Imagine You Are An Aluminum Atom: Discussions With Mr. Aluminum

by Christopher Exley PhD, FRSB

Overview

Join "Mr. Aluminum," a scientist who has made the study of aluminum his life's work, on a journey of discovery, reflection, and the science of aluminum.

Professor Christopher Exley is a firm believer that science is only useful when it is properly communicated. Scientific papers are difficult vehicles for the wider communication of science and thus he has always endeavored to tell the story of his scientific research as widely as possible through myriad blogs, presentations, and interviews. Through a series of easy-reading entries written for non-scientists, Exley will educate readers about his lifelong scientific passion: aluminum. In scientific circles, aluminum—in relation to human health specifically—has gone the way of the dinosaurs (though, unlike dinosaurs, there has not yet been a popular revival!). Yet aluminum is also the greatest untold story of science.

But why do we all need to know a little bit more about aluminum? Do we need a self-help guide for living in what Exley has coined "The Aluminum Age"? What is it about aluminum that makes it different? What about iron, copper, or any of the so-called "heavy metals," like mercury, cadmium, or lead? Why must we pay particular attention to aluminum? Because its bio-geochemistry, its natural history, raises two red flags immediately and simultaneously.

These two danger signals are easily missed by all of us and easily dismissed by those whose interests are conflicted by aluminum’s omnipresence in human life and consequently, are purposely blind to its danger signals. First, aluminum, in all of its myriad forms, is super abundant; it is the third most abundant element (after oxygen and silicon) of the Earth’s crust. Second, aluminum is super reactive; it is both chemically and biologically reactive. However, these two red flags identify a paradox, as the abundant and biologically reactive aluminum has no biological function either in any organism today nor in any extinct biota from the evolutionary past. This means in practical terms that when we encounter aluminum in our everyday lives, our bodies only see aluminum as an impostor, something foreign, and something for which we have not been prepared through biochemical evolution. This in turn means that all of our encounters with aluminium are adventitious, random, and chaotic. And potentially dangerous. 

Imagine You Are An Aluminum Atom: Discussions With "Mr. Aluminum" examines the science of aluminum and human health and makes them understandable to all. Within the science you will find personal recollections of events, as well as opinions and reflections upon how the politics of aluminum have influenced and interfered with doing and reporting the science. It is at once both a personal recollection of Exley's life in aluminum research and a guide on the dangers of the constant exposure to aluminum we as humans face during this "Aluminum Age." It will inform, it will provide the means to question the science, and it will, if the reader is prepared to participate, answer those frequently asked questions on aluminum and human health.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781510762534
Publisher:	Skyhorse
Publication date:	11/24/2020
Pages:	176
Sales rank:	87,343
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.10(h) x 0.90(d)

About the Author

Professor Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB, is a biologist who has been researching "aluminium and life" for over thirty-six years. During this time, primarily at Keele University in the United Kingdom, he has published over two hundred peer-reviewed scientific papers and has earned from his peers the moniker "Mr. Aluminum."

Table of Contents

Chapter 1 Why Have I Written a Book on Aluminum? 1

Chapter 2 Why Am I Worried about Aluminum? 5

Chapter 3 Some Simple Aluminum Biochemistry 10

Chapter 4 Where Is Aluminum in the Body? 14

Chapter 5 Measuring the Body Burden of Aluminum 18

Let's Start with Hair 19

What About Blood? 20

We Advocate Urine 21

Urine Sampling to Estimate the Body Burden of Aluminum 23

Chapter 6 Aluminum In Doesn't Equal Aluminum Out 25

Chapter 7 I Am the Aluminum I Eat (or Am I?) 30

Chapter 8 Live Safely and Effectively in the Aluminum Age 33

Food and Drink 33

Medication 37

Cosmetics and Personal Care Products 39

Social Habits 41

The Air We Breathe 44

Getting Aluminum Out of the Body 45

Chapter 9 A Silicon-Rich Mineral Water a Day Keeps … Aluminum at Bay 48

Early Days 48

Back to Today 49

Chapter 10 Pregnancy and Why Infant Exposure to Aluminum Is a Special Case 61

Chapter 11 Tell Me Again Why There Is Aluminum in Vaccines 72

Chapter 12 Aluminum Is a Cause of and Contributor to Human Disease 89

Chapter 13 What We Need to Know about Aluminum in Human Brain Tissue 93

Chapter 14 Alzheimer's Disease and the Aluminum Elephant in the Room 95

Chapter 15 Building a Case for Aluminum and Breast Cancer 104

Chapter 16 Aluminum Is a Genuine Contender as a Cause of Multiple Sclerosis 108

Chapter 17 A Top Trumps Mechanism of Aluminum Toxicity 112

Chapter 18 Camelford-Anatomy of a Government Cover-up 117

Aluminum and Camelford 119

Chapter 19 Politics 127

Letter to the Editor 132

Letter to the Editor of Academic Pediatrics: The Safety of Aluminum Adjuvants in Infants 139

Closer to Home 142

Chapter 20 Imagine You Are an Aluminum Atom 147

Acknowledgments 151