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were centred around ski resorts, reservoirs, airport flight paths, coastal districts, and sites where extensive aerial spraying of weather-modifying silver iodide "cloud seeding" chemicals had been used for inducing rainfall/snowfall and dispersing cloud/fog. Metals like silver and platinum are also used as key ingredients in dental amalgam fillings, surgical depth electrodes/instruments, etc., perhaps explaining why dental treatments and surgical opera- tions/electrode implantations are considered to be high-risk pre- requisites for triggering CJD. were centred around ski resorts, reservoirs, airport flight paths, been well established, where manganese has been recorded at coastal districts, and sites where extensive aerial spraying of elevated levels in the bodies of those who have been executed on weather-modifying silver iodide "cloud seeding" chemicals had death row for violent crimes. Professor Louis Gottschalk, the been used for inducing rainfall/snowfall and dispersing cloud/fog. man who carried out these studies, reckons that "manganese levels Metals like silver and platinum are also used as key ingredients serve as a marker for violence". in dental amalgam fillings, surgical depth electrodes/instruments, But, true to form, the official cause of this "drunken walking" etc., perhaps explaining why dental treatments and surgical opera- syndrome has been conveniently scapegoated onto a mutation tions/electrode implantations are considered to be high-risk pre- caused by faulty Aboriginal "seed". requisites for triggering CJD. To challenge this dogmatic assumption, I travelled several thou- sand miles to another isolated cluster of this same ataxic condition Manganese Breaketh Man that exists amongst indigenous folk living on the islands of Flores The recent surge in the global rates of TSEs (and other neurode- and Sao Miguel in the Azores archipelago. After drawing a range generative diseases) seems to have run in tandem with the of environmental samples, I unearthed the same abnormal mineral increased incorporation of high-concentration manganese oxide ratio that is found on Groote. In fact, the levels of manganese additives into the bovine, human, pet and zoo animal food were so high in the black volcanic soils of these islands that the chains—via a multitude of applications such as free-access miner- mining prospectors had considered it lucrative to mine the metal al licks, supplement tablets, fertiliser and fungicide sprays, paints, from the local Azorean seabed. petrol additives, etc., or via increased consumption of trendy food Given the high intensity of various neurodegenerative diseases products, such as soya, which naturally bioaccumulate high levels that have invariably erupted around all of the manganese hotspot of this metal from the soil. regions, I was beginning to wonder whether the increased expor- Given the fact that long-term manganese exposure is well tation of manganese dioxide ores into the steel, glass, dye, lead- known to induce a wide array of progressive neuropsychiatric free fuel, paint and mineral feed supplement industries across the degenerative disorders—dubbed the "manganese madness" syn- developed world had somehow seeded the "mad cow" madness in dromes—in factory welders and mine the deer, sheep, cats, zoo animals, workers, etc., the idea that manganese could perform a front-line role in the pathogenesis of TSEs is not out the way. . In fact, manganese toxicity can These experiments represented manifest itself in many forms. When I H i visited areas in the South Pacific, like the first time that malformed the island of Guam, where a raft of prion protein had been created neurodegenerative conditions involv- H ing ‘Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and experimentally as a de novo motor neurone diseases used to run at transformation. a fiftyfold higher incidence rate than elsewhere across the world, I noticed that manganese mining used to be widely practiced in all of these areas. Dr Brown had demonstrated that And then I arrived on Groote Eylandt, the prion protein bonds to copper in a once-upon-a-time enchanted tropical island in the Gulf of the normal healthy brain. In this respect, his lab studies were Carpentaria in northern Australia, whose history has witnessed a complementary to my field studies in that they provided the other izarre degree of "heaven and hell". Not only do the island's soils half of the necessary groundwork upon which I formulated an lay host to the mother of all manganese concentrations, but its holistic hypothesis on the origins of these diseases. cows and teenagers. Laboratory Studies Support the Theory My observations of high man- ganese/low copper in TSE cluster areas led to my connecting with the pioneering laboratory investigations of Dr David Brown at Cambridge University in the UK. He is a widely published biochemical expert who had pursued groundbreaking studies which unearthed interesting new facets of the elusive prion protein. flamboyant rainforest ecosystems have supported ideal hunter- I published a paper proposing that manganese could substitute gatherer grounds for some of the most pure bred, nomadic itself at the vacant copper site on the prion protein, whereby this Aboriginal clans alive in Australia today. But, as I was soon to _ aberrant substitution by a foreign metal co-partner could induce earn, the tropical charms of a Groote Eylandt of "pick-your- the all-important deformation of the protein that is considered to own" coconuts and turquoise seas can be deceptive to the unin- be crucial to the development of TSE. In this respect, any TSE- formed outsider. susceptible mammals who were dependent upon these high man- I found that 3% of an indigenous Aboriginal clan residing ganese/low copper TSE cluster food chains would be at risk of around one of the largest open-cast manganese mines in the world —_ developing TSE. ad recently been struck down by a bizarre ataxic syndrome— So David Brown ran the necessary cell culture experiments what turned out to be caused by a high manganese/low magne- where he introduced manganese into copper-depleted prion pro- sium-induced mutation in early life. tein cell cultures. Amazingly, his experiments produced the key Former fit and healthy Aboriginal warriors were finding them- deformation of the prion protein which the earlier tests using OPs selves progressively transfigured into debilitated and wasted neu- had failed to create. These experiments represented the first time rodegenerative wrecks—more akin to stick insects trying to cross that malformed prion protein had been created experimentally as a ice. Furthermore, the levels of unrestrained aggression and mur- de novo transformation. der in this community had reached crisis proportions, where Furthermore, follow-up trials by the USA's Prion Surveillance grotesque "Hieronymus Bosch-style" brawls erupt on a weekly Center at Case Western University, Cleveland, looked at post- basis. mortem tissue samples taken from CJD brains. Their analyses In this respect, the link between manganese and aggression has revealed the same abnormal mineral ratio as identified in the TSE These experiments represented the first time that malformed — prion protein had been created experimentally as a de novo APRIL — MAY 2003 NEXUS = 29 transformation. www.nexusmagazine.com