During Patrick McGean’s lifetime and tenure as Director of the Cellular Matrix Study, he repeatedly criticized the extensive use of chemical fertilizers for growing food crops on commercial farmland.
McGean observed how the extensive use of artificial fertilizers such as Ammonium Sulfate and Ammonium Nitrate has led to a severe deterioration in human health. According to McGean, Americans have been plagued by as much as a 4,000% increase in cancer and other diseases since 1954, when the federal government mandated that commercial farmers had to use chemical fertilizers in order to qualify for farm subsidies.
McGean shared his opinion about this subject in an undated interview conducted by Trung Nguyen that was published on the Pure Organic Sulfur website. Key points are summarized below:
• Pre-industrial age fertilizers consisted of decomposed organic material – primarily manure.
• During the 1860s, Bayer AG, a German company, capitalized on earlier research conducted by a Polish scientist in developing a chemical fertilizer made from coal tar. The negative health effects of consuming food “nourished” by artificial fertilizers would be noticed in the years to follow.
• In 1906, a German psychiatrist and neuropathologist by the name of Dr. Alois Alzheimer (1864-1915) described “women lost in their own minds” – a malady we now call Alzheimer’s that had not been observed in countries other than Germany.
• In 1920, prior to winning a Nobel Prize for his cancer research, Dr. Otto Warburg observed that cancer cases were more prevalent in Germany than in other nations.
• In 1938, when the price of gasoline and crude oil was low, Prescott Bush (former President George W. Bush’s grandfather) collaborated with Nelson Rockefeller and the German conglomerate, I.G. Farben, to develop a crude oil-based fertilizer in the West Nile Region of Africa.
• Most European nations adopted chemical fertilizers prior to World War 2.
• While sulfur is the third or fourth most important mineral necessary for healthy metabolism, sulfur is largely missing from chemical fertilizers due to the 380°F temperatures at which they are “crackled.” In addition, chemical fertilizers bind up any free sulfur that is dissolved in rain water.
• Cultures such as the Amish, Okinawa, and Argentina who rely on organic fertilizers experience a lower rate of disease.
• Responses from Cellular Matrix Study members suggest that diseases may be addressed in a positive manner by adding organic sulfur to our diet.
On June 27, 2022, Children’s Health Defense published a report outlining how the soaring cost of chemical fertilizers is fueling a movement to pursue less expensive alternatives.
“Farmers are coping with a fertilizer crisis brought on by soaring fossil fuel prices and industry consolidation. The price of synthetic fertilizer has more than doubled since 2021, causing great stress in farm country.
This crunch is particularly tough on those who grow corn, which accounts for half of U.S. nitrogen fertilizer use.
The National Corn Growers Association predicts that its members will spend 80% more in 2022 on synthetic fertilizers than they did in 2021. A recent study estimates that on average, this will represent $128,000 in added costs per farm.”
Kathleen Merrigan, “As Prices Soar, It’s Time to Ditch Chemical Fertilizers,” Children’s Health Defense, June 27, 2022