In the past few years, scientists have learned more about the role that the adrenal hormone, cortisol, plays in the disease process. There are few times throughout history that more collective cortisol, in response to stress, has ever been released than on September 11, 2001. Some hypothesize that inhaling all of the dust at Ground Zero coupled with insurmountable cortisol activity might have reduced immunity significantly in those that remained behind to assist in the cleanup. That reduced immunity might have contributed to what Albert Einstein College of Medicine in New York City referred to as “Persistent Hyperreactivity and Reactive Airway Dysfunction in Firefighters at the World Trade Center.” The article, published in the American Journal of Respiratory Critical Care in Medicine (2003;168:54-62), refers to the emergence in the 14,000 firefighters, emergency medical service workers and police officers of what is referred to as the “WTC Cough.” I say “emergence” because some of these brave workers had pulmonary or respiratory problems before 9/11, but most did not, and it is these workers that this and other research papers focus on.

As is the case in all diseases, if we knew the cause, fixing it would be possible. Unfortunately, stress plus inhalation of toxins, plus lack of sleep, plus poor dietary patterns, plus, plus, plus…has spelled disaster for these workers. Thousands are turning up in hospitals where pulmonary specialists are writing prescriptions for inhalers and cortisone at a rapid pace. What, they must wonder, is the cause of their breathing problems? If it were exclusively lung problems, I’d have to guess that a Ground Zero poison like asbestos was the sole culprit. But the workers have died of sarcoidosis, pulmonary complications, and even cancer.

As Dr. A. V. Constantini has pointed out in his publications, fungal metabolites (mycotoxins) can cause each of these maladies, and many more. And if we’re thinking fungus, remember one more important clue in the fungal hypothesis: These people are turning up in hospital after hospital, breeding grounds for nosocomial fungal infections. The journal Medical Mycology recently reported that hospital fungal infections were “increasingly common” and that the risk factors for fungal infections in hospitals “continue to rise in frequency.” Perhaps situational stress coupled with a persistent cough exacerbates or even worsens when visits to hospitals, where more spores are inhaled, are involved.

Do you ever wish you could do something to help these wonderful people?

For argument's sake, let’s say that I’m wrong! Fungus is absolutely not involved at all, and I’m a nut for even writing about it. OK, let’s say another microorganism is causing these diseases…a remote bacteria or virus. Pharmacies do not have “multiorganism bullets,” but so much is documented on the ability of natural products like garlic, olive leaf extract and fatty acid coconut extracts (to name very few) to safely assist people in reversing germ assaults. Further, given that those within the vicinity of Ground Zero also have these mysterious health problems, would it not make sense to place a stateof- the-art, anti-germ air treatment system in every household within a five-mile radius of Ground Zero?

While you still have this great magazine in your hands, please find two wonderful companies within these pages that I believe might really help many who continue to suffer in New York: BioActive Nutrients has natural, safe, inexpensive products that assist in cleansing the inside, while the Pionair Air Treatment System cleanses indoor air. Both are fine, long-standing companies. I know the presidents of both firms as they are Know the Cause! advertising clients.

If you know anyone who could benefit from this “inside-out” approach, please let them know what you read about in this magazine! Until next time...

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