About 2 weeks ago I watched a story on The Feed about Motor Neuron Disease - “Bastard of a disease”. Before I go any further I would first like to take issue with this idea, this concept that this (or any) disease is a bastard or that anyone can 'hate' a disease. A disease is merely a collection of symptoms, the disease itself doesn't actually exist, someone created it by giving it a label.
Of course it helps to recognise the patterns that symptoms follow but they are nothing more than a series of symptoms, which themselves are just signs by the body that something is wrong. Once the symptoms are labelled as a disease it gives us something to grab on to, to blame. To blame or have ill feeling toward a disease implies that it has a conscience, that it is actively trying to destroy tissue and systems, that it's a 'bad guy', which is clearly ridiculous yet we continue to point blame. In reality it is just the tissues/systems breaking down and failing to perform as they should. Why are they breaking down? This is the question we need to ask.
Back to the story; it focuses on the NSW riverina where there is a 2-3 fold increase in MND compared to the rest of Australia. 800 people are diagnosed and 800 die every year from the disease, which essentially means being diagnosed is a death sentence, there is no cure (there is no cure for anything though!!!) Because of the increased incidence in the area it points to a specific factor/s in this area being a cause of the disease.
The story states that while 10% of cases are inherited, 90% are from environmental factors. Blue-green algae has become a problem in the river itself, which is actually a bacteria which produces a neurotoxin. The area is also high in farmland with herbicides and pesticides used widely and heavily. It is these toxins that are believed to play a role in the cause of MND and the reason for the cluster in this area of Australia. It has gone from the cause of death for 1 in 500 in 1985 to 1 in 200 in 2013, a 250% increase! “This cannot be genetic, it has to be environmental” says Dominic Rowe, neurology professor who is part of the story.
“I don't want anyone to be diagnosed and told, go home, you're going to die … I just want to have some bit of hope” said Tania, whose grandfather and mother both died of the disease and who has been diagnosed herself. The story goes on to say there is a little hope as the research centre at Macquarie is about to launch separate drug trials for people with sporadic and familial MND. These and further drugs in development hold some promise of slowing or even stopping the disease...
If you want to watch the whole story you can check it out here.
This last statement is the biggest issue I have with this story and the general attitude toward these 'incurable' diseases in general; the cure is always “just around the corner” or “we're so close to the cure” and the cure ALWAYS involves drugs and drug trials. Obviously I am not a neurologist or any other professional scientist or researcher but it seems absurd to me that the only solution for an ENVIRONMENTAL problem is a potential drug that doesn't exist yet... The other thing that bugs the hell out of me is that almost all of the “awareness” is around finding a cure and almost none, if any, is put toward preventing it in the first place, despite that obviously being the far, far better outcome, not to mention by far the easiest solution.
The story that this post was based on even referenced that 90% of all cases were environmental and even suggested that the inherited cases may still be triggered by the environment and yet at no point did it say that things were being done to stop the blooms of blue-green algae in the water or reduce/eliminate the use of pesticides. That doesn't mean things aren't being done, but it would seem that finding a drug so we can keep doing all this toxic stuff is more important. It is a ridiculously short sighted approach and it has been going on far too long!
The body heals itself if it is in the right environment, we experience this all the time and I believe in the human bodies almost infinite ability to do this as unwaiveringly as anyone could believe in anything. Get the environment right and health will follow. We seem to have confused the ageing process with disease processes somewhere along the way, they are not the same, they don't follow the same path. Even some signs of ageing can be reversible!
Maybe cleaning up the environment (not only the landscape but your personal environment including diet and products) won't solve it but at least you'll know. What happens if it does bring the incidence down significantly? I believe that's where the trouble is, imagine what would happen to the pesticide industry or the industries that have contributed to the algae blooms if once their products and practices stopped being used people get better. People don't want to lose their jobs, their businesses. But it is short sighted, jobs come and go, even industries come and go but these diseases will impact many people for a long time until we stop putting up with it and start putting the health of everyone before jobs and industry.
I've not ever had to witness someone suffering over a long period of time from close up but I would think MND would be right up there with one of the worst things to experience. We need to demand more from each other and stop accepting industrial toxins and environmental destruction as just how it is. Stop waiting for the magic cure and get to work building health literally from the ground up.
Purely as an example, if we removed all pesticides from every farm in Australia, how much produce loss would that result in? I'm sure the financial and emotional cost would be perceived to be incredible.
But what if it stopped 800 Australians being diagnosed with MND (or cancer, MS, etc.) next year, would it be worth it? If it stopped 400 or 100? If it stopped 1 person getting MND? Wouldn't that be worth it??? And that's just one factor out of hundreds or thousands. If you really stop and think about what we're doing to each other and the planet it's absolutely fucking crazy! And for what? Some money and an easy lifestyle (at least until we get sick!). We can either keep going down the same path, making our lives easier and easier while simultaneously watching disease rates continue to climb or we can decide we've had enough of watching our friends and relatives suffer around us and take the seemingly more difficult option, putting effort into the way we take care of ourselves, demanding higher standards from every individual and industry regarding health practices and just maybe we can create a much healthier, happier future.
