The Science of "Air Pharmacology" or "Chemtrails"

This is the simpler "Chemtrails-Lite" paper.

By: Jim Phelps
Copyright 2005

Click here for the Chemtrails in Depth Page.

I. DISCOVERY OF THE CHEMTRAILS SCIENCE

Many people look into the skies and see lines being caused by commercial aircraft and fail to associate that these are part of a large DOE project called "Global Shield." Global Shield is about making man's activities on the environment more constructive than destructive. Human activities damaged the cloud systems by careless activities with chemicals and the Global Shield technique seeks to mediate this damage.

I invented the Global Shield concepts at Oak Ridge National Lab back in the mid-1980s after finding that human activities had damaged the cloud shielding systems for the planet that was causing Global Warming and a rise in CO-2 in the atmosphere. Global Shield was the beginning of the weather control techniques using "Global Systems Engineering" concepts, which Jim Phelps was the inventor.

Global Shield is the most successful of the global warming re-mediation methods and literally uses all commercial jet flights to seed cloud systems over continents, which also cause increases in clouds over polar regions to slow down the ice melts and help the oceans absorb more CO-2 from the atmosphere.

Global Systems Engineering is about efforts to make human activities harmonize with the natural order of nature on Earth. There are many interesting concepts that are presented below that encompass everything from atmospheric sciences, human health, history, and religion that speak to the investigation of these harmonizing methods.

The simplest way to explain the how and why chemtrails work and exist is presented below.

The simplest way to explain chemtrails turns out to be to show how the discoveries for the process actually happened. The beginning of what would grow to become the science of chemtrails methods began with my interests in volcanoes.

Volcanoes are important because they setup the atmosphere's baseline, as the volcanic emissions actually formed the atmosphere over the ages of this planet.

Volcano releases have acid and metal effects that involve the chemtrails issues. Volcanoes emit both acids and metal compounds that are hygroscopic and set up the factors that form clouds. One can observe the effects around many active volcanoes can support a desert on one side and a lush rain forest on the other side, due to the prevailing winds and these hygroscopic emissions causing increased rainfall.

I was on top of volcanoes in Hawaii in the early 80s when I began to notice interesting effects and experiencing the acid emissions directly. Later, I was flying around these volcanoes in airplanes and noticed how they set up the island's weather patterns. That began the concept of using plane emissions to do the same things.

A nice museum and many plaques tell the story of the releases of Hawaii volcanoes sitting in the middle of the Ring of Fire and the story of the most violent volcanoes like Krakatoa that sit on the rim of the Ring of Fire fault system. All this started the ball rolling for chemtrails in the early 80s.

The first ideas for chemtrails involved these simple associations for making clouds and rain to change the climate. Mother Nature has long used volcanoes for setting up weather patterns and the idea of using jet plane emissions to do the same was a simple association. Volcanoes emit hygroscopic metal sulfides and to make the same thing from sulfur laden jet fuels and coal releases of sulfuric acid only takes the emission of fine metal particles into the air by planes.

The chemtrails "Generation 1" ideas for making clouds and setting up climate change patterns that were beneficial for climate change compensation came from the effects of these slow releases of volcanoes that long term modify weather local to their emissions. These are dominantly sulfur-based emissions, with some chlorine, that dominate these weather generation effects.

Looking into sulfur based volcanic systems turned up an incident where a volcanic rift intersected the edge of an oil field and produced an impressive visual effect and one of the most important sulfur compounds on Earth. The study of this effect where hydrocarbons from crude oil were heated and supplied with sulfur from a volcanic rift produced one of the most interesting sulfur compounds called dimethylsulfide, CH3SCH3 or DMS. DMS is associated with making clouds due to its volatility and its insolubility in water. DMS will form DMSO due to OH oxidation, and DMSO is a very hygroscopic gas that forms clouds. In oceans, it is part of what is called The Sulfur Cycle and plays a dominate role in the Earth's temperature regulation. There will more on this Gaia factor later in the text.

The loss of the clouds shielding the area around the poles upsets the process of CO-2 entering solution with ocean water, which sequesters huge amounts of CO-2 from the atmosphere. As the UV-b impacts the phytoplankton nearer the poles the oceans surface waters heat up more than normal and this lowers the entrapment for CO-2 in the oceans, and it lowers the phytoplankton's uptake of CO-2 leading to more carbon sequestration on the ocean floor. The rise of CO-2 in the atmosphere from this process leads to higher air temperatures and increasing storm energies.

The chemtrails "Generation 2" ideas for making clouds using jet planes used the idea of a volcanic detonation effect as from the Krackatoa's explosion around 540 AD or so. This volcano caused massive global shielding of the Sun and caused huge amounts of rainfall all around the globe. It took weeks for the material that was injected high into the skies to stop the rainfall effects and still some of them lingered on for years afterwards.

Generation 2 chemtrails methods use injections of huge amounts of large particles of water to seed rain, as in the ocean volcano type effects.

