Environmental Medicine

Objective Assessment of an Ionic Footbath (IonCleanse): Testing Its Ability to Remove Potentially Toxic Elements from the Body

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:41:55 +0000

Objective Assessment of an Ionic Footbath (IonCleanse): Testing Its Ability to Remove Potentially Toxic Elements from the Body Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/24/2021 - 11:41

Ionic footbaths are often used in holistic health centres and spas to aid in detoxification; however, claims that these machines eliminate toxins from the body have not been rigorously evaluated. In this proof-of-principle study, we sought to measure the release of potentially toxic elements from ionic footbaths into distilled and tap water with and without feet. Water samples were collected and analyzed following 30-minute ionic footbath sessions without feet using both distilled (n = 1) and tap water (n = 6) and following four ionic footbaths using tap water (once/week for 4 weeks) in six healthy participants. Urine collection samples were analyzed at four points during the study. Hair samples were analyzed for element concentrations at baseline and study conclusion. Contrary to claims made for the machine, there does not appear to be any specific induction of toxic element release through the feet when running the machine according to specifications.

Author

Kennedy DA, Cooley K, Einarson TR, Seely D.

Citedate

2012-01-01

Citation

JJ Environ Public Health. 2012;2012:258968.

Affiliations

The 91��, University of Toronto, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute

Publication

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3228292/

Taxonomy

Environmental Medicine

Clinical Ecology—Transforming 21st-Century Medicine with Planetary Health in Mind

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:41:51 +0000

Clinical Ecology—Transforming 21st-Century Medicine with Planetary Health in Mind Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/24/2021 - 11:41

Four decades ago, several health movements were sprouting in isolation. In 1980, the environmental group Friends of the Earth expanded the World Health Organization definition of health, reminding citizenry that, “health is a state of complete physical, mental, social and ecological well-being and not merely the absence of disease—personal health involves planetary health”. At the same time, a small group of medical clinicians were voicing the concept of “clinical ecology”—that is, a perspective that sees illness, especially chronic illness, as a response to the total lived experience and the surroundings in which “exposures” accumulate. In parallel, other groups advanced the concept of holistic medicine. In 1977, the progressive physician-scientist Jonas Salk stated that “we are entering into a new Epoch in which holistic medicine will be the dominant model”. However, only recently have the primary messages of these mostly isolated movements merged into a unified interdisciplinary discourse. The grand, interconnected challenges of our time—an epidemic of non-communicable diseases, global socioeconomic inequalities, biodiversity losses, climate change, disconnect from the natural environment—demands that all of medicine be viewed from an ecological perspective. Aided by advances in ‘omics’ technology, it is increasingly clear that each person maintains complex, biologically-relevant microbial ecosystems, and those ecosystems are, in turn, a product of the lived experiences within larger social, political, and economic ecosystems. Recognizing that 21st-century medicine is, in fact, clinical ecology can help clear an additional path as we attempt to exit the Anthropocene.

Author

David H. Nelson, Susan L. Prescott, Alan C. Logan and Jeffrey S. Bland

Citedate

2019-02-18

Citation

https://doi.org/10.3390/challe10010015

Publication

Challenges

Taxonomy

Environmental Medicine

The critical intersection of environmental and social justice: a commentary

Anonymous — Tue, 24 Aug 2021 15:41:48 +0000

The critical intersection of environmental and social justice: a commentary Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 08/24/2021 - 11:41

The global crises of ecological degradation and social injustice are mutually reinforcing products of the same flawed systems. Dominant human culture is morally obliged to challenge and reconstruct these systems in order to mitigate future planetary harm. In this commentary, we argue that doing so requires a critical examination of the values and narratives which underlie systems of oppression and power. We argue for the moral necessity of a socially just approach to the ecological crisis.

DOI Link: https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00686-4

Author

Leslie Solomonian & Erica Di Ruggiero

Citedate

2021-03-25

Citation

Solomonian, L., Di Ruggiero, E. The critical intersection of environmental and social justice: a commentary. Global Health 17, 30 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12992-021-00686-4

Publication

Globalization and Health

Taxonomy

Environmental Medicine