This article has won the Environmental Medicine Award from American Academy of Environmental Medicine (AAEM) for outstanding contribution to the field of Environmental Medicine.
A summary of urine tests by LC/MS/MS on more than 26,000 patients from throughout the world were tested for 173 different toxic chemicals including organophosphate pesticides, herbicides, phthalates, benzene, xylene, vinyl chloride, pyrethroid insecticides, acrylamide, perchlorate, diphenyl phosphate, ethylene oxide, acrylonitrile, and more. This dataset is likely the largest assessment of nonmetal toxic chemicals that has ever been completed. This profile also includes tiglylglycine (TG), a marker for mitochondrial disorders resulting from mutations of mitochondrial DNA or damage from toxic chemicals. In addition, a very large number of people were tested for glyphosate, a toxic herbicide widely used in genetically modified food crops such as corn and soy. The relationship between glyphosate exposure and certain organic acids produced by pathogenic Clostridia bacteria in the intestinal tract is documented along with several psychiatric illnesses such as autism, depression, and tremor disorders, as well as connections with cancer. Some patients had markers for 13 different chemicals exceeding the 95th percentile of the normal ranges established by the USA Centers for Disease Control (CDC).
The most common chemical found in 14.52% of patients tested was for the major metabolite 1-bromopropane(1-BP). Symptoms of overexposure affect the nervous system and include confusion, slurred speech, dizziness, paresthesias, and difficulty walking, unusual fatigue and headaches, development of arthralgias, visual disturbances (difficulty focusing), and muscle twitching. Treatment of toxicity would include removal from exposure, sauna therapy, and glutathione. Case studies of many other chemicals and their effects on neuropsychiatric diseases will be presented as well.
References
- Gaku Ichihara, et al. Neurologic Abnormalities in Workers of a 1-Bromopropane Factory. Environmental Health Perspectives, VOLUME 112, NUMBER 13 September 2004, pgs1319-1325.
- KEVIN W. HANLEY et al. N-Acetyl-S-(n-Propyl)- L -Cysteine in Urine from Workers Exposed to 1-Bromopropane in Foam Cushion Spray Adhesives. Ann. Occup. Hyg., Vol. 53, No. 7, pp. 759–769, 2009.
