Special Clay Used by First Nations People Proven to REALLY Work

Interesting news today -- see the press release below.

If only so-called "modern" people paid more attention to what their ancestors and "less civilized" inhabitants of this Earth co-existing with us did and do today to treat infections and various illnesses and diseases  -- if only.  Sadly, there is already a FOR PROFIT corporation involved in developing potential "drugs" from this miracle clay given freely to us by Mother Nature. I believe it will just be a matter of time before the Heiltsuk First Nation People who entered into this compact with the Devil are swindled fully out of whatever they think they have retained of their rights by the people behind this corporation.  We, who think we are so damn smart, continue to ignore Culpeper, author of English Physician and Complete Herbal in the mid-17th century:  Culpeper believed medicine was a public asset rather than a commercial secret, and the prices physicians charged were far too expensive compared to the cheap and universal availability of nature's medicine.  Wikipedia.  So what if people die?  It's all about the filthy lucre, darlings.

Press Release issued by the University of British Columbia

First Nations’ ancient medicinal clay shows promise against today’s worst bacterial infections

Media Release | January 26, 2016

Naturally occurring clay from Kisameet Bay, B.C. — long used by the Heiltsuk First Nation for its healing potential — exhibits potent antibacterial activity against multidrug-resistant pathogens, according to new research from the University of British Columbia.

The researchers recommend the rare mineral clay be studied as a clinical treatment for serious infections caused by ESKAPE strains of bacteria.

The so-called ESKAPE pathogens — Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae,Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter species — cause the majority of U.S. hospital infections and effectively ‘escape’ the effects of antibacterial drugs.

“Infections caused by ESKAPE bacteria are essentially untreatable and contribute to increasing mortality in hospitals,” said UBC microbiologist Julian Davies, co-author of the paper published today in the American Society for Microbiology’s mBio journal.

“After 50 years of over-using and misusing antibiotics, ancient medicinals and other natural mineral-based agents may provide new weapons in the battle against multidrug-resistant pathogens.”

The clay deposit is situated on Heiltsuk First Nation’s traditional territory, 400 kilometres north of Vancouver, Canada, in a shallow five-acre granite basin. The 400-million kilogram (400,000 tonne) deposit was formed near the end of the last Ice Age, approximately 10,000 years ago.

Local First Nations people have used the clay for centuries for its therapeutic properties—anecdotal reports cite its effectiveness for ulcerative colitis, duodenal ulcer, arthritis, neuritis, phlebitis, skin irritation, and burns.

“We’re fortunate to be able to partner with UBC on this significant research program” said Lawrence Lund, president of Kisameet Glacial Clay, a business formed to market cosmetic and medicinal products derived from the clay. “We hope it will lead to the development of a novel and safe antimicrobial that can be added to the diminished arsenal for the fight against the ESKAPE pathogens and other infection-related health issues plaguing the planet.”

In the in vitro testing conducted by Davies and UBC researcher Shekooh Behroozian, clay suspended in water killed 16 strains of ESKAPE bacteria samples from sources including Vancouver General Hospital, St. Paul’s Hospital, and the University of British Columbia’s wastewater treatment pilot plant.

No toxic side effects have been reported in the human use of the clay, and the next stage in clinical evaluation would involve detailed clinical studies and toxicity testing. Loretta Li, with UBC’s Department of Civil Engineering, is conducting mineralogical and chemical analyses of the clay as well. MITACS, Kisameet Glacial Clay Inc. and the Tally Fund supported the work.

Kisameet Clay Exhibits Potent Antibacterial Activity against the ESKAPE PathogensmBio American Society for Microbiology
January/February 2016 Volume 7 Issue 1 e01842-15

Possible Evidence of Ancient Trade?

There is a great "ah HA!" moment in this article.  The title is misleading - the contents of this wreck were recovered, evidently, sometime shortly after 1989 when the wreck was first discovered - but are first being analyzed now?  Hmmmm.  Anyway, fascinating:

Article from New Science.com
2000-year-old pills found in Greek shipwreck
Updated 10:57 10 September 2010 by Shanta Barley

In 130 BC, a ship fashioned from the wood of walnut trees and bulging with medicines and Syrian glassware sank off the coast of Tuscany, Italy. Archaeologists found its precious load 20 years ago and now, for the first time, archaeobotanists have been able to examine and analyse pills that were prepared by the physicians of ancient Greece.

