Levels of nutrients, essential for immune function, in food and in our bodies are in decline (see Nutrition); levels of toxins are simultaneously rising (see Toxins); certain genomic variations can make allergies and sensitivities much worse (see Individuality). These statements are also true of auto-immune disease, effectively allergy to our own tissues.

The BSEM has long been concerned at the risk of allergic responses triggered by genetically-modified foods, on which the evidence continues to grow.

Individuality

Genomic (inherited) and phenotypical (acquired) individuality determines our ability to cope with altered states of nutrition and toxicity, and with multiple other stresses.

Roger Williams’ seminal work Biochemical Individuality: The Basis for the Genetotrophic Concept was published in 1956, but it was not until the completion of the human genome project that we acquired a window into genomic individuality and its effects on health. The window is still small, but already we know that common genetic polymorphisms can dramatically influence our ability to detoxify exogenous chemicals, and that such variations can increase the probability of allergies and sensitivities (see Allergy) more than ten-fold. Failure to excrete toxins can also predispose to heart disease, cancer, and most of the diseases of the modern age (see Toxins). Other common polymorphisms can increase individual requirements for vitamins B12 and B2 (see Nutrition).

Environment

Our actions, not least in healthcare, influence the sustainability of the planetary environment. In the UK health amounts to 8.4% of GDP, in the USA twice that. Not only is the carbon footprint of healthcare enormous, but its capacity to pollute is even greater.

Pharmaceutical manufacturers pollute waters downstream of their factories, especially in the developing world; both contraceptive and chemotherapeutic drugs excreted by patients have been found in UK waters; hospital incinerators can pollute more than municipal ones due to their urban location; plasticisers in IV lines and many other chemical waste products are toxic to both humans and wildlife.

In the words of USA senator Barbara Mikulski; “How can we heal the person if we don’t heal the planet?” How much longer can we afford industrialised medicine? Ecological medicine seeks to develop an ethics of heathcare based on the inward impact of the environment on the individual and on the return loop of individual impact, both of patients and practitioners, on the environment.

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