The issue of can it be done was easy to consider, as mother nature had been doing this all along and man just jumped into the loop to modify some of the mother nature effects using the same methods employing global jet planes. Man damaged the UV layer causing the global warming problems by lowering global DMS levels, and now there was a partial way to compensate by using man's planes to make clouds.

It should help those that are in search of the reasons for chemtrails to include these rather simple ways by which they were discovered.

To get a the basic start for fully understanding chemtrails, one should look at the volcanic emission effects on nature and weather. How the acids, metals, sulfur compounds, and water vapor change this weather patterns. One good way to study the metal and acid compounds is to lay hands on a book called "Hawley's Condensed Chemical Dictionary." This book is essential for understanding the Generation 1 chemtrail methods.

II. THE DISCOVERY OF THE HF AND NFx INJECTION VECTOR

The next step in the direction toward the need for the chemtrails discovery came from a serious problem that I discovered from the Oak Ridge Gaseous Diffusion plants losses of UF-6 and hydrogen fluoride, HF. Oak Ridge was having elevated numbers of thyroid illnesses and other chronic illness problems that were tracked down to the high losses of HF.

The health problem were quickly found and the mechanism for them identified. When the problem with HF was spotted I was looking at how it was lighter than air and was going to be a problem in the atmosphere. It was not an easy problem to spot as HF is hygroscopic and tends to stay at the lower altitudes, and the key to the HF problem was the same one as the ozone hole problem, the UV effects. It turns out that when the HF is hit with UV radiation it makes a free fluorine atom, which will combine with the nitrogen in the air, as the air is 75% nitrogen. This formed a compound that was not hygroscopic and would inject into the upper atmosphere like the NOx type compounds.

When that was discovered, another principle problem that was driving global warming effects was also spotted. The NFx compounds only reacted with hydrocarbons in the atmosphere and produce lighter ones (CH4, methane) that would ride on top of the atmosphere and highly absorb IR radiation heat. This was what would drive the secretive needs for the chemtrails process. Coal emissions from power plants were dumping lots of HF into the atmosphere and this was directly contributing to global warming.

Lots of people think the rise in CO2 concentrations from industry and cars is the prime problem with global warming, but this is not the case. There is a much larger problem driving global warming that the US likes to conceal and it is the HF factor and the UV damage to phytoplankton that upsets the DMS emissions and DMSO induced low level cloud formation. The case for CO-2 being the prime factor is distorted, as what is driving the higher levels of CO2 in the atmosphere is the UV damage to the ocean's phytoplankton. This is the dominant or critical factor for the rise in CO2 in the atmosphere. It is also the dominant factor in the fall of DMS levels in the Sulfur Cycle, which plays a dominant role in Global Warming. So, to control CO-2 levels and DMS concentrations one controls emission of the ozone depletion chemicals first. And likewise, the HF problems of global warming are highly dominated by this UV effect. So, the US can kill two problems at once by controlling the ozone depletion chemical emissions. This is why CFC Freon was banned shortly after these discoveries in the mid-80s at ORNL.

In Oak Ridge, they were very familiar with how to trap HF in the air and the two main methods are alumina reactions or absorption into water "bubbler" tanks. So, the Generation 1 method of chemtrails used fine alumina, which as it fell in the atmosphere with acids made hygroscopic sulfur compounds that would induce rain. Thus, one method to lower the available HF in the atmosphere was seeding with metals to induce more frequent rains. The Generation 2 method was about adding more hydrogen to the jet fuel to make denser droplets that was form ice and seed rain from lower clouds. There were two principle ways to lower the atmospheric concentrations of HF using jet planes as the catalysts. Generation 1 methods were more quick to implement with the existing jet engines and the Generation 2 methods required the redesign of jet engines for much higher compression ratios.

This is why the chemtrails science is so intimately connected to the Oak Ridge problems, their chemical processes, and their need to cover up these very serious problems. Chemtrails are an Oak Ridge discovery and invention, principally due to my interests and findings on HF problems connected to these poorly run DOE operations.

III. THE CHEMTRAILS WHISTLEBLOWER

Normally one would expect that when the US Govt. finds something this helpful or important toward solving a serious problem like global warming they would be talking it up, but there is a reason they don't. It is an unusual problem that many would not easily associate, but it is the prime information they seek to hide by not admitting to the HF problems, the use of chemtrails for HF removal, and climate modification by falling DMS levels in the atmosphere.

It was noted that volcano emissions sciences kicked off the invention of the chemtrail mechanisms. Volcanoes were used as some of the prime examples for climate modification. I looked up all the volcanoes and fault zones on the Earth and found some interesting associations. The first thing I found was that the largest volcano on the planet is Mt. Ararat in Turkey. Then a person named Ron Wyatt from Tennessee was speaking about the Red Sea Crossing in the news around 1985 and I noted the fault zones there and the words in the bible that sounds like a volcanic release.