DNA analyses show that each millennia-old tablet is a mixture of more than 10 different plant extracts, from hibiscus to celery.

"For the first time, we have physical evidence of what we have in writing from the ancient Greek physicians Dioscorides and Galen," says Alain Touwaide of the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of Natural History in Washington DC.

The box of pills was discovered on the wreck in 1989, with much of the medicine still completely dry, according to Robert Fleischer of the Smithsonian's National Zoological Park, also in Washington DC.

Herbal remedies
Fleischer analysed DNA fragments in two of the pills and compared the sequences to the GenBank genetic database maintained by the US National Institutes of Health. He was able to identify carrot, radish, celery, wild onion, oak, cabbage, alfalfa and yarrow. He also found hibiscus extract, probably imported from east Asia or the lands of present-day India or Ethiopia.

"Most of these plants are known to have been used by the ancients to treat sick people," says Fleischer. Yarrow staunched the flow of blood from wounds, and Pedanius Dioscorides, a physician and pharmacologist in Rome in the first century AD, described the carrot as a panacea for a number of problems. "They say that reptiles do not harm people who have taken it in advance; it also aids conception," he wrote around 60 AD.

The concoctions have also thrown archaeobotanists a few curve balls. Preliminary analyses of the ancient pills suggest they contain sunflower, a plant that is not thought to have existed in the Old World before Europeans discovered the Americas in the 1400s. If the finding is confirmed, botanists may need to revise the traditional history of the plant and its diffusion, says Touwaide – but it's impossible for now to be sure that the sunflower in the pills isn't simply from recent contamination.

Quacks no more
Drugs described by Dioscorides and another Greek physician known as Galen of Pergamon have often been dismissed as ineffectual quackery. "Scholars and scientists have often dismissed the literature on such medicines, and expressed doubt about their possible efficacy, which they attributed only to the presence of opium," says Touwaide. He hopes to resolve this debate by exploring whether the plant extracts in the pills are now known to treat illnesses effectively.

He also hopes to discover therian – a medicine described by Galen in the second century AD that contains more than 80 different plant extracts – and document the exact measurements ancient doctors used to manufacture the pills. "Who knows, these ancient medicines could open new paths for pharmacological research," says Touwaide.

The team presented their findings yesterday at the Fourth International Symposium on Biomolecular Archaeology in Copenhagen, Denmark.

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Just how did extract of sunflower get into those c. first
century BCE medicinal pills recovered from a ship wreck
dated to c. 130 BCE? Sunflowers were not supposed to
have been imported  into the Old World until after c. 1500
when the Spanish  invaders discovered them in America. 

Pray tell - how could sunflower contamination possibly have occurred? It's not like extract of sunflower is just floating around in people's pockets! Historians need to revise their history on the diffusion of the sunflower? - you betcha! But I won't hold my breath. Despite ever-growing evidence, there is such a reluctance to let go of the hypotheses formulated 150 years ago and admit that there was extensive trade going on between the old and new worlds long before 19th and early 20th century scholars say it did. What we need to do as a world is to kick out most of that old "accepted wisdom" and start over from square one -- re-examine EVERYTHING!  We have new tools and new view points.  Time to let go of that German-Anglo past brought to us by the rod-up-the-butt dudes with the beards and sideburns and move things into the 21st century. 

Info on the history of the sunflower from the National Sunflower Association (USA)

Seminar: Medicine, Health and Disease in Ancient Egypt

One of those oh-so-synchronicitous (is that a word?) events.  While I was blogging here earlier today about the brewing of beer in Nubia and the ancient Middle East that contained the antibiotic tretracycline and how ancient cultures probably used this specially brewed beer to treat various infective conditons, an email was parked in my inbox that I saw just now - about an upcoming seminar on Medicine, Health and Disease in Ancient Egypt.

