Essential First Aid Item: Activated Carbon
| Written by Sarah Cain Thursday, 10 April 2008 00:25 |
  |
Activated carbon in powdered form should be in every medicine cabinet and first aid kit. It is also called activated charcoal. Activated charcoal is used around the world as a universal antidote for hundreds of poisons, including arsenic, mercury, pesticides, strychnine, warfarin, hemlock, E. Coli endotoxin, and petrol (gasoline). Over 4,000 chemicals, drugs, plant and microbial toxins, allergens, venoms, and wastes are effectively neutralized by activated charcoal when it is given in sufficient quantities. Activated charcoal is also an effective detox for practically any drug overdose if administered in time. It counteracts ingested aspirin, barbiturates, prozac, paracetamol (Tylenol), phenobarbital, amphetamines, cocaine, THC, morphine, opium, and the list continues endlessly.
In 1831, in front of his distinguished colleagues at the French Academy of Medicine, Professor Touery drank a deadly cocktail of strychnine and lived to tell the tale. He had combined the deadly poison with activated charcoal. This is how powerful activated charcoal is as an emergency decontaminate of the gastrointestinal tract. Activated charcoal is still considered to be the most potent general detoxification agent available.
In typical fashion, the medical establishment has begun suppressing this cheap, easy, and effective natural cure by discrediting it to promote pharmaceuticals. For example, the establishment is now claiming that activated charcoal does not work well against arsenic. However, the truth is found in charcoal's long history.
In 1813, French chemist Michel Bertrand swallowed five grams of arsenic trioxide: 150 times the lethal dose. He had mixed it with activated carbon beforehand. He experienced no nausea, no vomiting, no diarrhea, no excruciating cramping, no severe burning in the mouth or throat, no collapse, and no death. In a dangerous but dramatic way, he had avoided certain death demonstrating charcoal's phenomenal ability to neutralize poisons.
Nowadays, the medical establishment (and chemical industry) have begun promoting alumina (aluminum oxide) as a superior arsenic neutralizer. Aluminum is toxic itself. In fact, aluminum is known to be a cumulative heavy metal poison, which if left untreated, will have physical and mental health consequences for the remainder of the victim's life. Aluminum is so bad that it should be avoided in cookware. It is the primary cause of Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, alumina is much more profitable for the pharmaceutical companies. The real problem with charcoal is that it cannot be patented by drug companies to monopolize the market. The disinformation perpetuated by the pharmaceutical industry has reached such a scale that many water purifier companies are no longer including arsenic in their lists of toxins that their carbon filters remove, even though their filters do, in fact, remove it. This likely due to intimidation by the either the F.D.A. or its incestuous cousin the F.T.C., on behalf of the chemical industry. It would be standard procedure.
"The FDA protects the big drug companies, and is subsequently rewarded, and using the government's police powers, they attack those who threaten the big drug companies. People think that the FDA is protecting them. It isn't. What the FDA is doing, and what the public thinks it is doing are as different as night and day."
― Herbert Ley, former Commissioner of the F.D.A.
We have experienced the saving power of activated charcoal ourselves, when one member of our household experienced a severe allergic reaction to an unknown ingredient from a restaurant. We orally administered two teaspoons of dampened activated charcoal powder, followed by a glass of water. The allergic reaction began subsiding rapidly, and completely dissipated within thirty minutes. Activated carbon may have saved us from a visit to the hospital's emergency room, an injection of steroids (and only God knows what else), a stomach pump, and possibly the need for the victim to remain in the hospital for several days. I shall not even mention how much money that 3 cents of charcoal probably saved, or the amount of misery avoided.
We had prepared our activated charcoal by powdering filtration charcoal, which is used for fish aquariums. It has the same purpose for aquarium water: to extract various toxins from the water, including organic wastes. It is also found in some pharmacies. Regardless of where it is obtained, it should be powdered before it is stored, and dampened when used. It should be stored in an air-tight container, because it will absorb impurities from the air. Swallowing it damp prevents the powder from leaching into the lungs, where it could become dangerous. A glass of water should be consumed immediately afterward.
Exceptions: Activated charcoal is considered less effective in neutralizing cyanide, alcohols, ethanol, ethylene glycol, iron, lithium, methanol, mineral acids, and alkaline substances (usually lime or cleaning agents). Alcohols, in particular, appear to be immune to activated carbon.
Risks: Charcoal significantly decreases a body's absorption of all nutrients and medications. Because of this, frequent use of it is strongly discouraged. Activated charcoal may also cause abdominal pain or swelling in rare cases. If this occurs, contact a medical doctor immediately, since this could be an indication of intestinal bleeding or blockage. For mild cases of constipation, a person may self-treat with a hemp based fiber supplement.
Other Uses:
- Colon cleanse: activated charcoal binds intestinal toxins and unfriendly microbial growth and helps the body excrete them.
- Eliminates diarrhea, gas, and bloating
- Prevents hangovers: hangovers are usually caused by the chemical toxins put into beverages, and are not usually the result of alcohol consumption.
- Neutralizes food poisoning
- Neutralizes venomous bites (for instance the brown recluse spider bite) - taken both internally and externally.
