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ORGANOPHOSPHATE INSECTICIDES / NERVE WAR CHEMICALS / DRUGS (Gulf War Syndrome and effects on health of farmers sheep dipping etc.) Investigations into chemicals, drugs and ionising radiation causing bone marrow and immune system damage also brought to light that organophosphate (cholinesterase inhibitor) insecticides which are also nerve war chemicals and prescribed drugs have documented effects on health consistent with the symptoms of the Gulf War Syndrome sufferers. Those using the chemical as insecticides for sheep dipping and others following exposure to these chemicals also displayed the same documented effects on their health. The following is a little of the information I have on this subject written by experts and from books and scientific and medical papers. Reference sources are given within the text. Quoting first from Mosby's Medical Dictionary 4th Ed. 1994 (an American publication) under organophosphates it defines these as a class of anticholinesterase chemicals used in certain pesticides and medications. They act by causing irreversible inhibition of cholinesterase. Under anticholinesterase it notes that drugs of this class work by causing accumulation of acetylcholine (a neurotransmitter) which is widely distributed in body tissues with a primary function of synaptic activity of the nervous system and skeletal muscles. These drugs are used in the treatment of myasthenia gravis (a paralysing illness of acetylcholine deficiency) It also notes that many agricultural insecticides have been developed from anticholinesterases; these are the highly toxic chemicals called organophosphates. Nerve gases developed as potential warfare agents induce potent irreversible forms of anticholinesterase activity. Although very closely related there is a difference in molecular structure of the organophosphorous used as insecticides and the organophosphorous chemicals used as nerve war chemicals. The war chemicals being effective as insecticides but considered too toxic for this purpose because of their high mammalian toxicity. However the effects are the same if less marked in the insecticides, and the antidote for both is atropine. The difference in the molecular structure is, according to Dr. John Emsley, Imperial College, London, that the phosphorous atom in nerve war chemicals, like Sarin, is joined to an oxygen, a fluorine, a propoxy group, the direct carbon to phosphorous bonding making it a organophosphorous. The organophosphate insecticides lack such a bond. It is also of note the toxic effect of Sarin can easily be rendered non-toxic by knocking off its fluorine atom with a mixture of washing soda and bleach. A similar toxic increasing effect of fluorine can be seen in drugs like phenothiazine tranquillisers (which also double as herbicides, one side-effect of which is Parkinson's Disease) where a change from a chlorinated one to a fluoridated one increases the toxicity of the drug between 25 times and 50 times Thyroid and sexual dysfunction, demineralisation of bones, loss of teeth, glaucoma and cataracts are also side-effects of these drugs which have also been used on convicted sex offenders because of their effects on reducing sexual drive. Adverse effects are increased by abrupt withdrawal. Although these drugs cross the placenta and can cause genetic damage they are still being prescribed for morning sickness. The phenothiazines are also documented to cause blood disorders and cancers. The British National Formally (BNF), written by the British Medical Association and the Royal Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain, the book used by doctors when prescribing, notes under the anticholinesterase drug Neostigmine that one side effect can be paralysis. Other side-effects given in the BNF are: nausea vomiting, diarrhoea, sweating, hypotension, agitation, excessive dreaming, and weakness. Harrison's internationally known book on The Principles. of Internal Medicine notes that exposure to the cholinesterase inhibitor insecticides allows an accumulation of acetylcholine at a number of sites: central nervous system, autonomic ganglia, parasympathetic nerve endings and motor neuron endings. In addition to many of the symptoms of exposure given in the BNF this book adds blurred vision due to miosis and muscle twitching and many other symptoms. An article in the Daily Telegraph dated 23rd December, 1992 reports that research at Brunel University showed that there was a definite increase in the number of those suffering from motor neuron disease and that a further 25% increase was expected in the next 20 years. Looking at gas chromatography tests done on those suffering from the effects of exposure to the organochlorine pesticides, which also showed much of the population has also been exposed to organophosphates this expected increase is hardly surprising. What is surprising is that so called "experts" can overlook the obvious cause and effect, or is it a case of perhaps deliberately overlooking what they do not want to see. The Martindale Extra Pharmacopoeia (another internationally known book) notes under organophosphorus pesticides that these are the very toxic and potent cholinesterase inhibitors. In addition to the symptoms of exposure given in the above publications it notes that some organophosphorus compounds cause delayed neuropathy, and that repeated exposures may have cumulative effect even though the organophosphorus insecticides are, in contrast to the chlorinated pesticides, rapidly metabolised and excreted and not appreciably stored in body fat. The chlorinated pesticides e.g. lindane, described on the same page in the Martindale, are more noted