Bob: >How much do your blood tests cost, who does them? My doctor orders them up from a lab & also they did what is called a provoked urine test: a DMPS chelation followed by my having to collect my urine for 24 hours & then I had to Fed-ex it off to a Chicago lab. The cost was about $150 I believe, about half for the DMPS & half for the lab. Karma tests are extra, and not commonly done outside of California. >Boron is supposed to be a good guy in bone density formation. The dose makes the poison, & while it may be an essential nutrient, I would be real surprised if too much would not be a negative. & don't forget that thing I cross-posted a while ago which said that bone density is postively correlated with cancer incidence. >I think blood donation is a life-shortener. You are > squandering too manyenzymes and forcing the body to manufacture > too much blood (sort of likeexercise overdose, to put it in language >that will prick your ears up). There is some truth to this, but if you were on the Longevity list & read Tom Hennesey's posts in the last few days on the latest progressive medical thinking (I know, I know, this is sort of an oxymoron) on iron stores, you would know that ferretin levels (non-hemoglobin iron stores) are now starting to be suggested to ideally be held to zero. Iron is a very, very negative substance above minimal levels (a lot like protein), & Tom is a fanatic about collecting & posting all sorts of tidbits on its negatives. Read the current (Jan. 1997) Scientific American cover story on how iron & calcium stores in the brain contribute to the etiology of Parkinson's Disease. (I beat Tom to this one :^) I give blood as often as I can (every 8 weeks is their minimal interval). The minor negatives associated with this are far outweighed by the gains from dumping that excess iron. >Then too, consider the evil uses to which donated blood is > put (blood transfausions), which is further evidence that it's a bad > idea. Bob, you are being silly. Sure transfusions can be done for the wrong reasons, but when you need one, you need one. If it was me I sure would want the blood to come from a NHer (or even an instincto), not some SAD clown. >(Your endorsement of chelation therapy doesn't make me feel > any more secure about it, BTW). I sort of have the same feeling about your endorsement of porcelain fillings, but I'm thinking about taking your advice if you can convince me a little more about the stability of the aluminum. But go to a good university library & look up J. Bjorksten & his chelation work. Today on the Longevity list Tom Hennesey just said that all the metals except iron can be excreted, but the only way to get iron out is by sweating (something I advocate highly) & bloodletting. I think he is wrong (it wouldn't be the first time). He said: "It has been shown though that iron has *no way* to be excreted by the body other than through sweat or bleeding. Whereas all other metals have a excretion method as with mercury and its binder glutathione. Glutathione is an antioxidant which is depleted by iron." [Realize that Tom's whole thing is iron's negatives, so I take him with a little grain of salt.] I'm not sure that all of all the heavy metals can be excreted naturally (indeed, I'm almost certain they can't), & chelation is an essential adjunct to what fasting/normal elimination can accomplish as far as I'm concerned. Bob, I'm getting ready to play hardball on this, & before long it will be No More Mr. Nice Guy & I'm going to have to bring out the big gun: Bohdi. Be forewarned. --Doug Schwartz [log in to unmask]