ICI's ex-chemical weapon insecticide triggers BSE and CJD
by Fintan Dunne; research by Kathy Mc Mahon
eYeIreland.com - http://eionews.addr.com/organop/organop.htm
29th April 2001
His groundbreaking research into the cause of BSE in cattle and new
variant CJD in humans, has been sidelined by United Kingdom officials.
They attribute both diseases to ingestion of prion protien found in
contaminated beef. But Purdey has evidence the government's anti-parasite
campaigns unleashed a chemical holocaust for cattle -resulting in BSE, and
that human CJD is accelerated by the same chemical effects.
Could a chemical be that deadly? For fear of attack by Saddam Hussein,
most Israeli hospitals have antidotes to a deadly nerve gas developed by
Nazi chemists which contains organophosphate(OP) -the same compound found
in the insecticides suspected of driving BSE and CJD. The vast bulk of the
cattle found staggering around in British fields with their brains burned
out, have been treated for warble-fly with a constituient of nerve gas.
The CJD and BSE symptoms also mirror 'manganese madness', an irreversible
fatal neuro-psychiatric degenerative syndrome that plagued manganese
miners in the first half of the last century. Could manganese and
organophosphate be causing these diseases?
Cambridge scientist David R. Brown is hot on the trail. His recent
research has shown that the prion protiens linked to BSE can bond
destructively with manganese found in animal feeds or mineral licks. His
latest, as yet unpublished work has found a tenfold increase in the metal
manganese in brains of CJD victims. [Video]
All this is fully consistent with the Purdey hypothesis. These
manganese-tipped prions could be the principal cause of the neurological
degeneration seen in BSE. But manganese is only the bullet -
organophosphate insecticide is the high- velocity gun. It fires manganese
into the brain by depleting copper which the manganese then replaces.
Purdey says the manganese-tipped prions set off lethal chain reactions
that neurologically burn through the animal.
Phosmet organophosphate has been used at high doses in British warble fly
campaigns. Privately, scientists will confirm that pions in the bovine
spine --along which this insecticide is applied-- can be damaged by ICI's
Phosmet organophosphate insecticide. But few will state it publicly or
publish it as scientific finding. In 1996, former ICI subsidiary Zeneca
sold the phosmet patent to a PO Box company in Arizona called Gowan -just
one week before the UK government admitted to a link between BSE and
nvCJD.
BONDING THE PRION
Cambridge University prion biochemist, David R. Brown is dismissive of the
science behind the infectious model of BSE. He terms it "a very limited
amount of science by a few assumed- reputable scientists." He insists
there is "no evidence an infectious agent is present in either meat or
milk."
"Simple tests on udder walls of cows -- which could easily detect an
infectious prion-- have not been done, why I don't understand."
A number of researchers have found that organophosphate(OP) in systemic
warble fly insecticide can deform the prion molecule, rendering it
ineffective at buffering free radical effects in the body. Worse still,
the prion is then partial to bond with manganese and become a 'rogue'
prion. A chain reaction whereby rogue prions turn others to rogues also,
can explain the bovine spongiform disease mechanism.
Brown showed how prion protein bonds benignly with copper, but lethally
with manganese. Even natural variations in relative environmental
availability of manganese versus copper can trigger prion degradation.
Chickens notoriously excrete most of the supplements fed to them -
including manganese. And their manganese-rich excreta have been blended
into cattle feed in the UK.
Scientist and organic farmer, Mark Purdey gave evidence to the UK BSE
inquiry, that warble fly insecticide was the cause of the disease. The
scientist wheeled out to rubbish Purdy's evidence - Dr. David Ray,
later turned out to have been receiving funding from the insecticide
manufacturer ICI.
A lobby group that includes Bayer, Monsanto, Novartis, Pfizer, Roche
and Schering-Plough was behind the effort to discredit Purdey. In
December 1999, the same Dr. David Ray was appointed to the UK Veterinary
Products Committee (VPC) - a government body that licences animal
medicines.
Purdey has been consistently denied even exploratory funding to extend
his privately supported research. Yet the Purdey chemical poisoning model
matches with the epidermiological spread of CJD clusters in humans. It
also predicts the incidence of BSE-type diseases in animals. The accepted
infectious model fits neither.
The pharmaceutical industry has key motives to deny the chemical source
of BSE and CJD, because a spotlight on chemicals would expose the role
the insecticides in Alzheimer's --another neurodegenerative disease. That
might lead to claims which would dwarf those from BSE and CJD litigants.
In fact, two leading brain researchers into CJD and Alzheimers have died
in suspicious circumstances in recent years.
In the United States, the Environmental Protection Agency is already
reviewing Phosmet's safety. And the Centers for Disease Control in the US
has recently conducted experiments on mice that confirm the
organophosphate risk.