So, I was checking and found the real Mt. Sinai that Ron Wyatt had proposed in Saudi Arabia was very plausible when one included the climate change effects from this active volcanic zone. One could well support a lot of people in the area, if the volcanic releases were making rainfall to grow things. This would be a property of the high sulfur compound releases from this volcano, especially when DMS / DMSO entered the equation. Then another piece fell into place with the Mt. Ararat association with the Euphrates valley Garden of Eden, using the same type cause and effects. Then even the issues of the story of Noah's Ark and the big rains could be explained by something like a huge volcanic detonation effect like in the case of Krakatoa.

The volcanic emissions effects supported the land bridge creation due to the heavy rains washing the sand into a shallow land bridge across the Gulf of Aqaba area where Ron Wyatt's discoveries of markers indicated the crossing point was located. There was a range of volcanoes in this area with the underlying magma chamber systems that would support rise in elevations of the fault zone plates of this area, and the releases of many sulfur compounds to the air.

The Gulf of Aqaba land bridge being passable happened in conjunction with the tides and the underground pressures in these magma chamber systems to push up this area. The high pressure also blew hot flammable gases like H2S and others from natural gas of this oil rich region leaking into these chambers that would result in a huge release of flames from an up-thrust religion of Mt. Sinai. When the factor of this volcanic rift zone intersecting an oil rich region came better into view, the emissions of the highly important DMS compound was found. When the magma chamber deep underground was highly pressurized with the gas rich magma, it produced huge volumes of flammable gases that would be jetted high into the air over Mt. Sinai and cause the "Column of Fire," and the land bridge across the Red Sea. Mt. Sinai was a very special volcanic effect that happened due to the high sulfur magma of this volcanic chain and some oil and natural gas system contributions. This burned the top of this mountain with intense heat periodically.

Those associations all made sense, the more we looked, and all the great minds of ORNL came to accept those as examples of climate change models involving volcanic effects. I had succeeded in writing an enhanced understanding of the Bible's narratives. I had found the highly important DMS compound that is part of the Earth's Sulfur Cycle was involved and this helped to set up the climate change rainfall patterns that enriched the area for farming. On that day back in the mid-80s science literally met religion head on and helped to give better insight into how Mother Nature influences climate. It was just like the effects that I had observed around Hawaii volcanoes and others whose persistent emissions changed their local climate, except now I had the oceans contribution of DMS into that global cloud forming system that regulates the temperature of the Earth. The DMS effect became the prime issue for global warming, climate change, and species extinction.

The finding of the DMS emissions from Moses Mountain explained the story of the Manna that the Jews gathered from the grass in the mornings. The material would fall from the sky in the cooler night air and had to be gathered in the morning to avoid the sunlight and UV conversion of it into its oxidized form, DMSO, that was very water soluble and would float off into the moist regions air. The DMS showed up how the compound seeded clouds in the region and changed the region climate into a climate with rain for crops and abundance of water from springs. The DMS / DMSO compound is very important for crop growth, animal and human health. It supports the glutathione enzyme systems in plants and animals that regulates toxic metals within cells and their clearance from the body. The association of DMS with the Story of Moses became the finding of the Holy Grail or highest truth in religion.

Now, one can see that these type associations begin to cause some serious problems for the world of religion that has been ignoring these effects. Things were not what had been advertised. God was obviously becoming more about Mother Natures effects and the writings of Moses from the Torah more inspired by the Egyptian School of Mysteries that was about study of Natural Order of the Earth and Stars. The US saw extreme upsets for Israel that bases its existence on these religion factors, which were beginning to not support their claims.

The last thing one would expect would be that chemtrails and the chemtrails sciences were covered up in the Reagan days due to foreign policy more than anything else. Reagan pandered to all the Jews and this was in large part how he came to office. Jewish alliances are associated with big money in the US and banking organizations like the Rothschilds and the closely associated Rockefeller banking, oil, and medicine groups.

There are some factions that appear to have known these problems for a long time and not told others about it, which gets into some huge issues of fraud. Obviously, all in the oil business would well associate that a volcanic rift intersecting an oil field would make a natural refinery process, and it appears these groups gained the idea on refining oil from this old knowledge. These groups that have become too powerful in the US would have become the protectors of this problem in religion. This appears why the GOP is so church and religion oriented, as their wealth depends on keeping this problem concealed.

My common sense and easy to find discoveries became something the US valued, secretly implemented, but did not want the public to know about. It was something that would upset organized religion everywhere.

It is an unusual set of problems, mistakes, and outright lies that led to the need for the chemtrails solution, but it is one that is becoming public with all the people asking the right questions about all the lines in the skies over their heads. This is the sorted story of how they came to be there.

IV. THE DISCOVERY OF THE SCIENCE THAT EXPLAINED THE BIBLICAL PROPHICIES

The readers of this thread that thought the first three installments were interesting may find this one the most interesting of them all. As the ideas for chemtrails came into reality, there was a problem connected to raining out all the acids and metals onto the soils. The acids caused the liberation of toxic metals (aluminum particularly) into the food and water chain, so some sort of compensation method had to be included. The volcanic atmosphere models are driven by sulfur compounds and sulfuric acid, but human coal burning releases are dominated by 75% hydrochloric acid releases, which changes the metastatic environmental metals profile to much more aluminum metal. This effect plays a huge role in illness and disease for grazing animals and humans.

