We’ve shown through lab analysis that there are high concentrations of DDT and other endocrine-disrupting pesticides present in tobacco products. These pesticides are proven to cause severe developmental and cognitive deficiencies. Since many dropout teen smokers were also born to smoking mothers, we have to ask if there could be a birth to death connection between tobacco product pesticide contamination and lifelong failure for some, or even many of the 1.2 million children who drop out every year? Are these the “replacement smokers” the industry talks about?
What if DDT-contaminated tobacco products, and perhaps especially little cigars like Swisher Sweets, are directly responsible for at least some of America’s high school dropouts? Could the extreme levels of DDT and other endocrine-disruptors recently (2018) detected in little cigars be contributing to the unusually high rates of ADHD and poor cognitive performance metrics among high school dropouts who smoke them?
Our research strongly suggests that many dropouts may actually be victims of the tobacco product choices that they are being driven to make by poverty, social class, race, and by terribly wrong-headed public policy. Anyone who truly understands the tobacco industry knows that the cheaper the tobacco product, the more contaminated with pesticide residues.
Could high school dropout rates be reduced simply by restricting or banning community-wide sales of tobacco products that are proven to be contaminated with illegal pesticides that are known to present extreme hazards to critical human developmental processes that affect learning and cognition?
We know that 1.2 million children dropped out of High School in the US in 2016.
We know that poor non-white children are disproportionately represented in the dropout population and suffer the lifelong consequences disproportionately.
We know that poor non-white children who are regular smokers disproportionately smoke “little cigars” and that economics is a major factor in this behavior.
We know that “little cigars” are disproportionately marketed by the manufacturers to poor, non-white and young neighborhoods and communities that, coincidentally or not, have the highest dropout rates.
Our recent lab results show that Swisher Sweets, the most popular brand by far among child smokers 11-17, has extremely hazardous levels of DDT and other endocrine-disrupting pesticides. We are certain that these contamination levels will prove to be representative of little cigars as a product category.
Endocrine-disrupting pesticides are known to present multiple severe hazards to human fetal and child development including high risk of cognitive deficit disorders.
While many of the pesticides identified in Swisher Sweets are unregulated and have very little human toxicological history, DDT has an unequivocal status as an “extreme hazard” to humans and in itself may be sufficient to account for an undetermined portion of observed ADHD and cognitive deficits among child smokers.
We know that DDT specifically crosses the placental barrier and that this puts the unborn children of pregnant teens who smoke little cigars at severe risk of life-long DDT-related developmental learning disabilities.
We know that 27% of girls who drop out are pregnant.
We know that inhaled DDT is incrementally more toxic than dietary DDT.
We know that poor human diet/nutrition exacerbates the impact of DDT
So, girls who smoke DDT-contaminated little cigars, who are pregnant, who have poor diets, and who drop out of school are themselves severely compromised by the impact of pesticides and are also at heightened risk of giving birth to a baby who is developmentally compromised due to DDT exposure in utero.
We talk about the cycle of poverty. Could tobacco product pesticide poisoning be a 100% preventable driver of a major part of that cycle, failure at school?
Multiple studies show that children who initiate smoking with little cigars are predominantly from low-income families and choose contaminated little cigars over less contaminated cigarettes because of price, convenience and marketing. In other words, their decisions are price-sensitive but otherwise mindless.
We know that a primary tobacco prevention and control strategy is to raise taxes on the theory (that they are scrambling to prove) that higher prices discourage starting and promote quitting. The claim is that this strategy reduces overall harm from smoking. This is demonstrably counter-factual when actual price-sensitive behavior is accounted for, which consists of simply switching to or starting with cheaper brands with greater pesticide contamination. Therefore greater not less harm is done especially to young smokers by increasing taxes as a control and prevention strategy.
We must ask public health authorities and legislators whether tax-based tobacco control and prevention strategies are unintentionally reinforcing dropout rates by driving young smokers to cheaper, more contaminated brands of tobacco products?
“We conclude that prenatal DDT levels may be associated with delayed Processing Speed in children at age 7 years and the relationship between prenatal DDE levels and children’s cognitive development may be modified by sex, with girls being more adversely affected.”
“A critical window of exposure to DDE in utero may be the first trimester of the pregnancy, and psychomotor development is a target of this compound. Residues of DDT metabolites may present a risk of developmental delay for years after termination of DDT use.”