- Toothache pain - made into a paste around the tooth.
Note: Charcoal briquettes like those used for outdoor grilling should never be used to make medical activated charcoal, and no part of them should ever be ingested.
Emergencies:
The phone number for the U.S. National Poison Control Center is: 1-800-222-1222.
Comments (14)
-
2010-08-24 17:44:08 | Thomas Corriher
Off the top of my head...
It is too late for the charcoal to do any good. The poison damaged your tissues, and it left you with scarring. It is unlikely that any of the poison remains in you.
D.M.S.O. is likely to be helpful at removing the scarring. Just make sure not to use it internally, and make certain everything (including your skin) is surgically clean, because D.M.S.O. is known to pull other chemicals into the body. Please reference our precautionary notes about D.M.S.O. from the article, Curing The Blistering Skin Condition Known As Milia: Treating Adult Onset Milia
M.S.M. might be helpful too, if taken as a supplement.
Also, be sure to get some sunlight exposure as often as possible, because this will help the skin flush the excess cholesterol reserves.
I'll get Sarah researching specific remedies to the scarring caused by brown recluse spider venom, and hopefully we'll be able to return to this with better information.
-
2009-11-15 00:24:11 | Sarah Cain
Hey Danielle,
I apologize for taking several days to get back to you. I did do some research on Brown Recluse bites, but didn't find any information that would be useful to you a month after the initial bite. Thomas did offer some suggestions which may help you to regrow damaged tissue in his comment; but there is little else that I can recommend.
We will almost certainly be posting an article about Brown Recluse bites in the near future, but unfortunately, this will only help those who take action soon after the bite.
Some people in your position would opt for a plastic surgeon, but we would recommend a little prayer first. Pray hard if you go for surgery.
-
2010-10-08 11:41:24 |IP:66.226.34.xxx| linda
well,thank you for share your article
I like your article very much, and I would appreciate it if you can write more article about this.
-
2010-12-06 09:24:44 |IP:24.68.225.xxx| nick name Micky - Activated Charcoal
Can Activated Charcoal cause pain in the brain? After I took some Activated Charcoal I noticed a pain in my brain of the left side.
-
2011-01-05 04:43:55 |IP:86.148.185.xxx| Brown - AluminiumOxide
I found myself incredibly disapointed at this article for the mention of Aluminium Oxide use on Arsenic. The conspiracy-theory-esque inexpertise of the layman is felt sharply throughout this article, but nowhere more clearly than where the author seems to think that just because Aluminium Oxide has Aluminium in it, it automatically makes it toxic. Strangely enough, the addition of the Oxide part of the name means it is a different substance. Dialuminium Trioxide (Al2O3) to be exact.
Unless you know of a way in which the human body can change with the Al2O3 to return it to it's element, which would be difficult to envisage since Aluminium is not used in any way by the body, i would say there is absolutely zero chance of Aluminium poisoning resulting from Al2O3 being used as a medicine. That is not to say it is more or less effective at treating arsenic poisoning, but it is not going to do any harm. Saying it is is like saying your activated carbon is going to do harm, because Carbon Monoxide is poisonous. They are unrelated.
I would also like to point out that compared to many other heavy metals, Aluminium isnt even particularly toxic. Certain it is not "the primary cause of Alzheimer's disease." A dubious claim at best, completely made up at worst. As of yet there is not concrete evidence that Aluminium has any effect on Alzheimers, let alone that it is the "primary cause". An idea i can only imagine was given to you during the brief, brief occasions wherein you remove the tin-foil hat you wear to keep the Pharmaceutical companies from accessing the chip in your brain.
I would truly love to hear how you intend to stop people from consuming Aluminium at any rate, which is in groundwater supplies everywhere and is almost ubiquitous, being the most abundant metal on earth. Aluminium cookware is certainly safe at least, thanks to the fact that Aluminium is covered at all times by a protectice sheath of completely non-poisonous Al2O3 wherever it is in contact with the air, which means that it is unlikely any aluminium will ever be accidentally consumed even if deep scratches are made in the cookware.
Please get an education before you make such bizarre claims.
-
2011-08-31 02:17:47 | Thomas Corriher
There is no form of aluminum that is non-toxic. It doesn't matter what you mix it with. It is always a toxic "heavy metal". Therefore, recommending aluminum cookware exposes that you are evil. You are actually using this media outlet to find ways of encouraging people to consume more aluminum, so your true agenda is exposed. You have actually proven the very conspiracy (to poison us ignorant fools) that you tried to mock.
By the way, how exactly is a person's health helped by the addition of aluminum to vaccines, or anti-freeze for that matter? Are they there to build a healthy immune system? Us fools would really love to hear about it from the experts.
There is strong evidence of aluminum causing Alzheimer’s from alternative practitioners reversing it (at least partially) and fully halting its progression by way of heavy metal cleanses. We know that removing the aluminum removes the Alzheimer's, in large part, so we can know with certainty that Alzheimer's is, in large part, caused by aluminum toxicity (if not completely). Take for instance that Ronald Reagan's Alzheimer's was probably caused by impurities in the manufacturing of jelly beans, which he so loved.