for causing blood disorders like aplastic anaemia, thrombocytopenia (precursor conditions to cancers), leukaemia and other cancers and are now largely banned in many countries although they are still used for head lice treatment in the U.K. Whilst the chlorinated pesticides like D.D.T. and Lindane are easily detected, even years after exposure, gas chromatography blood tests have also shown that levels of the organophosphate pesticides can also be detected for a period after exposure. The tests were often done because of ill health after exposure to the organochlorine pesticides, the finding of the organophosphate pesticides as well as the organochlorines was unexpected as those being tested had no knowledge that they had any exposure to the organophosphates. Organophosphate pesticides have been found in recent years at above permitted levels in carrots, apples and other fruit and vegetables so it is possible that this is a likely source of exposure of most of the population to these pesticides. Additional laboratory tests appear to show that exposure to the organophosphate pesticides may cause depletion of vitamin E and selenium and perhaps other effects. The Ministry of Agriculture in the U.K. has for some years been checking on levels of pesticides and drugs in meat including organophosphates so they are aware, even if the public is not, that there is a possibility of contamination. I have evidence of contamination of meat with organochlorine pesticides above permitted levels but not organophosphates but I have not made a thorough search just coming across the odd report. Information I have from a doctor in New Zealand shows that he found exactly the same effects and symptoms in patients exposed to pesticides as those described in the above publications with chronic fatigue, recurrent fevers and long term effects of delayed neuropathies like multiple sclerosis and motor neuron disease. Fluoridation of the water supply in New Zealand must also be taken into account as raised fluoride blood levels can increase the effects of drugs, chemicals and radiation. The longer term effects of delayed neuropathies which can lead to paralysis is described in detail in a book I have on the "Design of Enzyme Inhibitors as Drugs" Oxford University Press 1989. This publication, each chapter of which is written by different world experts in that particular field, gives what is known at that time of the pathways that cause the delayed neuropathies and the attachment of the neuropathy target esterase to protein. B.S.E., mad cow disease is a prion protein condition and it is here that there is the probable connection with B.S.E. being triggered by the organophosphorous insecticide phosmet being used in the U.K. to treat cattle for warble fly. It concludes that much research needs to be done to try to understand the cause of the delayed neuropathies but that the organophosphorus pesticides and drugs do cause this effect is established and not in question. At the date this book was written it states that the biological and biochemical changes that lead to the dying-back lesion, particularly in the long nerves in the peripheral and central nervous system is also not fully understood and the effects of some of the drugs and chemicals can be slightly different depending upon its molecular structure. For example, it shows that two of the cholinesterase inhibitor drugs both used to treat myasthenia gravis, that one pyridostigmine is a reversible inhibitor and that neostigmine is an irreversible inhibitor of acetylcholinesterase. Pyridostigmine Bromine was given to Gulf War personnel (called NAPS in the media) as an anti-chemical agent which would have had a cummulative effect with any exposure to insecticides or nerve agents. In the absence of any logical explanation giving troops a choliesterase inhibitor drug to combat the possibility of exposure to a warfare agent having the same effect can only be contrued as using the troops as human Guinea pigs in medical and/or military experiments. It does not take an expert to observe that media reports showing the effects on the Gulf War Syndrome sufferers and farmers using the chemicals as sheep dips and others exposed to organophosphorus insecticides/drugs/nerve war chemicals have many of the symptoms documented as adverse effects in medical textbooks, delayed neuropathies etc. Confirmation of the, cause and effect, is provided by some sufferers from adverse effects of these chemicals being paid out-of-court compensation when they could prove exposure to the chemicals. I spoke to some of those who had received compensation who had signed to say that they would not publicise the fact that they had been paid. With the widespread ban on the organochlorine pesticides like D.D.T. and Lindane because it was no longer possible to continue to cover-up the serious and fatal effects on an increasing number of victims it was inevitable that other pesticides would be substituted in their place. We now have exactly the same situation we had a few years ago with the organochlorine pesticides where the documented short and long term effects of the organophosphorus chemicals are being denied by manufacturers, governments, medical profession and anyone else with a vested interest in the huge profits generated by these products. The U.K. Governments admittance that it lied when it said the Gulf War Syndrome victims had not been exposed to the organophosphorus chemicals is symptomatic of the cover-up. In 1990 five years medical research into muscle disorders was destroyed in a suspected arson attack at London Hammersmith teaching hospital An article in the Sunday Telegraph on 27th July, 1997 notes that the neuro toxic effects of the organophosphorus pesticides was a likely factor in the suicide of 983 farmers in the U.K. in the 1980's.