“Prenatal exposure to DDT, and to a lesser extent DDE, was associated with neurodevelopmental delays during early childhood, although breastfeeding was found to be beneficial even among women with high levels of exposure. Countries considering the use of DDT should weigh its benefit in eradicating malaria against the negative associations found in this first report on DDT and human neurodevelopment.”
“The authors found higher risk for ADHD-like behaviors assessed with the CRS-T at higher levels of PCBs and p,p’-DDE. These results support an association between low-level prenatal organochlorine exposure and ADHD-like behaviors in childhood.”
“Children with higher urinary DMP concentrations may have a twofold to threefold increased risk of being diagnosed with ADHD. We report a dose-response relationship between child DMP levels and ADHD. Organophosphate pesticide exposure may have deleterious effects on children’s neurodevelopment, particularly the development of ADHD.”
“Results found an association between increasing pyrethroid pesticide exposure and ADHD which may be stronger for hyperactive-impulsive symptoms compared to inattention and in boys compared to girls.”
“The results indicate that both pesticides may induce altered levels of neuroproteins, important for normal brain development, and neurobehavioral abnormalities manifested as altered adult spontaneous behavior and ability to habituate to a novel home environment. The neurotoxic behavioral effects were also present several months after the initial testing, indicating long-lasting or even persistent irreversible effects.”
“Epidemiologic data reveal that children aged 6-15 with detectable levels of pyrethroid metabolites in their urine were more than twice as likely to be diagnosed with ADHD.”
“Results support an association of prenatal OP exposure with deficits in social functioning among blacks and among boys, although this may be in part reflective of differences in exposure patterns.”
“Among the findings associated with increased pesticide levels are poorer mental development by using the Bayley index and increased scores on measures assessing pervasive developmental disorder, inattention, and attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder. Related animal toxicology studies provide supportive biological plausibility for these findings.
Additional data suggest that there may also be an association between parental pesticide use and adverse birth outcomes including physical birth defects, low birth weight, and fetal death, although the data are less robust than for cancer and neurodevelopmental effects.
Children’s exposures to pesticides should be limited as much as possible.”
Nowhere near enough people understand, or care, that today’s “Opioid Crisis” is nothing new. There may be a few new twists – after all, Pig Pharma has been busy busy in the last 150 – 200 years, constantly tweaking their game to extract more profits from the misery they create. However, the reality is that nothing significant has changed. Here are just a few of the many comparisons that can be made.
In 1870 most people addicted to Opium-based “medicines” were originally hooked by medical “professionals” – doctors and pharmacists. In 2018 the same is true.
In 1870 it was the “patent medicine” industry that addicted most people with tonics and elixirs. In 2018 it is the “pharmaceutical industry” that addicts most people with pain medicine and psycho-drugs.
Most of today’s “pharmaceutical” giants started in the 1800’s as “patent medicine” companies. They have thrived for centuries on blood money, and in 2018 they are immensely rich and virtually untouchable.
In 1870 most people who became addicted began using opium-based medicines to deal with some form of painful disease, injury, or emotional state. In 2018 the same is true.
In 1870 “respectable” society treated Opium addicts as throwaways and criminals, and non-addicts firmly believed that addiction was due to lack of character. This prejudice was drilled into consciousness through endless propaganda coming from society’s “authorities”. The same is true in 2018.
In 1870 there were millions of addicted children, whose mothers were given Opium and Morphine-laced “tonics” by doctors to control behaviors like crying and colic that upset Moms. In 2018 millions of children are saturated with mind & spirit-numbing medications prescribed by doctors to control behaviors like ADHD that upset Moms.
In 1870 the “better classes” were able to hide their addiction, and to get confidential treatment when things got too bad. It was everybody else who crashed and burned publicly, allowing the elite to point, smirk and feel smug about their superiority. Nothing has changed in 2018.
In 1870 there were only two basic approaches to treating addiction. First, total, instant cessation and toughing out the withdrawal symptoms. Special asylums were built to incarcerate addicts while they went through the agony of withdrawal. The second approach was gradual withdrawal, progressively substituting something supposed to be less addictive. This was a less painful approach, but cost a lot more and took a lot longer. Instant withdrawal didn’t work, and progressive withdrawal only worked occasionally, and things haven’t changed in 2018.
