The kids' last day of school is tomorrow. Then we'll really be into summer. The owl to the left is my latest find. I put him in the garden because I thought he was cute and for the first time I have not had any bunnies eating my lettuce! I can't believe how well it works. The tomato plants are already making little green tomatoes, the zuccinis are blooming, the peppers have little tiny peppers and pretty white flowers where more peppers will come. The green beans are coming up and flowers are blooming all over. It's a magical time in the garden when little green shoots start poking up and flowers start to come and you know that soon you'll be drowning in produce!

Cadmium is widely distributed as a result of its use in the metal and rubber fabricating industries. Cadmium plating is used on many metals to prevent rust. It is added to the rubber in automobile tires to enhance the quality of the rubber. As a result of this widespread industrial use, cadmium toxicity is becoming a major health challenge in the industrialized world. Tobacco contains 23 micrograms of cadmium per pack of cigarettes. The major portion of the cadmium in tobacco is volatilized when the tobacco is burned and is inhaled and the residue not absorbed is passed out in the exhaled smoke as a major feature of "second hand" smoke. Cadmium interferes with the biological function of several metalloenzymes, especially those containing zinc, copper, calcium and selenium.
There are no less than 70 metalloenzymes that require zinc to function. Zinc helps to bind enzymes to substrates by maintaining spatial and configurational relationships. It participates in the metabolism of nucleic acids (RNA and DNA) and the synthesis of proteins. It is an integral part of the RNA molecule itself and participates in cell division and synthesis of DNA. Zinc deficiency in pregnant women causes a wide variety of birth defects, including Down's syndrome, cleft lip, cleft palate, brain defects (dorsal herniation and hydroencephaloceol), micro- or anopthalmia (small or absent eyes), micro- or agnathia, spina bifida, clubbed limbs, syndactyly (webbed fingers and toes), diaphragmatic hernias (hiatal hernia), umbilical hernias, heart defects, lung defects and urogenital defects. Overt signs of a zinc deficiency include pica (earth/dirt eating, wool eating, hair eating, etc.), loss of sense of smell, loss of sense of taste, infertility, failure of wounds to heal, immune status failure, poor growth (short stature), high infant mortality, hypogonadism (small, poorly functioning ovaries or testes), remaining in a prepubescent state (failure to mature), anemia, alopecia (hair loss), frizzy hair, brittle hair, diarrhea, depression, paranoia, oral and perioral dermatitis (rashes in and around the mouth), weight loss, prostate enlargement (benign prostatic hypertrophy), severe body odor (smelly tennis shoe syndrome), anorexia and bullemia.
Copper is essential to all living organisms and is an important cofactor for many hundreds of metalloenzymes. Copper is required in many physiological functions including, but not limited to, RNA function, DNA function, lysyl oxidase cofactor, melanin production (hair and skin pigment), electron transfer of oxygen in subcellular respiration and tensile strength of elastic fibers in blood vessels, skin and vertebral discs. Copper functions as a cofactor and activator of numerous cuproenzymes that are involved in the development and maintenance of the cardiovascular system and in skeletal integrity. Deficiency in copper results in reduced lysyl oxidase activity causing a reduction in conversion of proelastin to elastin causing a decrease in tensile strength of arterial walls and ruptured aneurysms. It results in a particular form of arthritis of young people in the form of bone spurs in the bone's growth plate. It can result in myelin defects, anemia, poor hair keritinization and loss of hair color. Overt signs of a copper deficiency include white or gray hair, dry/brittle hair, ptosis (sagging skin - eye lids, breasts, stomachs, etc.), hernias, varicose veins, aneurysms, thyroid disfunction, anemia, arthritis, ruptured discs, liver cirrhosis, violent behavior, blind rages, explosive outbursts, learning disabilities, cerebral palsy and elevated blood cholesterol levels.
There are no less than 147 deficiency diseases that can be attributed to a calcium deficiency or imbalance. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in the human body; 99% is found in the bones and teeth and the other 1% is found in the blood, extracellular fluids and within cells where it is a cofactor and activator for numerous enzymes. In addition to being a major structural mineral, calcium is also required for the release of energy from ATP for muscular contraction, blood clotting, the transport of nutrients and other substances into and out of cells, the release of neurotranmitters for nerve cell function, the synthesis, secretion and metabolic effects of hormones and enzymes, the regulation of the heart beat and maintenance of muscle tone. Diseases that are a result of a calcium deficiency and it's cofactors include osteoporosis, receding gums, osteomalacia, arthritis, hypertension, insomnia, kidney stones, bone spurs, calcium deposits, cramps and twitches, PMS, low back pain and sciatica, Bell's palsy, nutritional secondary hyperparathyroidism, osteofibrosis, tetany and panic attacks.
Selenium is the most efficient anti-oxidant and is found at the subcellular level in the glutathione peroxidase enzyme system and metallo amino acids (selenomethionine). Selenium prevents cellular and subcellular lipids and fats from being peroxidized which literally means it prevents body fats from going rancid (seen externally as age or liver spots). It also functions to protect cellular and organelle bi-lipid layer membranes from oxidative damage. High intakes of vegetable oils including salad dressing, margarine and cooking oils concurrent with a selenium deficiency is the quickest route to a heart attack and cancer. The polyunsaturated configuration of the oils when heated or treated with hydrogen (trans fatty acids) literally causes the rancidity (free radical damage) of cellular fat. Selenium deficiency in adults appears as reduced immune capacity, anemia, infertility, age spots, myalgia (muscle pains), muscle weakness, multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, ALS, Parkinson's disease, Alzheimer's disease, palpitations or irregular heart rhythms, cardiomyopathy, hypertrophy or thickening of the cardiac muscle, liver cirrhosis, cataracts and cancer. It is a versitile anticancer agent and a defieincy of selenium is related to the onset of full blown AIDS in chronically infected HIV patients.
Contrary to what is frequently proposed by anti-smoking literature and proponents, smoking does not directly cause cancer and heart disease. The cadmium in tobacco interferes with the action of necessary minerals that are required by the body and the resultant deficiencies of those minerals is responsible for the diseases that are frequently associated with smoking. While the best choice would be to stop smoking, it is prudent, therefore, for the person who wishes to continue smoking to supplement with extra of those minerals as they are already in limited supply in the food available due to the minerally deficient soils that our food is grown in. This would also go a long way to explain why so many people who don't smoke, have never smoked and are not exposed to second hand smoke also get those diseases that are supposedly caused by smoking.
(This information comes from the book Rare Earths, Forbidden Cures by doctors Joel D. Wallach and Ma Lan.)

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