The Role of Environmental Toxins in The Autoimmune Process

Excerpted from
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Autoimmune Disorders: The Revolutionary, Drug-Free Treatments for Thyroid Disease, Lupus, MS, IBD, Chronic Fatigue; Rheumatoid Arthritis, and Other Diseases
By Stephen B. Edelson, M.D., Deborah Mitchell

Although environmental toxins are not the only cause of the autoimmune process, I don't think I have treated an autoimmune patient who has not been toxic. During the many years I have treated people with autoimmune process conditions, most patients have been either completely or significantly relieved of their symptoms once toxins were removed from their body-patients like Leonard, a bright twenty-one-year-old man whose life was being devastated by Crohn's disease. Gradual removal of the lead and mercury found in his body, along with supportive therapies, completely changed his life within months of starting treatment. His story and others, told in chapters 3 through 10, are examples of the role of environmental toxins in the autoimmune process, and how removing them provides people with the relief for which they've been searching.

We live in a toxic world. That statement is not meant to scare you, but to make you realize that the problem exists, that environmental toxins are making hundreds of millions of people sick around the world, and to increase your awareness of the fact that toxins surround you every day. Consider this: an estimated 25 percent of Americans have some form of heavy metal poisoning, including mercury, lead, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum, and nickel. These materials are associated with dozens of different medical disorders and symptoms. For decades we didn't think or worry about these and other environmental pollutants. Very few people spoke out about their potential dangers. After all, we were being promised a better world through chemicals. Little did most people know that many of those chemicals would prove to be damaging and even deadly to humans.

Fortunately, more and more researchers and physicians are recognizing that heavy metals and chemicals that are present in our everyday environment-at home, at school, in parks and playgrounds-are at the core of the increase in the number of people who are affected by autoimmune disorders. In an article published in the Journal of Toxicology and Environmental Health, the authors had this to say about pesticide use:

Because of the wide use of pesticides for domestic and industrial purposes the evaluation of the immunotoxic [poison to the immune system] effects is of major concern for public health. The association between autoimmune diseases and pesticide exposure has been suggested. A potential risk for the immune system should [be considered], especially... in compromised patients [such as] children and the elderly. Epidemiological studies of diseases related to immunosuppression or autoimmunity-lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis-are warranted.

Consider one of the most common poisons to which we are exposed: mercury. It can be found in our drinking water, in the air we breathe, in our dental fillings, and in the fish we eat. Once it is in the body, mercury affects both the immune and nervous systems by damaging neurons and the transmission of signals in the brain, causing symptoms such as loss of sensation, vision problems, muscle weakness, incoordination, loss of memory, chronic fatigue, and tremors. You may recognize these symptoms as being associated with several common autoimmune diseases, such as multiple sclerosis and lupus. Mercury toxicity has also been linked with rheumatoid arthritis, Alzheimer's disease, autism, depression, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and many other conditions. Can we say with 100 percent certainty that mercury is at the root of these conditions? No. But mercury is an extremely dangerous toxin, and we have compelling evidence that it contributes to many medical conditions.

Making The Toxin-Autoimmune Connection

It's important to keep in mind that establishing the link between environmental toxins and autoimmunity is pioneering work. Most researchers and physicians have not yet jumped onto the bandwagon, but those who have, like myself, are exploring an important and complex frontier. Why don't we have research results that show a clear cause-and-effect between toxins and various autoimmune conditions in humans? Because it would be unethical to conduct controlled scientific studies in which we inject people with mercury or other toxins and then observe them over a period of years to see how their immune system responds and destroys cells and tissues throughout the body. That's why the vast majority of research has been done using animal models and cell cultures.

Studies have shown that exposure to heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium, and lead can be linked to the autoimmune process and that environmental toxins such as trichlorocthylene (a common industrial solvent to which approximately 3.5 million workers are exposed in the United States) have been associated with the development of the autoimmune diseases scleroderma, autoimmune hepatitis, lupus, and systemic sclerosis. Dozens of common chemicals found readily in your environment, including benzene, hydrocarbons, insecticides, ozone, and formaldehyde, have been shown to elicit toxic responses of the immune system.