http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohave_County,_Arizona
http://www.mohavecounty.us/"Residents not happy with Mohave County Board of Health
Questions about barium, other elements in blood left unanswered
10/21/2011 6:00:00 AM
By Suzanne Adams-Ockrassa
KINGMAN - Some members of the public who attended Tuesday night's Mohave County Board of Health meeting were not satisfied with a presentation by staff on how various elements, such as barium and aluminum, can get into the human body.
In July, several members of the public, including Golden Valley residents Luca Zanna and Alan DiCicco, asked the board to investigate why several Mohave County residents were testing positive for high levels of barium, aluminum, strontium 90 and uranium in their blood.
Tuesday evening, Mohave County Epidemiologist Anna Scherzer gave a presentation to the board about what the different elements were, how they worked and how they might find their way into the human body.
Each of these elements is naturally present in the Earth's crust and the human body, even though some of them are not necessary for the body to survive, Scherzer said. Many of the elements are also used in the manufacturing process of various goods and can be found in food and water.
The elements can also be hazardous under certain situations, she said, depending on how long a person has been exposed to the hazardous substance, how large of a dose they received, whether there were other chemicals or drugs that could have interacted with the
substance, how the person was exposed, the age and gender of the person and what kind of lifestyle they live.
Barium is combined with a number of other elements or chemicals and used for quite a few purposes, Scherzer said, including medical tests and X-rays, to lubricate drilling bits in the oil and gas industry, to kill rodents in certain parts of the world and to manufacture glass, fireworks and pottery glazes.
It can also be found in the soil that our food grows in and in our water, she said. The most common source in the human diet is from the flour in our bread.
Acute barium poisoning can cause gastrointestinal problems such as diarrhea, low potassium levels that can effect the clotting of the blood and various organs and the ability to walk, Scherzer said. Chronic barium poisoning can cause a decrease in kidney function and high blood pressure.
The element can also be breathed in during the manufacturing process and high exposures can cause lung problems, she said. Usually, the lungs regain their normal function once a person has been removed from such an environment.
Aluminum is one of the most abundant metals found in the Earth's crust, Scherzer said. It's also a huge component in consumer goods and the manufacturing process. It's used in pots and pans, foil to wrap food, cars and trucks, airplanes and house siding and roofs. It's also used in some places to treat drinking water, as an abrasive, in fireworks, in antiperspirants, buffered aspirin, as a food additive, sunscreens and in cosmetics.
'It's found in virtually all food, water and soil,' she said.
High levels of the metal in the body can cause neurological impairment and effects each person differently, she said. Some people have problems with walking and other motor skills, others have problems with their sense of smell and other senses. Some have problems with cognitive or thinking powers while others have a combination of some or all of the above.
There is also a theory that high levels of aluminum may be linked with Alzheimer's, but there is no conclusive study on that yet, Scherzer said. Also some people who have existing kidney problems may have elevated levels of aluminum in their blood because the body cannot get rid of the metal.
Scherzer then spoke on the element strontium. There are a number of different types or isotopes of strontium available. Some are naturally occurring while some are man-made, she said. The different types found in nature are not radioactive, but some of the ones created by man are.
Scherzer limited her information to Strontium 90, the specific isotope the public asked the board to study.
Strontium 90 is a man-made element that is found in the waste products of nuclear reactors and nuclear explosions, such as the nuclear testing in Nevada in the 1950s, she said. It is possible that some of the Strontium 90 released from those tests and the accident in Chernobyl could still be circulating in the air and falling to the ground.
Not much is known about the side effects of high levels of Strontium 90 or radioactivity, Scherzer said. A person exposed to high levels of radiation, such as the people who worked to clean up Chernobyl, suffered from bone damage, anemia and problems with their blood clotting. There is also a possible link to cancer, she said.
The last element Scherzer discussed was Uranium 238, which is another naturally occurring element. All isotopes of uranium are radioactive and is the most common isotope is uranium 238, she said.
The element is naturally found in the soil and our food and water, she said. It is commonly used as fuel for nuclear reactors, but it is also used in military weapons, aircraft and as a shielding material in tanks.
High levels of the element can cause kidney damage and lung problems if inhaled, Scherzer said.
All of these elements can be tested for through a blood test by a doctor, however they're not part of a normal blood test, she said. Someone would have to ask their doctor for the test and then find a lab that could process the results.
Most of the tests are inconclusive, Scherzer said. They can tell a person how much of the element is in their blood, but not how long they've been exposed or what effect the level might have on their future health.
'This is really interesting if I was still in high school,' DiCicco told the board, once Scherzer was finished with her presentation. He said the level of barium found in his blood in February was 150, and a more recent test showed that it was now 190. His doctor also told him that he had a low platelet count. The body uses platelets to clot the blood, he said.
DiCicco then held up a bottle of cloudy rainwater and asked if anyone wanted to drink it.
'(The Arizona Department of Environmental Quality) says its safe to drink. Anyone want to drink it? I had it tested - it has 321 parts per million of aluminum,' he said. 'Something wrong is going on here.'
He claimed the government was testing a weather control or some other program by using airplanes to seed the sky with these elements.
'What's going on? I want answers,' DiCicco said. 'There's more information out there than this.'
'We have a serious problem,' Zanna said. He pointed out that claims of health problems from the Downwinders, a group of residents who lived in parts of Arizona, Nevada and Utah during the nuclear testing in the 1950s, were ignored for years.
'I don't know if this is something bad or good, but it could effect all of us and our families,' he said referring to the possibility of government testing. 'We want to know what's going on. We understand that these can be found in nature, but let's not just dismiss this.'
When no one else asked to speak before the board, Board Chairman Phil Moon thanked the public for their comments and concerns and adjourned the meeting."
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