We get lots of chemists and pharmacists like the one above who come here (or e-mail us) to "school us" about "how things work". We've grown tired of embarrassing them. Anyone who doubts us is free to examine this official MSDS (Material Safety Data Sheet) about the specific toxicity of aluminum oxide.
Readers are reminded that the topic of the debate here is the safety of oral consumption of aluminum oxide, so these are some of my favorite lines from the manufacturer's document:
Quote:"May be harmful if swallowed."
"If swallowed, seek medical advice immediately and show this container or label."
"Protective Equipment: Gloves. Lab coat. Dust respirator. Be sure to use an approved/certified respirator or equivalent. Splash goggles."
"Irritating to eyes and skin."
"Keep out of the reach of children."
"May cause cancer (tumorigenic) according to animal data."
"Reactive with oxidizing agents, acids." (Reminder: This is to be medically used in the stomach.)
"Personal Protection in Case of a Large Spill: Splash goggles. Full suit. Dust respirator. Boots. Gloves. A self contained breathing apparatus should be used to avoid inhalation of the product. Suggested protective clothing might not be sufficient; consult a specialist BEFORE handling this product."
-
2011-08-30 09:49:27 |IP:173.216.127.xxx| alan - Chemists and Pharmacists
Please listen to these people and heed their advice. Regardless of what Thomas says, Pharmacists & chemists are never to be scoffed at. They most certainly know more about that of which they speak. Please pay attention to their advice.
-
2011-08-31 01:49:21 | Thomas Corriher
Anyone who is arrogant enough to believe that they are in an elite class which can never be questioned is definitely the very type of person that the rest of us should be scoffing at. The rest of us means 'ignorant fools', of course.
Our adversaries are typically like this. They are so blinded by their own arrogance that they unintentionally help us to make our points better than we could have otherwise. Thanks for that, by the way. It's really beautiful, and a real pleasure to post such commentary. It is small a reminder to us that we are winning.
Don't listen! Obey your superior masters!
Could anything else make our point better?
I'd be happy to help our pro-pharmaceutical friend put his money where his mouth is, if he had the guts to expose himself. The wager would begin by me sending him some aluminum salts for him to consume. I'd love to send him about 20 pounds of that "safe" stuff, and then document his mental condition 5 years later. Of course, he wouldn't remember any of this, or the wager itself, due to the Alzheimer’s. I'd even be happy to throw in some high-potency fluoride too.
In the meantime, thanks again. By all means, please feel free to silence us some more.
-
2011-09-01 08:54:25 |IP:98.220.10.xxx| whitney - sources?
Hi Thomas,
Instead of all this he said/she said bickering, will you please consider sharing a list of used sources at the end of each article (especially for articles that could be deemed more controversial). It would be even better to add citations in the form of footnotes, much like Wikipedia does. The bolder the claim, the bulkier the sources, I always say. It's your best defense.
-
2011-09-01 20:33:24 | Thomas Corriher
We don't need a defense, and I can assure you that you won't be putting us into a defensive position.
I was tempted to just delete the above post, due to the fact that we are being compared to Wikipedia in statements about journalistic credibility. Well done, if your goal was to be as insulting as possible.
Our source is THE MANUFACTURER, you imbecile, so our information is "credible". Our other source, for use of the alternative of charcoal, can be verified at any hospital in the United States, the Internet, or any public library. Would you like a list of hospital phone numbers, or would that also be just too much trouble for you to read? Finally, WE are a credible news source, with over 500 VERY WELL researched reports (most taking several of us over a week in research).
If all this is not good enough for you and you STILL don't want to believe us, or do anything except hurl insinuations about our media, then by all means, please consume some aluminum whenever you get poisoned. Be aware that we REALLY don't care if you do, or if you do not believe us. We're not here to help people like you. We're here for the decent ones, who can actually be helped.
-
2011-11-07 14:38:31 |IP:66.189.101.xxx| Ljarvis - Thomas is right...and you may not know this...
Those pretty white stripes you see planes spraying in the sky everyday?? Well, it's aluminum folks. And there's nothing you can do about it...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf0khstYDLA&NR=1
-
2011-11-10 10:29:16 |IP:99.252.7.xxx| Stephanie - tooth ache pain
It says on your site that I can use the charcoal and make a paste for toothache pain, how do I do this, and what should I use for the paste? Water?
-
2011-12-28 10:55:06 | Kathleen
I read years ago about increased aluminium found in Alzheimer's patients brains upon autopsy. My family used Wear-Ever Cookware, and my mother had a habit of storing food in them which is not recommended, especially acidic food such as tomatoes. This does break down the aluminium, which was evident by the pitting in the pots. I got ride of my Wear-Ever Cookware and do not store food in anything but glass. I suspect aluminium is only part of the equation, so why take the chance.
Powered by Compojoom comment 4.1.5 stable
I bought some activated carbon at walmart. the pet aisle. i got bit by a brown recluse over a month ago. i heard i can use it. How do i put it on? The bit was on my leg. Do I mix it with water?