Weston A. Price Foundation Proposes Deeper Look Into the Cause of TB

TIME FOR A NEW LOOK AT TB: INFECTIOUS BACILLUS OR IRON POISONING?

DALLAS, March 22, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- World TB Day, March 24, commemorates the date in 1882 when Dr. Robert Koch announced his discovery of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, the bacillus believed to cause tuberculosis (TB). Koch argued that TB is a contagious disease, spreading from one person to the next through the air. Based on the notion that TB is caused by a contagious bacterium, conventional treatment for TB involves vaccination and administration of multiple antibiotics over a long period. New information requires the scientific community to reexamine the reigning theories about tuberculosis.

The incidence of TB has declined dramatically since the 19^th century, especially in the West, but the disease still kills an estimated 3,000 people per day, mostly in lower-income countries.

"We propose looking elsewhere for the cause of this terrible illness," says Sally Fallon Morell, president of the Weston A. Price Foundation. "The symptoms of TB are identical to those of a disease called siderosis, which is poisoning by toxic iron fumes." Siderosis occurs most frequently today in welders.

Symptoms of both TB and siderosis include breathlessness, coughing (including coughing up blood), decreased lung function, miliary (millet-seed-like) lung lesions, and darkening of the eyes due to iron deposits, a unique symptom.

Koch found that TB bacillus grew only on ox blood or occasionally on meat, confirming that it is an iron-loving organism. "These facts beg the question: is the organism the cause of TB or the therapy, appearing in the body when excess iron needs clearing?" asks Morell.

During the Industrial Age, exposure to iron fumes was widespread, especially in trench warfare, where the heavy pollutant would linger. TB was a huge problem in the Crimean War, for example, with iron cannons, hand grenades, gun barrels, cookware, all of which release toxic iron oxide when heated, and coal smoke (which is high in iron). Soldiers living in these trenches suffered massively from TB.

In 1790, a new invention increased exposure to iron oxide and brought it into the drawing room: the cast iron stove. With its large surface area, the cast iron stove released large amounts of iron oxide, which exposed not only the cooks and maids in unventilated basements but also the rest of the household enjoying warm rooms upstairs.

As stainless steel and aluminum replaced cast iron in stoves, furnaces, and industrial equipment—and as oil and natural gas replaced coal—exposure to iron oxide gradually declined. Today, TB deaths occur mainly in countries where cast iron stoves and cookware are still widely used, often in unventilated hovels, and where iron mining and iron works are common. Coal is also frequently used in these areas' power plants and domestic settings. In houses where cast iron pans are the only exposure, there is not a concern.

"If the cause of TB is toxic exposure to iron fumes, it makes little sense to treat the disease with vaccinations and antibiotics," says Morell. "Rather, appropriate treatment modalities may include chelating agents such as DSMO and lactoferrin, plus removal from exposure to sources of ferrous oxide. It's time to take a new look at how we treat this tragic disease."

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION

• "Solving the Mystery of TB: The Iron Factor" www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/solving-the-mystery-of-tb-the-iron-factor/
• "Tuberculosis Alert" 
• "Lactoferrin: A Modulator for Immunity against Tuberculosis Related Granulomatous Pathology." www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4691619/

The Weston A. Price Foundation is a nonprofit, tax-exempt charity founded in 1999 to disseminate the research of nutrition pioneer Dr. Weston Price, whose studies of isolated non-industrialized peoples established the parameters of human health and determined the optimum characteristics of human diets. Dr. Price's research demonstrated that humans achieve perfect physical form and perfect health generation after generation only when they consume nutrient-dense whole foods and the vital fat-soluble activators found exclusively in organ meats and animal fats.

SOURCE Weston A. Price Foundation