Mr. Don and I attended a walking tour and lecture on the subject of medicine in ancient Egypt at the Met during our vacation to New York in May, 2009 and it was absolutely fascinating, and astounding too, the extent of their practical medical knowledge.  The ancient Egyptian nurses and doctors may not have understood the "science" behind their remedies but they knew what often worked.

Did you know that the kohl ancient Egyptians used to line their eyes contained a chemical not harmful to humans but that acted as a repellant to the flies that carried the microbe that caused Nile River blindness?

Unfortunately, I was not able to figure out how to copy the PDF accompanying the email notifying me of this event here.  So, here is a summary of the pertinent information.  Too bad, some of the graphics in the flyer are pretty cool. 

Medicine, Health and Disease in Ancient Egypt
A study day presented by Joyce Filer BA; Dip.Arch; M.Sc; M.Sc
formerly Curator of Human and Animal Remains, Dept. of Ancient Egypt and Sudan, British Museum, London

Saturday, 6 November, 2010
11 a.m. - 5 p.m.
University of London, Bloomsbury, London WC1

Please note: As places are limited, bookings must be received no later than 22 October 2010.
Cost  30 Pounds, to include afternoon refreshments.

Application Form:

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

MEDICINE, HEALTH & DISEASE in ANCIENT EGYPT STUDY DAY at: University of London

Hughes-Parry Hall (The Garden Halls), 19-26 Cartwright Gardens, Bloomsbury, London, WC1H 9EF
On: Saturday: 6 November 2010 : 11am - 5pm


Please send me ______ ticket/s for this event. I enclose a cheque/postal order for (total)
£ _______ made payable to Joyce Filer Cost £30

All personal details specified below, and a stamped addressed envelope are required when applying.

Send (with an SAE) to:

Joyce Filer
Accountability
4 Lowndes Court
London W1F 7HE

From:

Name: .........................................................
Address: .....................................................
..................................................................
Tel/email: ..................................................

Please note: Cheque payments must be received no later than: 22 October 2010
The Study Day is aimed at Adults. Children of secondary age need to request permission from the Organizer.

For further information please contact Richard email: rikki_promo@yahoo.co.uk Tel: 07973 695 168

Ancient Use of Antibiotics

People in ancient times were just as "smart" (or not) as we are today.  They had the ability to observe, experiment, and reach conclusions the same way we do.  They were keen observers of nature and their environments. What people wrote down in "recipe" books hundreds of years ago - all those botannicals and herbals just packed with information - that knowledge didn't just pop into being overnight - it was based on thousands of years of oral tradition, passed down generation after generation.  For all we know, some of the traditions may have come from Ice Age shamans.

The art of making antibiotics is nearly 2000 years old
Washington, Sept 2 (ANI): Scientists have discovered green fluorescence in Nubian skeletons indicating a tetracycline-labelled bone, a finding that shows that antibiotics were already in use nearly 2,000 years ago.

A chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Nubians showed they were regularly consuming tetracycline, most likely in their beer.

"It's becoming increasingly clear that this prehistoric population was using empirical evidence to develop therapeutic agents. I have no doubt that they knew what they were doing," said Emory anthropologist George Armelagos.

In 1980, he discovered what appeared to be traces of tetracycline in human bones from Nubia dated between A.D. 350 and 550. Armelagos and his fellow researchers later tied the source of the antibiotic to the Nubian beer. The grain used to make the fermented gruel contained the soil bacteria streptomyces, which produces tetracycline.

Mark Nelson of Paratek Pharmaceuticals, Inc found that the bones of these ancient people were saturated with tetracycline, showing that they had been taking it for a long time.

The ancient Egyptians and Jordanians used beer to treat gum disease and other ailments, Armelagos said, adding that the complex art of fermenting antibiotics was probably widespread in ancient times, and handed down through generations.

"Now we're going to compare the amount of tetracycline in the bones, and bone formation over time, to determine the dosage that the ancient Nubians were getting," he concluded.

The research is published in the American Journal of Physical Anthropology. (ANI)

Further coverage.