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Trail:

To the Ends of the Earth

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It is well known that manganese can compete for crucial enzyme activation sites with magnesium. So if magnesium is in short supply, manganese can substitute for magnesium at the active site; subsequently causing a failure to catalyse the activation of various crucial enzymes required for healthy metabolism. 

Such is the case for glutamine synthetase, where a delicate balance of magnesium and manganese is required for activating this vital enzyme’s function along the pathway which breaks down glutamate into glutamine in the brain. If the enzyme fails due to a high loading of manganese and depletion of magnesium in the tissues, then highly neuro-toxic levels of glutamate will accumulate in the brain leading to a progressive neuro-degeneration. A pathogenic acceleration of the ageing process ensues; a which lies at the heart of so many neuro-degenerative conditions such as Motor Neurone disease, Alzheimer's disease and Parkinson's disease, CJD. - where individual genetic susceptibility factors dictate the class of neuro-degenerative disease which you get at the end of the day.

Interestingly, Susannah Churchill’s thesis pointed out that this exact same High Mn/lowMg mineral profile has been found to hallmark the ecosystems supporting the three main neuro-degenerative cluster zones in the South Pacific- Guam, West New Guinea and the Kii peninsular in Japan - where self sufficient populations had been succumbing to all of these neuro-degenerative diseases at a 50 fold higher incidence rate than average global rates. It seems that Groote Eylandt should be added to this list of cluster regions.

It is also well recognised that high levels of manganese in combination with low levels of Magnesium will lead to mutations of genetic material in cells due to the influence of manganese on enzymes that preside over the structure and metabolism of DNA - where an abnormal manganese substitution of magnesium could disrupt the binding of messenger RNA to the ribosome; causing an array of subtle disturbances along the genetic pathways, such as the expansion of the DNA amino acid chain which could result from a manganese induced inactivation of ribosomal enzymes - enzymes that normally require a specific magnesium co partner to function properly.

The mechanism of a manganese induced mutation in the absence of magnesium probably explains one of the key causal factors which characterises Groote syndrome apart from other similar neuro-degenerative diseases . But the corporation funded experts have overlooked the very real possibility of a straightforward environmental induced mutation as the cause of ‘their’ disease. They have run with the half truth of this causal story, by conveniently misappropriating blame for the mutation onto ‘inherited’ origins - a faulty gene that has supposedly been handed down through the generations of this specific Aboriginal clan. Despite their theory gaining virtual universal acceptance, their hypothesis totally fails to explain the distribution and timing of this disease.

That night I wheeled Warren Lalara back to his room, manoeuvring him inch by inch into his bed for the night. I hesitated for a moment, having considered the raft of potential injuries that my untrained manhandling could bring about. But after taking lead from Warren’s seemingly happy disposition towards my ‘ad lib’ mode of handling, I quickly gained confidence and grew accustomed to my new role as a care worker for the next week or so.

When I went to bed a few hours later, the nightly rioting of youngsters in the village had just begun. At one time, I could hear the Aboriginal kids surrounding the hut house I was staying in, even clambering underneath the raised floor. This went on all night - a common occurrence I was later told - with violent fighting breaking out spontaneously like volcanic eruptions blowing off pressure - much like the sudden unexplained cascades of spasms which break out in the muscles of the Groote syndrome victims themselves.

The Missionaries and Miners had told me horror stories of hatchets being driven through the skulls of "pay back victims", spear fights, child torture and women being stripped naked and disembowelled alive with machetes. The village doctor confirmed these stories to me, since she was the one who was called upon to deal with the cases of slashed up woman with extruding entrails. She was forever having to stitch up the guts of Aboriginal woman who had been lucky enough to survive these types of aggressive onslaught. Whilst Aborigines are renowned for their violence - particularly when it is alcohol induced - it is well recognised that this class of insane, psycho behaviour is unique to the Aborigines of Angurugu - a style of violence that was largely unheard of during former nomadic days.

According to the records of the social service, arrests and imprisonments amongst the Aboriginal population at Angurugu are the highest recorded per head of population for anywhere in Australia.

I recalled a recent report by Canadian toxicologist John Donaldson who had personally visited Angurugu during 2001. He referred to an incident in the medical clinic where one individual who got frustrated by the length of the queue had thrown a spear at the nurse. Donaldson also cited the observations of explorer Captain Mathew Flinders who had sailed around Australia’s coastline in 1803. Whilst his crew had been generally well received by all of the Aboriginal communities who they had met around the Australian coastline , it was a different story when Flinders sailed into the unusual blue coloured waters of Mud Cod Bay off Groote Eylandt. The deep blue colour reflected the particularly rich bedrock deposits of manganese which extend out as a platform beneath the shallow Mud Cod Bay at this point on the Groote coastline. Flinders recorded the behaviour of the local Aborigines in the ship’s log as follows; "They come at us very strangely…sending off their children and women and approaching with spears held in a threatening fashion"

As I continued to lie awake, I also remembered the mineral analysis study that was carried out on the brains of those impulsive mass murderers who had been electrocuted to death on death row in the USA. Their brains showed a hundred fold higher level of manganese than levels found in the brains of those who had died of natural causes.

And then there are the studies being conducted in California prisons by Professor of Psychiatry, Dr Louis Gottschalk, of the University of California. He has found elevated levels of manganese in the hair of criminals convicted for murder, rape and violent crimes. Gottschalk states that "manganese is a marker for violence".

The screaming and abuse reverberated on until about four in the morning. At one time I was convinced that some poor young girl was being murdered. I felt compelled to intervene, but instinct told me to keep out of it ; I am a father of eight children back in the UK, I kept telling myself .

Each time I attempted to get to sleep, images of Hieronymous Bosch paintings bubbled out of my subconscious. The illusion of my newly discovered tropical island retreat where I could sit back and get on with some ‘good time’ research had been abruptly shattered. That long dark night had eclipsed Angurugu, transfiguring the shanty village from an innocuous block of Aboriginal homesteads into a true ‘hell on earth’. 

The next morning the veranda was packing up tight with the usual bustle of ataxic victims, care workers and a gang of Aboriginal kiddies homing into the centre, since it seemed to serve as the popular place to gather at that time of day.

A monster of a pick up truck pulled up in front of the Mission, and out stepped Dennis, a Goliath-like, "Apocalypse-now" type of character who introduced himself as one of the chiefs of the local mineworker’s Union. He was the sort of guy you’d expect to see bouncing at a LA night club rather than cruising around in this sort of rustic outback terrain. But Dennis, had come to take me on a tour of the mines and surrounding area so I could collect more of an extensive range of soil and vegetation samples, etc, in areas other than just Angurugu. His interests lay with the fact that these neuro-degenerative problems could no longer be seen as exclusive to his Aboriginal colleagues; since one or two of his white mining colleagues had also died from similar style neuro-degenerative wasting diseases, whilst others were just beginning to show the first psychiatric symptoms of what was suspected to be manganese intoxication.

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Last updated 09-Feb-2007