By Alan Cocchetto, NCF Medical Director © 2019

From Summer 2019 Forum

The “Just Ask.’ ” column is intended to act as a means for patients to inquire about issues related to the NCF ‘s research activities. This column is NOT intended to act as medical advice in any way, shape or form.’ The National CFIDS Foundation assumes no responsibilities for any action or treatment undertaken by readers. For medical advice, please consult your own personal healthcare providers.

Q: Why don’t physicians or patients subscribe to the NCF’s internal radiation exposure model of CFIDS/ME?

A: Easy! Most people don’t have a fundamental k-n-o-w-1-e-d-e-g-e of radiation and this goes to both radiation exposure as well as the adverse resulting health effects, so that is an obstacle that must be overcome. As such, I am hoping that this column will help fellow patients to clarify some of this information in a straight forward and “easy to digest” manner. Until recently, the NCF has been up to their eyeballs with the focus on identifying the major cell mechanisms responsible for our disease progression. As you can imagine, keeping this vital research moving ahead continues to be our highest priority.

Also, those who haven’t subscribed to our intemal radiation model have yet to acknowledge even the slightest p-o-s-s-i-b-i-l-i-t-y that we patients have truly been canaries in the coal mine. Patients and doctors alike refuse to seriously consider the idea that our planet has been polluted and, therefore, corrupted by those who were supposed to be there to protect us (i.e., government agencies) and, unfortunately, have failed miserably '11 doing so. You don’t have to look very far to hear the cries of the Atomic Veterans, the bombings of people in Japan at Hiroshima and Nagasaki; and those whose lives were altered by notable nuclear disasters that include both Chernobyl and Fukushima. Think about all those who have been exposed over time due to the pollution generated by the nuclear industry, whether civilian or defense related. Many of these locations have become superfund cleanup sites here in the U.S. alone. Likewise, the U.S. doesn’t have a truly cohesive plan yet in place for all the high and low-level radioactive waste that is generated as a result of these operations. Should you have any doubt about what I’m talking about, then I recommend that you take a look at any of the many online bookstores on the web. There you will find many books on this topic and they all really say the same thing. . ..Houston, we have a problem!

As for the NCF’s own research, our data strongly suggests that internal radiation exposure to alpha-particles provides a serious link to our disease. It is very important to fundamentally understand how such a think could possibly occur here and elsewhere globally speaking. Such internal radiation exposure may occur via the air but, looking at all of our data, it most likely occurs via drinkable water or as a result of its incorporation into the food chain by a process known as bio amplification.

To reiterate again, for such cases identified above, internal radiation exposure represents a form of enviromnental toxicological exposure just like any other contaminant.

However, there are two key notable comments that must accompany the findings. These are:

(A) The amount or magnitude of the exposure, either ingested or inhaled, is i-n-f-i-n-i-t-e-s-i-m-a-l-l-y small. Scientists have previously published that exposure to one alpha-particle can cause cancer. This delineates radiation exposure from other environmental contaminants since most chemical exposures can be readily identified using advanced detection technologies that are available today, whereas the detection of minute amounts of high-energy alpha-particles in the human body presents a much greater diagnostic challenge.

(B) Since many alpha-radionuclides have very long half-lives, i-n-t-e-r-n-a-l-i-z-a-t-i-o-n of these particles represent the “gilt that keeps on giving.” For example, uranium has a very long half-life of more than 100,000 years. That means that in the human body, it acts like a p-e-r-s-i-s-t-e-n-t adverse stimulus to continually produce high-energy particles that act to further damage cells, tissues and organs via extreme cell damaging processes. What other things can do this month after month, year after year, decade after decade ad nauseum? This is what makes internal radiation exposure so dangerous and very dificult to deal with. As such, intemal exposure to high-energy alpha-particles represents an extremely serious threat to human life since the body was never meant to deal with this type of persistent high-energy stimulus nor to the continually damaging cell effects that result.

Looking back at what has been a major challenge associated with the diagnostic identification of such radiation particles, it sure would have been mich easier if all of these little molecules had been running around with little red flags attached to them for identification purposes but that, unfortunately, just wasn’t the case. This is where the effort had to be made in order to gain an understanding of the underlying disease mechanisms. Without the help, assistance and guidance of our research people, including a major contribution by Dr. Yoshitsugi Hokama, the NCF wouldn’t be where they are today knowledge-wise regarding radiation exposure and its connection to CFIDS/ME. For those who have followed us on the most difiicult scientific journey and have financially supported our research efforts, we are forever grateful.

Additional scientific information, expanding on our press release information wil be forthcoming in a future National Forum