A few years ago, I was diagnosed with heavy metal and chemical poisoning. Among the many toxic substances in my body, mercury fro the filings in my teeth was a major culprit. It was recommended that I have all the fillings replaced - a major undertaking!

After undergoing live cell/dry cell analysis, I was told I needed a minimum of twenty chelation treatments (a drip-intravenous therapy). At US$100 a session (much more expensive today), that meant an additional US$2,000! To confirm the diagnosis, I had a frozen sample of my blood sent to a special laboratory in Colorado. The lab analysis showed an alarming variety of poisons in my body including DIOXIN, MERCURY, ALUMINUM, CADMIUM, ARSENIC, LEAD, CHLORINE and COPPER. On a scale of 1 to 10 (ten being the most toxic), seven elements registered 7 or more. Where, you might ask, did all those chemicals come from?

• DIOXIN, one of the deadliest substances know, is sprayed on coffee and vegetable fields in Costa Rica, where I had visited for several months. Dioxin is also found in many lawn fertilizers and pesticides.
  

• MERCURY, besides leaking from teeth filings, is also found in fish, cosmetics, soil, pesticides, film (photos and negatives), paint and plastics.
  

• ALUMINUM is used in soft-drink cans, cookware, cheeses, white flour, baking powder and deodorants.
  

• CADMIUM is contained in cigarette smoke, coffee, gasoline, steel cooking pans and metal pipes.
  

• ARSENIC may be present in coffee, some types of rice, salt, industrial pollution and pesticides.
  

• LEAD is found in dyes, gasoline, paint, plumbing, pottery, insecticides, tobacco smoke, textiles and scrap metal.
  

• CARBON MONOXIDE, of course, comes from auto exhaust, cigarette smoke and smog.
  

In other words, ALL OF US ARE EXPOSED TO COUNTLESS CHEMICALS AMD METALS EVERY DAY OF OUR LIVES!

There are OVER SEVENTY THOUSAND chemicals being used in commercial production in the U.S. - sixty-five thousand of them classified by the Environmental Protection Agency as potentially or definitely hazardous to human health, according to Steven R. Schechter, N.D., author of Fighting with Foods, Herbs & Vitamins. And new chemicals, he noted, were being tested in the U.S. at a rate of more than 6,000 per week.

In the words of medical researcher Alan Levine, M.D., "The vast increase of chemicals in our environment, foods, and medicines has greatly altered the body's ability to rid itself of toxins."

THE SEARCH FOR ALTERNATIVES

After searching and using a number of different programs and products, I came across a unique kind of bentonite clay used in a bath to remove chemicals and metals. I bathed in it for 20 minutes and was astonished to find the solid clay remaining in the bottom of the tub had turned from a light tan/grey color to a black, sticky, tar-like substance! Wearing rubber gloves, I wrapped the toxic clay in crumpled newspaper and a heavy-duty garbage bag. Amazed, I began sharing my experience with friends, and found they were having similar experiences.

MAGICAL CLAY

"Clay has been used for thousand of years, and yet no one has been able to pin down what makes it a healer.", observes Michael Abehera, author of Amazing Cures From the Earth Itself - the Healing Clay. Most users, he notes, seem content with the amazing results. But various observers offer differing perspectives on how clay works.

Raymond Dextreit, the French naturopath who popularized clay cure in his own country, believes bentonite's powers transcend its purely three-dimensional physical properties. "From a thermodynamic point of view", he writes, "clay cannot be the sole source of energy of the phenomenon it produces. Clay is a dynamic presence, a catalyst rather than an agent itself. This is possible because clay is alive."

Most of the poisons in the body, Dextreit notes, are positively charged, whereas clay has a negative electrical charge. Thus, he writes, "These toxins cannot resist being drawn toward the clay."