Page 17 - Winter2014

Letters

lent publication. Sitting down today to Imagine that you were born wear- ternative is a hair test. Low excretors
conduct an informal survey, I was able ing red-tinted glasses. The world would will show low mercury in hair; however,
to locate numerous examples of organic look pretty red, wouldn't it? We need to mercury seems to affect the levels of
processes being discussed—even by take off our mechanism-colored glasses essential hair minerals, making some
your best writers—in mechanistic ter- if we're ever going to see the world as abnormally high and others abnormally
minology, such as “underlying mecha- it is and work constructively within its low, thus revealing possible mercury
nisms,” photosynthetic “machinery” and processes rather than tinkering with it toxicity.
“mitochondrial engines.” as if it were some gigantic machine that The toxicology literature clearly
Of course we've (almost) all been belongs to us. As far as I can tell, none states that mercury alters many sulfur-
taught to view things in this way, but to of the problems that confront us is in- containing biomolecules including min-
put it bluntly, there are no mechanisms soluble, but if we're ever going to tackle eral transport proteins. Thus, abnormal
in organisms unless they have been pur- them successfully we need to start by levels of essential minerals in hair would
posely designed and placed there by hu- working more wakefully with our own be a logical result of mercury toxicity.
man beings. As Rudolf Steiner pointed consciousness. In addition, mercury’s effect on certain
out, “That which needs to be organized Andy Shaw essential minerals, including calcium
is no organism.” Mechanisms have their Alexander, North Carolina and zinc, is well-documented. But the
organizing principle imposed on them specific effects of mercury on essential
from without by human agency, while Weston Price provides a fine example hair minerals remains largely undocu-
organisms are born with an intrinsic of a scientist who did not impose a mented in the peer-reviewed literature.
organizing principle provided by nature. mechanistic model on nature; instead he As a result, many physicians are unin-
This may seem like an academic distinc- marveled at the accumulated wisdom of terested in hair test results. Nonetheless,
tion strictly of interest to specialists, primitive peoples. “Life in all its fullness a hair test can be a useful, inexpensive
but with all due respect to the animists is Mother Nature obeyed,” he said—not indicator of toxicity for the self-directed
among us I'm convinced that it has an Mother Nature tinkered with as though patient. This issue is further described
awful lot to do with the perpetration of she were some kind of machine. in the book, Hair Test Interpretation:
modern human follies such as genetic Finding Hidden Toxicities by Andrew
engineering, climate disruption, envi- MERCURY RETENTION Cutler.
ronmental destruction, etc. There is a AND HAIR TESTS Kristin G. Homme
direct link between this type of mindset In response to a letter on autism, PE(ret.), MPP, MPH
and the mistaken view of the world as vaccines, and mercury (Fall 2014), Berkeley, California
a collection of inanimate furniture that the author mentions hearing a doctor
we can rearrange as we please with no describe susceptible kids as “non-ex- PROTEIN AND WEIGHT GAIN
negative consequences. cretors.” (They retain rather than excrete Does too much protein contribute to
I see no harm in employing mecha- toxic metals.) Indeed, according to my weight gain? I ask this question because
nistic comparisons as long as we use reading of the toxicology literature, a according to Nora Gedgaudas, too much
them consciously, with an awareness of susceptible subset of the population will protein is processed by the body just like
their limitations. Unfortunately this is show low excretion of mercury in hair, sugar.
seldom what happens. Whether we call urine, feces and nails, while showing Many midwives tell pregnant
it reification or hypostatization, or use high mercury toxicity on a porphyrins women to eat a lot of protein, even to
Whitehead's wording “misplaced con- panel (which measures damage to cer- add protein powders to their diets. I am
creteness,” we're talking about the same tain enzymes). finding that the babies of women who
thing: reading our own abstractions A porphyrins panel is available for overdo on protein have a tendency to
and mental models into the phenomena less than three hundred dollars from obesity, even if they are breastfed and
themselves. DirectLabs.com. A less expensive al- receiving a WAPF-type diet. Maybe
Wise Traditions WINTER 2014 Wise Traditions 13

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