Rising fluorine in the environment does several things. One is that it increases the rate of fluorine accumulation in the bone mass and this rising effect upsets the essential trace metals in the bloodstream and deprives them from cells that need them for enzyme processes. Fluorine is a key factor in the reduction of available manganese in the cells of the body that set up the process for HIV infection and transmission. The rising fluorine in the body makes a G-protein like AlFx compound that triggers thyroid hormones and mimics the pituitary's TSH. Human illnesses and death literally track the bone concentration of fluorine and sets the pattern for all illnesses and death via this process. The effect with fluorine altering manganese availability levels of cells is the key to HIV. It was something partially learned in the times of Moses.

In looking at the Mt. Sinai connected volcanic range around Midian, it was found the area had lots of gold mines. Then another association came into view on how these high sulfur basalt volcanic flows tended to melt and concentrate gold. Gold is very non-reactive and just tends to melt and collect in low places as veins in these flow releases over gold deposits. This became one of the issues of how the "Throne of David" came into so much gold to build their gold lined temple for their god.

Another issue for gold mining is that it is extracted from gold ore by crushing the ore and then using mercury to form an amalgam. This increases the production of gold from stone ore material. To recover the gold from the mercury amalgam one only needs to heat the amalgam and leave behind the pure gold. This process makes people sick from the mercury fumes, and some learned that fine gold particles taken into the body would remove mercury via a like amalgam process and excrete it from the body.

Moses' Mountain provided interesting clues as to how human health was affected from both extremes of nature and that of processing gold. The DMS related Manna provided sulfur that helps to remove toxic metals from cells via boosting GSH enzyme liver processes and the fine particle gold type manna helped to extract mercury from the body.

The volcanic sulfur releases suspended many toxic metals as hygroscopic metal fluorides into the air to combine with water vapor in the air and how the gold would tend not to react and fall out of the plume. We began to associate these effects to the Israelites collecting something they called "Manna" off the plants in the downwind plume of the volcano releases. Manna was essentially the dimethylsulfide (DMS), gold dust, and various metals. Consuming DMS and/or gold would combat the toxic effects of HF. Gold could complex with fluoride and remove it from the body to avoid the AlFx compounds formation that upset thyroid hormone processes and health.

The specialness of metallic gold particles on health began a look for another non-toxic metal, as gold was far too expensive to use. Another metal that could be used to dust the landscape more inexpensively could protect animals from the toxic effects of chemtrails raining down poison acids like HF and the liberation of the toxic metals (Al) from soils via the acids. Titanium showed up quickly as being very non-toxic in dental studies and being extremely plentiful and cheap. Titanium became one of those metals used for dusting large areas to combat the toxic effects of HF. Titanium complexed with fluorine was harmless, while fluorine complexed with aluminum shut down the glutathione enzyme and immune system.

Noticing these volcano effects of a very non reactive metal that was the major property of the gold Manna effect used by the Israelites was another large clue that set up the idea of using titanium. The titanium idea for humans involved putting the material in foods as a colorant and into many different foods and medicines. This would increase the titanium levels in the population and became a crude mimic for the gold manna techniques that were discovered from the volcano effects from biblical times.

The gold medicinal effects appear to have been explored more deeply when the Israelites were captured and taken to Baghdad to live. Here batteries were invented in the times long before Christ. Batteries are the secret for making colloidal metals and colloidal gold, which is one of the better manna related production methods. It appears those of the temple gave up this secret of their god like volcano work, and how it protected immune health and cognitive brain function. It was refined to a new level, without the volcano heat being needed for the task.

The airborne titanium method pulled the NOx compounds from the air, when distributed by dusting. Military planes do these type dustings on the areas with the highest air traffic and coal releases. The effect is designed to keep down the "scrappie" and prion related illnesses in grazing animals. The dangerous prion formation begins in the lymph nodes from the effects of fluorine and aluminum toxic effects. Interesting enough, this seems the same effect that Noah wanted to protect animals from in the times of the great flood that was connected to a huge volcanic detonation.

More and more bits of information from the bible narratives began to make sense in the light of modern science. The key to understanding the fluoride-metal complex danger lies in how some of the fluoride-metal compounds can affect cell G-protein sites. It is similar to how aluminum is used in vaccines as an adjuvant to make the immune system dendritic cells remember the vaccines pathogen longer. In the case of AlFx, this happens naturally and hinders the immune system so that it can't respond to new stimulus. The effect was even associated with women's breast cancer rates via the aluminum present in many deodorants. Newer deodorants don't use aluminum and actually use a chelation agent called EDTA to help remove aluminum from the skin and body.