(Additional information in February 1998 it was reported that so far 142 involved in the Gulf War have committed suicide) My own investigations into both the organochlorine and organophosphorus exposed victims is that the neuro toxic effects are often fatigue and memory loss with confusion which often leads to depression. As the Countess of Mar puts it very well in the Sunday Telegraph article there is a "constructive ignorance, the subtle art of being careful never to look for what you don't want to find”. It is doubly tragic for victims of exposure to the organophosphorus chemicals in that not only are they seriously or fatally affected by the chemicals but tests the victims are unaware of are available to show the level of exposure with knock-on effects on enzymes, minerals and vitamins. This information could lead to an improvement in health for many and could save lives. The reason the tests have not been and are not done is that it would prove or disprove the cause of their illness. This information could then lead to compensation being claimed by those who could prove that the chemicals had caused their illness. The tests are often performed on hospital patients without the patient being informed so it could be that the Government and some in the medical profession have information they are not passing on to victims. The present situation is not unlike the victims killed and injured in the chemical leak at Bhopal in India where victims have no hope of treatment, compensation or help from anyone in the medical profession or governments. Additional information: In January 1998 seventy Gulf War Syndrome sufferers handed back their war medals in disgust at their treatment by the British Government. To this date 160 of the victims have died and another 6,000 are ill. My own experience with the legal system is that these victims will be like many others I have helped with claims for compensation their lawyers will actually be double agents acting for the Government, chemical manufacturers etc. helping to put off and delay any claims. More recent news reports suggest up to 600 have died and many (up to 200) have committed suicide. Since moving to France in 1992 I have come across a number of cases of farmers being ill through O.P. poisoning through sheep dipping. One was affected whilst sheep dipping in the U.K. before moving to France and was retired on the grounds of ill health aged about 30. Another affected whilst sheep dipping here in France, he was retired for health reasonbs aged 42. Another was unable to work for years and then contracted MS and died aged 36. In 2003 I had direct contact with a Gulf War Syndrome suffer who was given the drug (nerve chemical) pyridstigmine bromine as “NAPS”. He wrote listing many of the symptoms documented to be side-effects of the drug in the BNF drug book used by doctors in the U.K. As is usual in these cases his doctor said his symptoms were “all in the head” and he was prescribed 3 anti-depressants which all have documented serious and fatal side-effects. Use troops as human guinea pigs with drugs and chemicals and then kill them off with drugs if they complain seems to be the policy. This contact passed the information to a support group. In January, 2004 I had a request from a professor who was the scientific advisor for the Gulf War Syndrome sufferers. In another contact I had in 2003 was a family who had a son badly affected by organophosphate insecticide when playing in a neighbour garden hut. He suffered all the documented symptoms of the insectivide. At one point their doctor got the parents alone in a room and said if they did not stop pointing out the cause of their sons illness they would certify the mother as suffering Munchousen’s syndrome (someone fanatically seeking medical attention for no good reason) and take the son off them and put him into care. They had had tests done (same as the Biolab Tests) showing exposure to the insecticide. A minor breakthrough in January, 2004 the HSE wrote saying there was a connection between the exposure and the neurological conditions suffered by the youth exposed. In 2004 I was asked by an independent environmetal organisation to send my information to a newspaper reporter covering the public enquiry into the Gulf War Syndrome and also to the enquiry chaired by Lord Lloyd of Berwick who chaired the enquiry. The out come was that the U.K. Ministry of efence had covered up the effects of the drugs and chemicals and that servicemen and women had been seriously affected and that they should be paid compensation. A rare triumph of truth and justice over government lies and cover-ups, question is now will the victims ever be paid or helped by anyone?. October, 1997. Updated Feb., 1998 ., March 1998., Dec. 2000., Jan. 2004. For the tests for exposure to toxic chemicals, pesticides etc. and nutritional tests with interpretations of the results the address is: Biolab Medical Unit, The Stone House, 9 Weymouth Street, London WIN 3FF The tests are done in a blood sample which can be arranged through your doctor or ring for details as some doctors have been reluctant to assist with the tests.(the tests can show exposure to prescribed drugs).
Another useful address for information and help is The Pesticide Group of
Sufferers (or PEGS), 4 Lloyds House, Regent Terrace, Cambridge CB2 1AA . Send a
S.A.E. for information as PEGS is a voluntary organisation. NOW RENAMED
Pesticide Action Network UK, Eurolink Centre, 49 Effra Road, London SW2 1BZ who
produce a quarterly journal called Pesticide News. |
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