In my case, this regime was applied over the period of the past two years with the strictest perseverance. However, there were occasions when I unavoidably omitted these precautions. At such times, the symptoms again made their appearance. One year ago and for nearly thirty years my weight was between one hundred and forty and one hundred and fifty pounds. I now weigh one hundred and sixty pounds, my skin is moist and free from the twenty-five years of dryness and itching. The gastric symptoms – empty eructations, flatulence and mild headaches – occur infrequently. The mental and nervous symptoms have disappeared. What is most significant is such abundance of vitality as was never thought possible.
In closing, I wish to add that by discarding for all time the aluminum kitchen utensils while receiving treatment, during any of my critical periods, I am convinced my course in life would have been different.
Originally published in the Homoeopathic Recorder, Vol. XLXIX, No.4. Revised and completed Oct. 1, 1935.
NORWICH, CONN.
DISCUSSION.
DR. STEARNS: These personal experiences are rich in knowledge. One of my secretaries, when I was dictating a letter about aluminum, remarked that when she made fudge in an aluminum dish it was always gritty. Some of you girls try it and see if it is true.
I dont know whether aluminum is responsible for cancer but we sometimes find evidence of it in cancer cases. One case that I saw in consultation who was in extremis and died within a few days, gave evidence of a high degree of aluminum poisoning. She had a fulminating cancer of the pharynx. The family, after she died, brought a saucepan to me that she had used for a long time. About a third of the depth of the inside of the pan is pitted and the surface is deeply eroded. It is a very impressive exhibit for my patients.
we find that every case showing aluminum effects responds to whichever of the barium salts is best indicated for that particular patient. We have the following list of Bariums:.
Barium met. Baryta caust. Baryta nit.
Baryta acet. Baryta iod. Baryta phos.
Baryta carb. Baryta mur. Baryta sulph.
I suggest that if Dr. Carr has the facilities at his hospital he get some rats or mice and keep a group as controls and another group for experimenting in a separate pen, the two groups to be fed the same kind of foods except that all the cooked foods for the experimental group be prepared in aluminum dishes and all drinking-water be kept in an aluminum receptacle. Keep weight records and birth records for a year or so. If the aluminum group shows any effects different form those shown by the controls the nature of the effects will suggest the type of examinations to be made. If he doesnt get any effects he can say that the experiment was negative.
DR. HEIMBACH: I am very anxious to enumerate a few experiences I have had with cases of aluminum poisoning. Two acute cases very nearly died, in fact, one of them did die from a stroke. The other was a very close friend of mine, a veteran of the World War, who was taken with severe abdominal pains and vomiting and diarrhoea at first; in a day or so it reverted into constipation, and we couldnt get anything through at all. The pain was so intense for a while that I feared it might be a surgical case. I couldnt convince myself that it was appendicitis, but I soon discovered that it was aluminum poisoning. He made a complete recovery and has been well since.
Another peculiar case puzzled me for quite a while. She had an ulcer of the leg, probably four or five inches in diameter. She responded to treatment, and the ulcer healed up, but by the time the ulcer of the leg healed up, she commenced to get necrosis over the abdomen. She was a stout woman, with a roll of fat over the lower part of the abdomen, and that started to necrose across. One day I saw an aluminum kettle of food on the stove. I didnt permit her to use it any more, and gave her a fruit juice diet. But that kept on necrosing, and the whole thing sloughed off practically half way across the abdomen. Then she got an acute obstruction of the intestines and died in a very short time.
She had a history of an abdominal operation; a large tumor had been removed five or seven years previous to that, and a cicatricial band enclosed the small intestine at one place.
A portion of the liver and some of the tissues over the abdomen were removed and sent to a chemist who had been interested, more or less, in this aluminum question. He made a test and the report came back that there was aluminum in all the tissues which had been sent him.
Lets come to think of the chemical effect of an aluminum kettle. How many foods are cooked where salt or vinegar are not used? You get an aluminum acetate if you use vinegar, and an aluminum chloride if you use salt; both are very good solutions to embalm people.
This is really a very vital and important question for any organization to discuss. I cant see how anybody, whether they are interested with Mellon or any other organization making aluminum ware, can help seeing the point. If people are more interested in selling merchandise than keeping people healthy, it is about time that a halt is called.
QUESTION: What ones do you recommend in its place?.
DR. HEIMBACH: Ordinary granite ware, metal, iron pans, pyrex. You cant beat the old iron pan, because the iron is good.
DR. BRYANT: I had a young woman working for Sears, Roebuck who had a typical picture of aluminum. We had the stools and urine examined, and found aluminum in both. Her trouble began solely by the use of aluminum binders. It has done one good thing if it hasnt done anything else; every Sears, Roebuck place in the world has done away with their aluminum binders. She sued Sears, Roebuck for 50,000 dollars. I happened to have been the physician that took care of her. Just to enumerate briefly, my attention was called to it by the fact that she had plenty of blood in the stools; she had a typical aluminum constipation; she was emaciated; eruption appeared first in the palm of her hand from the constant handling of these things. She also had an eruption on the soles of the feet, and she even had the craving for starch. The emaciation was extreme. I am quite sure the girl is going to die. I dont believe we can do much for her. The progressive emaciation goes on in spite of everything we can do.
DR. HEIMBACH: It is fact, that all the aluminum poison cases that I have had are deficient in hydrochloric acid. When I prescribe a diluted solution of hydrochloric acid in the treatment, the patient gets better.
DR. STEARNS: Try the bariums.
DR. HEIMBACH: I found three remedies in particular, that have been effective in my experiments. One is Bryonia, another Chin. sulph. 30x, and the third, Chin. ars. 6x.
DR. CARR: Somebody suggested aluminum might be the basis of cancer conditions. Dr. Leo Spira mentioned that in his little pamphlet as one of the possible diseases effected by aluminum. He didnt make a positive conclusion. I think he drew his inference from its being an underlying factor of innumerable other chronic skin troubles and internal troubles as well.
As to the hydrochloric content of the stomach being affected by aluminum, I have several chemical journals and physiological journals and in a few of those journals were given laboratory tests resulting in the combining of aluminum with hydrochloric acid, and also that it affected the pepsin of the stomach. That was conclusive.
The A.I.H. was discussing this yesterday. Two or three men said they got beneficial results in discontinuing aluminum cooking utensils were children had eczema and bowel trouble.
In my own town, a prominent electrical supplyman, who is now retired from his labors, had gastric ulcer. He went to a Boston clinic, was operated on, and the surgeon told him to return home and discard all of his aluminum kitchen utensils. So I think this interest in aluminum is spreading.