In 1870 Heroin was used to treat Morphine addiction. In 2018 Methadone is used to treat Heroin addiction. Pig Pharma continues to prosper.
In 1870, very few addicted people were actually addicted to pure opium. Instead, they were addicted to the cheapest dregs of opium production, combined with boosters like Arsenic, Strychnine, Mercury, Lead, Cocaine, Morphine, Belladonna and Datura. In 2018 no Opioid addict is addicted to pure natural opium, but to synthetic substances that mimic Opium boosted with other highly addictive chemicals like Fentanyl.
In 1870 Draconian prohibition laws featuring the death penalty made Opium a very expensive and profitable commodity worldwide, creating global criminal syndicates shielded by corrupt police forces and politicians. In 2018 some countries still murder addicts outright, while others just lock them away for life. The criminal syndicates and corrupt police and politicians are reincarnations of the same evil souls that plagued 1870.
In 1870 there were hundreds of treatment programs pushed by social entrepreneurs and religious moralists promising to cure addiction. None worked, and relapse was nearly universal. Same in 2018.
In 1870 the true causes of addiction were well known. They were invariably some combination of pain, misery, poverty, hopelessness, isolation, loneliness, ignorance, and exploitation. In 2018 the true causes of addiction are the same.
The range of diseases and conditions that were successfully treated and cured by European and US physicians using Coca Leaf over the course of hundreds of years should be truly amazing to us in the 21st Century, even those of us who have been propagandized into believing that allopathic medicine and modern science have “made great strides”, “revolutionized the treatment of disease”, yada yada.
As you look over the table below you might reflect on how little actual progress has been made in the treatment and cure of so many diseases, although we have certainly developed a lot of impressive technology and there have been some dramatic, if somewhat mixed-blessing advances such as antibiotics.
However, let me point to just one example; with all of our vaunted antibiotic technology huge numbers of people still die of Pneumonia – a deadly condition that doctors of the 18th and 19th centuries who were familiar with Coca leaf (and who didn’t resort to poisonous ‘remedies’ like Mercury, Arsenic and Bleeding) were quite often able to treat and reverse successfully with a few cups a day of Coca Leaf tea.
Also, since many of today’s most destructive diseases did not exist, or didn’t have a name during those earlier centuries, this post is intended to point to the historical record that strongly suggests that if pure, natural Coca Leaf were freely available today as a natural medicine it could lift the immense burden of these modern conditions and diseases from tens of millions of people virtually overnight, with no “side effects”, no risk, and for literally pennies a day.
Freely available Coca Leaf would literally destroy the market for useless, often even dangerous pharmaceuticals as well as the incredibly lucrative market for America’s beloved over-the-counter “remedies” – which, of course, would guarantee strident howls of objection and opposition. Americans spend $625 Billion a year on the over 300,000 “Over The Counter” medicines that promise relief from pain and suffering of all kinds.
Here is a table taken largely from the work of Dr. Golden, whose “History of Coca” (1901) outlines the conditions and diseases that were known in the 1800’s to be treatable and curable by Coca Leaf, along with number of diseases and conditions that have been largely ‘discovered’ in the century since Dr. Golden wrote. I believe that the evidence that he and other physicians and scientists recorded in their times shows that simple natural Coca Leaf infusions and extracts could prevent, treat and perhaps cure these modern diseases and conditions where the products of “Pig Pharma” so often fail.
Please consider the physical, emotional, spiritual and financial impact on the lives of millions of individuals and their families if even one or two of the conditions/diseases in the following table were proven beyond all doubt, using all of our contemporary research powers, to be either effectively treated or actually cured by drinking Coca Leaf Tea alone – no other treatments or medications needed.
And once you have reflected on this, if you are a strong advocate of legal Cannabis perhaps you’ll consider adding Coca Leaf to your demands that the US government and Pig Pharma back off and go away.
If you would like to read Dr. Golden’s extraordinary “History of Coca” I have digitized his book and it is available here. ($1.99 for the full 251 page book plus bibliography).
I have kept all of the original illustrations intact and – most importantly – I have hyperlinked as many of Dr. Golden’s bibliographic references to the original source materials as I could track down, almost all of them freely available in internet historical book archives.
Have fun – I certainly did while tracking down and studying these obscure but critically important resources for treating and healing disease using one of the most amazing natural medicines ever.