The rising levels of fluorine in the environment contribute to the more rapid build up of bone fluorine concentration, and with that comes serious alterations of the beneficial trace metals needed for cell enzyme functions. The bone build up of fluorine concentration literally predicts all illness and death curves due to the Al trace metal factor and fluorine. It is the very same way that cryolite fluoride-aluminum pesticides kill bugs by trace metal metabolism alteration, just more slowly with the lower doses to humans. This is an effect that the Chiropractors around Oak Ridge were close to discovering and one of the largest secrets that the AMA based medicine practices don't want the public to discover. All the money from death and illness comes principally from this highly dominant, but simple effect of fluorine and aluminum in the human body.

V. THE GATEKEEPER FOR REVELATIONS

Chemtrails science leads to a very sinister world as it exposes problems with both how governments have been run and the original ideas for religion. Chemtrails science literally leads to exposing a multi-headed hydra like beast of Revelations prophecies. I tend to call the origin of this problem a "Demon-Seed" and its intention is to support the "Anti-Christ."

Once one follows the details that led to the invention of chemtrails sciences one can spot the interesting holes in religion's claims. It is these holes that reveal some of the reasons for the secret societies like the War oriented "Skull and Bones" club a Yale University and the Masons, who literally laid the foundations for the US. These are the basis for corrupt organizations in the US that control the US Govt. and the Congress itself.

If one studies these factors deeply one finds there has been a long standing corrupt organization that many like to call the "Shadow Government" that highly usurps the power of the citizens of the US to run their country. This shadow Government is largely the Dynasty of Prescott Bush and his Military / Industrial Network that has alliances with big banking and those that keep this problem in religion suppressed. It is this group to which Oak Ridge went to get the chemtrails projects silently implemented.

The corruption part of the story takes some times to explain and is covered in great detail on the main chemtrails page. For those that have been partially oriented here and want to know more please read more here: CHEMTRAILS IN DEPTH REVIEW.

REFERENCES:

The Ron Wyatt story:

"http://www.wyattmuseum.com/mount-sinai-02.htm"

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Note: Recent studies show the dominance of phytoplankton of the oceans in global oxygen supply and similarly in CO2 conversion. Areas around the poles are more heavily affected by UV damage to this very important and dominant CO2 conversion factor and source for DMS. Rising UV is the global Sulfur Cycle's main damage factor.

"http://www.worldchanging.com/archives/002249.html"

Measuring Phytoplankton
To Know It for the First Time - Place, Environment and Ecology

Phytoplankton -- microscopic plant forms floating in the oceans -- are the closest thing on the planet to the underlying fuel for life. Phytoplankton are at the base of the marine food chain, and produce around half of the oxygen in our atmosphere. We know that they bloom and are consumed quickly; phytoplankton have an annual production comparable to all terrestrial plants on Earth. Up until now, however, nobody had figured out a way to determine precise phytoplankton growth rates.

Researchers at UC Santa Barbara and NASA have done just that, using satellite observations of phytoplankton color.

The new approach is based on the premise that the "greenness" in phytoplankton, its level of pigmentation per cell, is a reflection of its growth rate, said David Siegel, professor of geography and director of the Institute for Computational Earth System Science at UCSB. The researchers have discovered a means, by satellite, to measure the biomass of phytoplankton from ocean light-scattering properties, and to infer growth rates from simultaneous measurements of the greenness of the individual phytoplankton cells. It's hard to overestimate the importance of phytoplankton in the global ecosystem -- or how tricky it is to get a handle on measuring their production.

They produce about 50-65 billion tons of organic matter each year, and in the process absorb carbon dioxide and pour oxygen into the atmosphere. Their abundance dictates the location and health of most marine fisheries. They play a critical role in marine water quality issues, can help regulate climate, and their productivity is in turn affected by climate. The very basis of sustainable ecological systems is almost impossible to understand without a good grasp of phytoplankton productivity, and its implications for global climate change, according to the scientists.

[...] [Phytoplankton] production can be enormous, and highly variable. Phytoplankton biomass can double in as little as one day, and it's routine for the entire mass of phytoplankton in an area to either be consumed by other life forms or die and sink to the ocean bottom in less than a week.

The next step will be getting satellites up to undertake the measurement. Current ocean observing satellites, like Aqua (part of NASA's Earth Observing System satellite program), focus on chlorophyll concentrations as a proxy for phytoplankton (the image accompanying this post is a NASA map of chlorophyll concentrations from July 1, 2002 through December 31, 2004). The UCSB/NASA team is now working on a satellite module to do just that -- ORCA, or Ocean Radiometer for Carbon Assessment.
(Via Biology News)

"http://www.msm-info.com/#WHAT%20CAN%20MSM%20DO%20FOR"

The MSM Miracle

The official website of the

MSM - Medical Information Foundation

WHAT IS MSM?

MSM is an abbreviation of methylsulfonylmethane, an organic form of sulfur. The chemical formula of MSM(r) is CH3SO2CH3. It is the form in which sulfur appears in nature in all living organisms, and in which it is biologically active. MSM is an odorless, white, crystalline powder that is highly soluble in hot water and in a wide range of organic solvents (1). Biologically active sulfur has unbelievable preventive and therapeutic properties. The medicinal activities of biological sulfur are so all-encompassing, and are based on such obvious principles, that its discovery is generally considered one of the biggest advances in orthomolecular medicine in the second half of this century.