According to Purdey, not only is the EC beef slaughter campaign futile -
because BSE disease is mostly non-infectious, but unless the underlying
chemical cause is addressed, BSE will simply reappear from chemical
causes. A new warble fly campaign is already underway in France using the
organophosphate insecticide.
His greater concern is that some lotions for scabies and head lice are now
priming children and adults for CJD and Alzheimers in later life, and that
manganese in unleaded petrol may prove as deadly as the lead it replaced.
SHINING A LIGHT ON SPONGIFORM
Speaking from his rural English Somerset farm -as plans forge ahead for
the European cattle cull, Purdey asks: "Why does CJD degeneration in
humans begin in the retina, and why are CJD disease clusters found in high
altitude locations?"
The question is rhetorical, and Purdey has an eye-opening answer. He argues
that the prion molecule acts as a shock-adsorber of damaging energy from
ultraviolet rays and other oxidizing agents.
Once this prion defence system is rendered ineffective by organophosphates,
these oxidizing effects have an unmediated impact on tissues. Eventually,
UV radiation damages the retina and oxidative stress destroys the brain
tissues of CJD patients. This theory would expect to find higher CJD
incidence in mountain regions - where UV radiation levels are elevated.
That prediction holds true.
A similar but accelerated mechanism could be driving BSE. ICI's Phosmet
organophosphate warble fly insecticide - applied on the backs of animals
along the spinal column, similarly degrades prions. "Systemic versions
of the insecticide are designed to make the entire cow carcass toxic to
warble fly," explains Purdey. "Unfortunately it's toxic to prions too -
especially those prions located just millimeters from the point of
application."
Since first postulating an environmental - rather than infectious -
theory of spongiform diseases, Purdey has built evidence from around the
world that explains and predicts the incidence in humans and animals: a
cluster of CJD in Slovakia, Eastern Europe - around a manganese plant;
Rocky Mountain deer with Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD), who were found
to be eating pine needles rich in manganese; the futile slaughter of
sheep in Cyprus - only for BSE to reemerge within years.
"The reappearance of BSE in Cyprus obviously points to an environmental
cause," says Purdey, who is sanguine when reflecting on the condemnation
of him by mainstream scientists
From this research, any prudent person would conclude there is a
significant risk attaching to the use of organophosphate in humans.
Preparations for head lice and scabies are known to be overused in
practice and might be priming users for CJ disease.
Purdey believes his bias for field work is the key to his success. He
bemoans the "reductionism" of much lab-centered science. "I have traveled
the world to investigate known clusters of spongiform disease - something
mainstream researchers don't seem remotely interested in doing."
"I suppose they have mortgages and kids who need to go to university," he
muses. "Privately, some were agreeing with me, but then they would
denounce me publicly. It was quite strange really."
THE MONEY TRAIL
Critical scientists like Purdey are unlikely to prevail. The
pharmaceutical industry holds most research purse strings, and would
hardly energetically explore an avenue of research that could expose them
to litigation for causing BSE. The official theory is lavishly funded,
alternative theories rarely, if at all.
There are more explosive implications to his -and other's latest research.
Purdey says similar organophosphate-induced protein deformation could also
underlie Alzheimer's and related diseases. If that were true, the
litigation fallout would destroy some pharmaceutical giants, and a lot of
very influential noses would be out of joint.
Disturbingly, Purdey and other brain researchers seem to have had an
undue share of unfortunate accidents. Purdey's house was burned down and
his lawyer who was working with him on Mad Cow Disease was driven off the
road by another vehicle and subsequently died. The veterinarian on the
case also died in a car crash - locally reported as: 'Mystery Vet Death
Riddle.'
Dr. C. Bruton, a CJD specialist - who had just produced a paper on a new
strain of CJD - was killed in a car crash before his work was announced
to the public. Purdey speculates that Bruton might have known more than
what was revealed in his last scientific paper.
In 1996, leading Alzheimer's researcher Tsunao Saitoh, 46 and his 13
-year-old daughter were killed in La Jolla, California, in what a
Reuters report described as a "very professionally done" shooting.
What Alzheimer's Disease, Mad Cow Disease, and CJD have in common, is
abnormal brain proteins and a putative link to organophosphates. Other
neurodegenerative diseases and even Gulf War syndrome among returning
veterans has been attributed, in part to the insecticide. But the
sidelined scientists' suspicions are still largely ignored.
In their favour at the moment, is a growing unease on the part of the
public. As BSE forges on and Governments panic, Science may be out to
lunch on BSE, compromised by bovine spongythinking myopathy.
Mark Purdey funds his own research, testing/ labs/travel to cluster sites.
Donations to his research fund will help him carry on his work. Mark
Purdey Research Fund, High Barn Farm, Elworthy, Nr Taunton, Somerset TA4
3PX, UK. ... http://www.purdeyenvironment.com/
Copyright &c 2000 eIONews.com
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