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Dr. Ronald Klatz, president and cofounder of the academy, presented the following at the proceedings of the A4M 23rd Annual Medical Congress on Anti-Aging Medicine on December 9, 2015, at which over 5100 physicians and scientists gathered from 60 countries worldwide to participate in this year's postgraduate and educational event.
Despite sustained growth of almost 9% each year since 1991 with the inception of A4M, the anti-aging marketplace now stands at $380 billion per year. This growth is projected to continue and reach $1 trillion before 2025. In the US, a subset of women known as the Bergen County of New Jersey Ladies have reached 91.5 years, thanks to their adoption of the anti-aging medicine philosophy.1 This is a 23.5-year difference vs. its shortest-lived cohort of women in America. Therefore, the anti-aging dividend now stands at 23.5 years. Unfortunately, this laudable perk of longevity is now being threatened by a deliberate expansion of toxins into our environment.
There is a new threat, a silent menace, quietly undermining our best efforts to achieve a better quality of life, via alternative and natural health practices of anti-aging and functional medicine. Ever-increasing stealth toxicity in our environment can put a halt to all that has been established in anti-aging medicine if we do not address these issues now.
According to a global study released on June 23, 2015, by the organization Getting to Know Cancer, there are 50 chemicals the public is exposed to on a daily basis, which may trigger cancer when combined. These chemicals, commonly found nowadays in food, air, and water, are accumulating in our bodies and can trigger cancer development.2
Thirty years ago, air pollution and respiratory diseases were the 7th leading cause of death. Today, they are the primary cause in many nations, and in the US the 3rd leading cause of death. We are inhaling on a daily basis about 5000 different airborne toxins such as aluminum, lead, barium, thorium, coal ash, fungus, and microbes that come from our skies every day. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) is one of a group of highly reactive gases. It forms quickly from emissions from cars, trucks and buses, power plants, and off-road equipment. NO2 not only has a damaging effect on the ozone but also is linked to adverse effects on the respiratory system.
SO2 is another example of a toxin that damages our lungs. The largest source of this gas comes from fossil fuel combustion at power plants and other industrial facilities. Smaller sources of SO2 gas include the burning of high sulfur containing fuels by locomotive, large ships, and non-road equipment. These toxins have a cumulative negative effect in the brain, heart, kidney, and liver. Robert Storey and colleagues from the University of Sheffield, UK, warn that airborne particulate matter (PM2.5) is the biggest modifiable contributor to cardiovascular disease, causing inflammation of the lungs and entering the circulation, thereby inflaming blood vessels, provoking clots, and causing heart rhythm disturbances.3
Not only are respiratory diseases increasing in the world, but contaminated waters and radiofrequency pollution, among other types of toxins, are also affecting people's health. The Safe Drinking Water Act defines the term contaminant as meaning any physical, chemical, biological, or radiological substance or matter in water. Some of these contaminants may be harmful if consumed at certain levels in drinking water.
These contaminants are listed on the Contaminant Candidate List (CCL) and are evaluated further for potential health effects and the levels at which they are found in drinking water. This step however, is ineffective, as the EPA does not have enough resources to oversee and enforce companies that use lakes and rivers as dumping grounds. For example, 41 million Americans are living with toxic amounts of pharmaceuticals such as antibiotics, antiepileptics, mood stabilizers, hormones, pesticides, and other chemicals in their drinking water. These have a negative effect in human cells and wildlife.4 Other samples of toxins in drinking water are chlorine, which causes bladder and rectal cancer, recently breast cancer; lead, which causes learning disorders and severe developmental delays; and Giardia and Cryptosporidium, which cause gastrointestinal diseases.
On December 20, 2010, the Environmental Working Group (EWG) released the results of a test that found the carcinogenic chemical chromium-6 in the drinking water of 31 of 35 US cities. Chromum-6 is highly toxic and has been found to cause allergic dermatitis, and gastrointestinal cancer in animals and humans. It gets into the drinking water system through industrial pollution from manufactures of textile, steel, and leather tanning. It is recommended to filter this toxin from our tap water via reverse osmosis, combined with newly developed superior solid carbon block filter purification.5
Most recently, we have a glaring example in Flint, Michigan, where we could witness the damaging effects on people's health from elevated levels of lead in the drinking water. People are exhibiting skin lesions, hair loss, high levels of lead in their blood, memory loss, vision loss, depression, and anxiety. People should not turn a blind eye to this catastrophic event until it is irreversibly late. We must not think that the problem in Flint, Michigan is an isolated example. This mass poisoning is happening to us all.6
Radiofrequency toxicity is now wildly recognized as a cause or contributing force for chronic fatigue, cardiac arrhythmia, high blood pressure, visual disturbances, altered sugar metabolism, EEG changes, immune abnormalities, joint pain, insomnia, and tinnitus. A 5-minute cell phone conversation with the handset held close to the ear can alter blood–brain permeability for up to 50 days. WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), reported on May 31, 2011, on radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly being carcinogenic to humans, based on an increased risk for glioma, a malignant type of brain cancer, associated with the use of cell phones.7
Notes
1. Pérez-Peña R. Bergen County, N.J., is long in longevity. New York Times. Sept. 12, 2006. Available at http://www.nytimes.com/2006/09/12/nyregion/12longevity.html
2. Assessing the carcinogenic potential of low-dose exposures to chemical mixtures in the environment: the challenge ahead. Carcinogenesis. June 2015;36(Suppl 1). http://carcin.oxfordjournals.org/content/36/Suppl_1
3. Newby DE, Mannucci PM, Tell GS, et al. Expert position paper on air pollution and cardiovascular disease. Eur Heart J. December 9, 2014.
4. Donn J, Mendoza M, Pritchard J. PharmaWater I: pharmaceuticals found in drinking water, affecting wildlife and maybe humans [online article]. Associated Press. hosted.ap.org/specials/interactives/pharmawater_site/day1_01.html
5. Chromium-6 in U.S. tap water [Web page]. Environmental Working Group. Dec. 10, 2010. http://www.ewg.org/chromium6-in-tap-water.
6. Ganim S, Tran L. How tap water became toxic in Flint, Michigan [online article]. CNN. Updated Jan. 13, 2016. www.cnn.com/2016/01/11/health/toxic-tap-water-flint-michigan; McLaughlin EC.S, L.JEFF Donn, MARTHA Mendoza and JUSTIN Pritchard J. PharmaWater I: pharmaceuticals found in drinking water, affecting wildlife and maybe humans [online article]. Associated Press. Pérez-Peña R. Bergen County, N.J., is long in longevity [online article]. . 5 things to know about Flint's water crisis [online article]. CNN. Updated Jan. 21, 2006. http://www.cnn.com/2016/01/18/us/flint-michigan-water-crisis-five-things.
7. IARC classifies radiofrequency electromagnetic fields as possibly carcinogenic to humans [press release]. WHO/International Agency for Research on Cancer. Available at http://www.iarc.fr/en/media-centre/pr/2011/pdfs/pr208_E.pdf.
To stay updated on the latest advances in anti-aging diagnostic medical technologies, visit the World Health Network (www.worldhealth.net), the official educational website of the A4M and your one-stop resource for authoritative anti-aging information. Do not forget to view our recent "Immortality Now" videos, dedicated to up-to-the-moment health issues. Furthermore, be sure to sign up for the free Longevity Magazine e-journal, your weekly health newsletter featuring wellness, prevention, and biotech advancements in longevity. For any questions, please contact the A4M at 773-528-1000.
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