THE DISCOVERY OF MSM

About forty years ago, Dr. Stanley Jacob and Dr. Robert Herschler, chemists with the pulp and paper plant Crown Zellerbach Corporation, were asked to find a use for lignin, one of the primary waste products of the plant. Oxidation of lignin in a reactor was shown to result in the formation of DMSO (Dimethylsulfoxide), a natural, organic form of sulfur. This water soluble compound has a strong and bitter taste, and is absorbed rapidly through the skin. Workers coming in contact with the DMSO-containing wastewater, noticed their perspiration began smelling like DMSO, and they tasted its bitterness in their mouths. Moreover, the water appeared to have special medicinal qualities. Many stories about miraculous recoveries and benefits still go around, but they can not be authenticated. Certain is, however, that cuts, scrapes, burns and sprains recovered more quickly when dipped in this water. Several workers also noticed that conditions caused by arthritis and asthma improved when they came in contact with the DMSO-containing water (George Bergstrom, personal information).

Following its original discovery, several thousand articles and publications have appeared in the United States discussing the medicinal properties of DMSO. Because of its bitter taste and penetrating odor, DMSO never became very popular with the general public. Another problem with DMSO was that it sometimes caused skin irritation when applied topically. For these reasons researchers began looking for a more user-friendly derivative of DMSO. Oxidation of DMSO was found to produce MSM, a much more stable, organic sulfur compound with medicinal properties at least equal to DMSO, but without the odor and skin irritation complications (4, 8, 9).

NATURAL SOURCES OF MSM

MSM is the natural form in which sulfur is found in the earth's sulfur cycle (3). Algae and several forms of plankton in oceans are capable of absorbing massive amounts of inorganic sulfur from seawater, and to convert this into a simple, organically-bound form. When these algae and planktonic organisms die, enzymatic processes result in the breakdown of the organic molecules into DMS, or Dimethylsulfide. This compound is volatile and poorly soluble in water. It collects in the stratosphere, where it is oxidized under the influence of ultraviolet light into DMSO (Dimethylsulfoxide), and further converted into MSM (Methylsulfonylmethane). DMSO and MSM are highly soluble in water, and therefore concentrate easily in atmospheric water vapor, returning to earth in the form of rain. Plant roots rapidly collect and concentrate these sulfur sources. Laboratory research has shown, that a one ppm mixture of radioactive labeled DMSO and MSM, can concentrate hundred fold in plant roots within hours (4).

Rainwater in particular therefore contains a lot of MSM. It is also abundantly found in fresh fruit and vegetables in amounts generally ranging from 1 to 4 mg/kg (3). Raw milk from cows which graze in pastures contains 2 to 5 mg/kg MSM. Due to the volatile nature of MSM, it is rapidly lost due to heating during the preparation of food. It is also lost when vegetables and fruit are left for a period of time, heated or not. Pasteurized milk therefore contains less than 0.25 mg/kg MSM, roughly the same amount as found in milk from cows fed dried, artificial food (3). Due to our present day's dietary patterns, it is unavoidable that modern man suffers from a chronic shortage of MSM.

MSM AND HUMAN HEALTH

The natural level of MSM in the circulatory system of an adult human male is about 0.2 mg/kg. Normal adults excrete 4 to 11 mg MSM per day in their urine. Several studies suggest, that the systemic concentration of MSM drops in mammals with increasing age, possibly as a result of changing diet or body metabolism. Some research suggests, that there is a minimum concentration of MSM that must be maintained in the body to preserve the normal function and structure (8, 9). Low concentrations of MSM in our bodies have been linked with unspecified complaints of fatigue, depression, high sensitivity to physical and psychological stress, and with a large number of degenerative diseases (5, 6). MSM is an important source of sulfur, but also has unique properties related to its chemical structure and biological activities. To understand the preventive and therapeutic properties of MSM, a distinction needs to be made between "why humans need sulfur" vs. "why humans need MSM".

WHY DOES THE HUMAN BODY NEED SULFUR?

Following calcium and phosphorus, sulfur is the third most abundant mineral in the body. A grown person contains approximately 140 grams of sulfur (6). Nearly half of all sulfur is contained in muscular tissue, skin and bones (5).

Protein Structure

When plants absorb MSM from rain water, they convert it into the sulfur containing amino acids methionine and cysteine. Taurine and cystine, the other two known sulfur amino acids, are synthesized from cysteine. The body manufactures about 80% of the amino acids it needs, and these are classified as nonessential. The remaining 20%, called essential amino acids, must be obtained from food. Methionine and cysteine are considered two of them. There are approximately 28 known amino acids. Each type of protein is made up of a unique collection of amino acids in a specific combination. Two molecules cysteine can oxidize and bond together through sulfur (-S-S-) bonds (5). These sulfur bonds are the key factors that hold proteins in shape, and determine the form properties and biological activity of proteins.

