“Heavy metals are metallic elements which have a high atomic weight and a density much greater (at least 5 times) than water. There are more than 20 heavy metals, but four are of particular concern to human health: lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), mercury (Hg), and inorganic arsenic (As). According to the U.S. Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry. These four heavy metals are four of the top six hazards present in toxic waste sites. They are highly toxic and can cause damaging effects even at very low concentrations. They tend to accumulate in the food chain and in the body and can be stored in soft (e.g., kidney) and hard tissues (e.g., bone). Being metals, they often exist in a positively-charged form and can bind on to negatively-charged organic molecules to form complexes.

Chelates are a special type of complex where the organic molecule binds to the metal at two or more points (and hence, quite strongly). The term chelation comes from the Greek ch-l- meaning crab or lobster claw, suggested by the way in which the metal is gripped in at least two places by the organic groups. Chelating agents are used to produce stable compounds with relatively low toxicity and also to enhance the excretion of metals. Heavy metals can also exist covalently bound to organic molecules. In the case of AS, this substantially reduces its toxicity. For Hg, it substantially increases toxicity, e.g., methyl mercury. Aluminum is not a heavy metal and considerations related to aluminum exposure, health effects, and its detoxification, are not always the same as for heavy metals.

The body has need for approximately 70 friendly trace element heavy metals, but there are another 12 poisonous heavy metals, such as Lead, Mercury, Aluminum, Arsenic, Cadmium, Nickel, etc., that act as poisonous interference to the enzyme systems and metabolism of the body.

No matter how many good health supplements or procedures one takes, heavy metal overload will be a detriment to the natural healing functions of the body.

Some metals are naturally found in the body and are essential to human health. Iron, for example, prevents anemia, and zinc is a cofactor in over 100 enzyme reactions. Magnesium and copper are other familiar metals that, in minute amounts, are necessary for proper metabolism to occur. They normally occur at low concentrations and are known as trace metals; for example, high levels of zinc can result in a deficiency of copper, another metal required by the body.

Heavy or toxic metals are trace metals that are at least five times denser than water. As such, they are stable elements (meaning they cannot be metabolized by the body) and bio-accumulative (passed up the food chain to humans). These include: mercury, nickel, lead, arsenic, cadmium, aluminum, platinum, and copper (metallic form versus ionic form).

Toxic heavy metals have no function in the body and can be highly toxic. Heavy metals are taken into the body via inhalation, ingestion, and skin absorption. If heavy metals enter and accumulate in body tissue faster than the body’s detoxification pathways can dispose of them, a gradual buildup of these toxins will occur. High-concentration exposure is not necessary to produce a state of toxicity in the body tissues and, over time, can reach toxic concentration levels.

Heavy metal overload in the walls of coronary arteries seems to decrease levels of nitric oxide, a compound known as "Endothelial Relaxing Factor,"--without this substance normal blood flow is impeded therefore increasing the risk of vascular blockages. Heavy metal overload in the adrenal glands reduce the production of hormones, which cause early aging, stress, decreased sex drive and aggravation of menopausal symptoms.

Heavy metal overload can lead to unresponsiveness of diabetics to their medications. Heavy metal overload can lead to neurological diseases such as depression and loss of thinking power. It can also aggravate conditions such as osteoporosis and hypothyroidism. For obvious reasons, removing metals from the body safely has been a concern of physicians for many years.

Environmental contamination and exposure to heavy metals such as mercury, cadmium and lead is a serious growing problem throughout the world. Human exposure to heavy metals has risen dramatically in the last 50 years as a result of an exponential increase in the use of heavy metals in industrial processes and products. Many occupations involve daily heavy metal exposure; over 50 professions entail exposure to mercury alone.

In today’s industrial society, there is no escaping exposure to toxic chemicals and metals. In the United States, tons of toxic industrial waste are mixed with liquid agricultural fertilizers and dispersed across America’s farmlands. This “controversial practice,” which is presently legal in the U.S., has been reported in nine states.

While the spreading of arsenic, lead, cadmium, nickel, mercury and uranium on soil that is utilized to produce food for human consumption is a “political and economic issue,” the potential for adverse health effects is well documented.

In general, heavy metals (HM) are systemic toxins with specific neurotoxic, nephrotoxic, fetotoxic and teratogenic effects. Heavy metals can directly influence behavior by impairing mental and neurological function, influencing neurotransmitter production and utilization, and altering numerous metabolic body processes.

Systems in which toxic metal elements can induce impairment and dysfunction include the blood and cardiovascular, eliminative pathways (colon, liver, kidneys, skin), endocrine (hormonal), energy production pathways, enzymatic, gastrointestinal, immune, nervous (central and peripheral), reproductive, and urinary.

Breathing heavy metal particles, even at levels well below those considered nontoxic, can have serious health effects.

Virtually all aspects of animal and human immune system function are compromised by the inhalation of heavy metal particulates. In addition, toxic metals can increase allergic reactions, cause genetic mutation, compete with “good” trace metals for biochemical bond sites, and act as antibiotics, killing beneficial bacteria. Much of the damage produced by toxic metals stems from the proliferation of oxidative free radicals they cause.

Heavy metals can also increase the acidity of the blood. The body draws calcium from the bones to help restore the proper blood pH. Further, toxic metals set up conditions that lead to inflammation in arteries and tissues, causing more calcium to be drawn to the area as a buffer, contributing to hardening of the artery walls with progressive blockage of the arteries and osteoporosis.

Even minute levels of toxic elements have negative health consequences, affecting nutritional status, metabolic rate, the integrity of detoxification pathways, and the mode and degree of heavy metal exposure. The biological half-lives for HM are variably long; the half-life for cadmium in the kidney is decades. Most HM are readily transferred across the placenta, found in breast milk, and are well known to have serious detrimental effects on behavior, intellect and the developing nervous system in children. For adults, silent symptoms of chronic, low level HM accumulation in tissues can progress from a steady decline in energy, productivity and quality of life to accelerated cardiovascular disease, premature dementia and total debilitation.

Unfortunately, the possibility of HM burden is often not considered and patients continue to suffer needlessly

Chronic symptoms frequently associated with excessive accumulation of heavy metals include fatigue, musculoskeletal pain, neurological disorders, depression, failing memory, and allergic hypersensitivity.”

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