its present form might be lethal for you. People in England over 59 cannot receive stents for their coronary arteries. The government wants  to mimic the British plan. For those of you younger, it will still mean restriction of the care that you and your children receive.

     While 99% of physicians went into medicine because of the love of medicine and the challenge of helping our fellow man, economics are still important. My rent goes up 2% each year and the salaries of my employees goes up 2% each year. Twenty years ago ophthalmologists were paid $1800 for a cataract surgery and today $500. This is a 73% decrease in our fees. I do not know of many jobs in America that have seen this lowering of fees.

     But there is more to the story than just the lower fees. When I came to Atlanta there was a well known ophthalmologist that charged $2500 for a cataract surgery as he felt the was the best. He had a terrific reputation and in fact I had my mother’s bilateral cataracts operated on by him with a wonderful result. She is now 94 and has 20/20 vision in both eyes. People would pay his $2500 fee. However,  then the government came in and said that any doctor that does Medicare work cannot accept more than the going rate (now  $500) or he or she would be severely fined. This put an end to his charging  $2500.  The government said it was illegal to accept more than the government allowed rate. What  I am driving at is that those of you well off will not be able to go to the head of the line under this new  healthcare plan just because you have money as no physician will be willing to go against the law to treat  you.

     I am a pediatric ophthalmologist and trained for 10 years post college to become a pediatric ophthalmologist (add two years of my service in the Navy and that comes to 12 years). A neurosurgeon spends 14 years post college and if he or she has to do the military that would be 16 years. I am not entitled to make what a neurosurgeon makes but the new plan calls for all physicians to make the same amount of payment. I assure you that medical students will not go into neurosurgery and we will have a tremendous shortage of neurosurgeons. Already the top neurosurgeon at my hospital who is in good health and only 52 years old has just quit because he can’t stand working with the government anymore. Forty-nine percent of children under the age of 16 in the state of Georgia are on medicaid so he felt he just could not stand working with the bureaucracy anymore.

   We are being lied to about the uninsured. They are getting care. I operate on at least 2 illegal immigrants each month who pay me nothing and the children’s hospital at which I operate charges them nothing also. This is true not only in Atlanta, but in every community in America.

   The bottom line is that I urge all of you to contact your congresswomen and congressmen and senators to defeat this bill. I promise you that you will not like rationing of your own healthcare.

   Furthermore, how can you trust a physician who works under these conditions knowing that he is controlled by the state. I certainly could not trust any doctor that would work under these draconian conditions.

   One last thing. With this new healthcare plan there will be a tremendous shortage of physicians. It has been estimated that approximately 5% of the current physician work force will quit under this new system. Also it is estimated that another 5% shortage will occur because of decreased men and women wanting to go into medicine. At the present time the US government has mandated gender equity in admissions to medical schools. That means that for the past 15 years somewhere between 49 and 51% of each entering class are females. This is true of private schools also because all private schools receive federal funding. The average career of a woman in medicine now is only 8-10 years and the average work week for a female in medicine is only 3-4 days. I have now trained 35 fellows in pediatric ophthalmology. Hands down the best was a female that I trained  4 years ago -- she was head and heels above all others I have trained. She now practices only 3 days a week.

 
Zane Pollard, MD