Connective Tissue

Nails and hair primary consist of a tough protein with a high sulfur content, called keratin. Flexible tissues like connective tissue and cartilage, contain proteins with flexible sulfur bonds. Collagen is the most abundant protein in the body, and a major component of all connective tissue. In skin, collagen works with fibers of another protein called elastin, to give skin its elasticity. In cartilage, the sulfur containing proteoglycans glucosamine and chondroitin form with collagen a fibrous protein substance that give cartilage its structure and flexibility (5, 6).

The importance of the connective tissue for the body goes beyond simply keeping cells together. The first biophysical regulatory model was developed by Prof. Dr. Pischinger which he termed the "Vegetative Building Structure." This theory was further developed by Prof. Dr. Heine who described proteoglycans and glycosamines, and by Dr. Popp, a biophysicist, who showed the importance of electromagnetic fields in bio-information. Their research has demonstrated that the soft, connective tissue, the extracellular matrix which surrounds cells, serves more purposes that structural and connective. It also is important in the transport of nutrients, electrolytes, signal compounds and atomic and subatomic particles. Thus, the soft connective tissue forms an essential communication network within the body through the transfer of fine matter bio-information (13 -16).

As many people notice later in life, the flexible tissues lose their elastic properties. A shortage of sulfur is the likely cause of this problem. The consequences are stiffening of muscles and joints, rippling of the skin, and decreased elasticity of lung tissues and arterial blood vessels. Without a doubt, the transfer of bio-information through soft connective tissue decreases also, and the occurrences of diseases at advanced age may well be caused by a decrease in communication between cells and body tissues.

Cell Membrane Permeability

All cells (and all organelles within cells) are surrounded by membranes. A membrane consists of two layers of molecules situated opposite of one another and consisting of an essential fatty acid on one end, and a sulfur containing amino acid on the other end. The amino acids are interconnected in such a manner that they form a surface into which the proteins and other membrane constituents are inserted and secured. These proteins are necessary for the transport through the cell membrane of many types of nutrients and waste materials.

Sulfur bridges form flexible connections between the cells and the surrounding connective tissues. This allows the cells to retain their elasticity. When sulfur is in short supply, the cell wall hardens, and the cells lose their elasticity. The transport proteins of the membrane become locked, and the membranes become less permeable. This results in a reduced transport of oxygen and nutrients into, and excretion of waste products from the cells. This causes a shortage of oxygen and nutrients, and an accumulation of toxic metabolic waste products inside the cells. Reduced vitality and eventually degenerative diseases are the result.

Recent insight in free radical pathology has shown that the thiol (-SH) groups of sulfur containing amino acids can protect cell membrane protein chains from oxidation. But that is not all. Studies by Dr. Johanna Budwig have demonstrated that sulfur containing amino acids in cell membranes resonate with the double connections of the fatty acids, resulting in the release of electrons. Electron clouds are formed, which can move along the fatty acid chains. In this manner, electrical currents evolve which form the basis of all electrical energy in the body. This energy can be measured in heartbeat, nerve stimulations, muscle contractions, in short, in all chemical and electrical reactions which make life possible.

Metabolism

Enzymes are proteins which control all-important life functions. For example, they regulated all metabolic processes in our bodies. Sulfur bridges are responsible for the spatial structure of enzymes. Without sulfur bridges, enzymes would lack biological activity due to deviations in their spatial structure. Shortages in sulfur cause reduced production of biologically active enzymes, which result in a reduction of many metabolic processes. Sulfur is important for the cellular energy production in which glucose is metabolized under the release of energy.

Most important, sulfur plays a role in the electron transport system, as part of iron/sulfur proteins in mitochondria, the energy factories of the cell. Furthermore, sulfur participates in the vitamin-B Thiamine (B1) en Biotin. These vitamins are essential for converting carbohydrates into energy, by burning glucose. Insulin is a hormone excreted by the pancreas which mainly functions to regulate the blood sugar level. Insulin therefore plays an important role in the carbohydrate metabolism. Each insulin molecule consists of two amino acid chains, connected to one another by sulfur bridges (Figure 4). These sulfur bridges are very important for the proper functioning of insulin. Without these bridges, the hormone loses its biological activity.

WHY DOES THE HUMAN BODY NEED MSM?

Preferred Dietary Source of Sulfur

It is generally believed that in humans, the sulfur-containing amino acids methionine and cysteine are the most important sources of sulfur. However, since the discovery of the earth's sulfur cycle, this theory is increasingly brought into question (3). Several hundred million years ago, algae in the oceans started producing simple organic sulfur compounds, which led to the formation of MSM. This biologically active sulfur was probably the most important source of sulfur for all subsequently developing life forms. This gives food for thought that the higher forms of life most likely are genetically preprogrammed to use MSM as source of sulfur. This theory is further enhanced by the discovery that MSM can be ingested by all organisms investigated so far in almost unlimited quantities without causing any toxic effects. The same cannot be said about the sulfur containing amino acids methionine en cysteine, which can be consumed in small quantities, but at larger doses cause undesired toxic symptoms (3). Experiments using MSM containing radiolabeled sulfur (35S) have shown, that following ingestion, MSM releases its sulfur to form collagen and keratin, basic ingredients of hair and nails, as well as the essential amino acids methionine and cysteine, and serum proteins (8, 11). It appears abundantly clear that the importance of MSM as source of sulfur has been grossly underestimated. The reason for this underestimation is most easily explained by the way food is processed in our western society, which causes the loss of the majority of the naturally present MSM. It is therefore for good reason that MSM is referred to as "The Forgotten Nutrient" (6).

Protection of the Mucosa

Additional experiments with MSM containing radiolabeled sulfur demonstrated that after ingestion, MSM is bound to the mucosa. Apparently, MSM is binding to receptor sites at the mucous membrane surface in the intestinal and urogenital tracts and the respiratory system. By doing so, it presents a blocking interface between host and environment (4). There are many health-benefitting implications to such natural interactions. Allergens and parasites cannot bind to the mucosa, toxins are oxidized and free radicals are eliminated.

"http://www.dl.ac.uk/SRS/PX/bsl/scycle.html"

DMSO Reductase in the Sulfur Cycle

Dimethylsulfide (DMS) is excreted by algae who use its precursor, dimethyl propionate, for osmoregulation. DMS is highly volatile so, in highly productive oceanic regions, the smell of DMS is readily detected. The distinctive smell of the seashore is due in large proportion to DMS, and some seabirds detect the DMS and use it as an indication of activity in the ocean below. (Related article) Photo-oxidation of DMS in the atmosphere produces dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) which has low volatility and is highly hygroscopic; consequently it is scavenged from the atmosphere by rain and returned to the Earth.

Other, acidic, compounds such as methylsulfonate (MSA), formed upon oxidation of atmospheric DMS, serve as nucleation points for cloud formation and it has been suggested that the sulfur cycle in this way acts as a biological feedback system to modulate the temperature on earth by controlling cloud albedo.

DMSO is reduced to DMS by the enzyme DMSO reductase, found in bacteria.

"http://www.iitap.iastate.edu/gccourse/chem/nitro/scycle.html"

Sulfur Cycle

The sulfur cycle (figure 10) can be divided into a cycle over water and a cycle over land. In comparison with the nitrogen cycle, we notice immediately is that the sulfur cycle has no connection to the stratosphere, since there are no long-lived species of sulfur. Sulfur is a problem, of course in the troposphere, as an air pollutant, which we will come back to in a future summary information. Figure 11 shows a simulation of sulfate (SO4) concentrations the lower atmosphere (at a level of 900 hectopascals, which is about a kilometer above the earth's surface) over the earth. The numbers plotted are dimensionless ratios of total concentration of anthropogenic plus natural sulfate divided by the concentration based on natural emissions. Highly populated and industrial areas of the eastern part of the U.S. and Eastern Europe have highest concentrations. Concentrations over Asia are increasing, particularly in the industrial area of southeast China. Of course, as the Chinese industrialization rapidly increases, this problem is likely to increase.

A recent finding, and one that has put environmentalists in a perplexing dilemma, is that there also is a secondary effect of sulfur dioxide in the earth's atmosphere. Although it is not a greenhouse gas, it does contribute to the radiation balance of the earth. In the presence of clouds, atmospheric SO2 becomes dissolved in the water droplets and forms weak sulfuric acid, H2SO4. Such clouds observed from space appear brighter than natural clouds, suggesting that these clouds are reflecting more solar radiation than natural clouds. This process is called cloud brightening and reduces the amount of solar energy entering the earth/atmosphere/ocean system, thereby contributing to a cooling of the planet. The net result of burning fossil fuels containing sulfur (mainly coal) is that the emitted CO2 leads to global warming and the SO2 leads to global cooling. Environmentalists have fought for years to have SO2 emissions reduced, but one result of these efforts seems to be that global warming will be exacerbated. The relative amounts of warming and cooling will be discussed in Unit 1-12.

Another possible linkage of sulfur to global change is the role of dimethylsulfide (DMS) in formation of clouds over ocean areas. DMS is produced naturally in ocean areas by biological activity. Studies have shown that DMS can promote the production of cloud condensation nuclei, which are favored particles for cloud droplet growth. Therefore, an abundance of marine plant life can produce sufficient amounts of DMS to enhance local cloud formation and possibly increased precipitation. This constitutes a direct link between the biosphere and local meteorology. It also opens the possibility that there might be a link between changes in the stratospheric ozone and local meteorology in that, for instance, increased ultraviolet levels over the ocean could suppress ocean biology, which in turn would reduce the emission of DMS, which could reduce cloudiness and precipitation in ocean areas. We don't know enough about the magnitude of this effect to evaluate its importance in relation to other global change processes.

Several other questions relating to the sulfur cycle and its component fluxes and reservoirs indicate that much research remains to be done on this trace gas.