by Minister Masada
re humans heading
for a future of mutated evolution which will give new meaning to the law
of natural selection? Deformities arise and occur in nature in all species
and forms of life. But, the rarity of these so-called "freaks of nature"
in times past was such that traveling circuses would draw large paying crowds
in every town and country.
Could the rise in industrial pollution alter the natural genetic code from the evolution of species to the evolution of genetic mutants? After the Chernobyl nuclear disaster in the Ukraine, mice were found thriving in mutant forms: their DNA evolved because of the ionizing radiation. Can this happen to human DNA?
The birth of a two-headed baby in Southern
California/Baja area caused great alarm. There was speculation as to cause.
But those of us who are aware (of environmental issues) instinctively knew
that science and technology and the polluted by-products of such is creating
a complete metamorphosis of the process of human evolution and genetic mutation.
What kind of hideous creatures can we expect to see in the future if the
culture of "death to the environment" persists, prevails and predominates?
My teacher at Mesa College, Erica Specht, taught
me that frogs are an indicator species. That's just one of the reasons students
of biology dissect frogs. Frogs are the most numerous of the tailless amphibians,
and there are over 2,900 species. True frogs, of the family Ranidae, generally
spend an equal amount of time in water and on land and breathing air, although
aquatic frogs spend most of their time in water. Frogs are also beneficial
because they eat insects harmful to certain crops (e.g., sugar beetles).
Whatever befalls the frogs could also befall the human population.
David Hoppe, a herpetologist at the University
of Minnesota and a member of a state-financed team of scientists, recently
said, "There is reasonable assumption that if there's an external substance
influencing amphibian development, it could influence human development."
Mr. Hoppe was addressing an alarming and horrifying discovery of tens of
thousands of mutated frogs.
These mutated amphibians are being found all
across Minnesota and into neighboring South Dakota and Wisconsin. Some are
even being found in Vermont and Quebec, Canada. In Minnesota alone, since
1995, 54 of that state's 87 counties have received hundreds of phone calls
reporting grotesquely misshapen limbs on frogs.
Some of these frogs are being born with stumps
for legs, tails, missing eyes, smaller sex organs and tangled hind legs.
Middle school students the New County School in LeSeur, Minnesota, made
the discovery. The mutated leopard frog species in the heart of Minnesota's
farm land caused even more alarm, especially to the Environmental Protection
Agency, which now plans to do it's own extensive research on the dangers
to the human population.
Since the worst abnormalities were found in
aquatic frogs, Dr. Hoppe believes the major source of contamination is in
the water. He also believes something airborne is polluting the landscape
and settling into the water. Factors being considered include heavy metals,
pesticides, radiation from ozone depletion, parasites, toxic chemicals,
etc., alone and in combination.
The American Lung Association recently won
a lawsuit establishing a tougher new air pollution standard that begins
to take effect early this summer. However, an attorney for the Natural Defense
Council, David Hawkins, says it could take up to ten years to see any changes.
The question I want to ask is: do we have that much time?
It has already been proven that tiny airborne
particles can cause health problems and that people young and old miss more
school and work during days when ozone levels are high. Despite this evidence,
a coalition of more than 500 business groups and numerous officials and
politicians lobbied against the proposed new standards. What will it take
for them to be convinced? Will infants no longer resembling humans have
to be born before big business polluters receive their rude awakening?
The deformed frogs were first reported to the
pollution control agency and state lawmakers last year. Students went worldwide
by putting the information and pictures of the deformities on the internet.
Polluters and their supporters can not claim ignorance. Mother Earth is
suffering from the battered woman's syndrome and the toxic polluters are
in utter denial.
As a fifteen-year student of eschatology (prophecies),
I've studied the demise of virtually every civilization and the contributing
factors. Violence and disrespect against Mother Nature's life forms is one
of these factors. I remember the words of one eschatological prophetess
who spoke of premature tiny creatures being born to women right before the
mass extinction of humans. Will these tiny little mutated creatures complete
the materialistic marriage of technology and it's domination over nature?
(Also a metaphor for the womb of woman). Will toxic chemicals combine to
create a deadly, synergistic effect unforeseen by scientists and thus be
an accomplice to women giving birth to technological terrors?
According to a recent study at Tulane University
in Maryland, pesticides and toxins can exhibit as much as a 1,000-fold increase
in potency when combined. This finding could force a total revolution in
the way environmental effects of chemicals are measured. In particular,
the pesticides endosulfan, dieldrin, toxophene and chlordane are known to
turn on a gene that makes estrogen in animals. I hope these finding are
taken into consideration in the continuing study of the frog deformities.
Based on these new findings, I would like to
see a study done on the effects of these combined carcinogenic (cancer causing)
and teratogenic (deformity causing) substances as they relate to people
of color in less wealthy neighborhoods, where a lot of these chemicals are
concentrated. My hypothesis is that the increase in violence can be attributed
to these toxins. If the earth responds with violence to these poisons, what
can we expect from humans who are made of the same stuff? My very first
awareness of ecological destruction came from listening to Marvin Gaye sing
"Ecology, Mercy Mercy Me." He, great prophet that he was, was
the father of environmental awareness in the Black community, but equally
warned those outside our community. In addition, I would like to see young
rap singers and artists use their powerful rhythm to sing about these planetary
problems.
We humans are more complex than any of mother
natures' past evolutionary creations. However, we can not assume that we
will survive as a species or that our technological decadence and destruction
of nature will not come without a price.
If frogs are an indicator, then man has created
the technological beast which will destroy him. He has raped Mother Nature
and ejaculated his technological toxins into her womb. His sperm cells,
if you will, of death and deformity also cause spontaneous abortion in the
natural selective process in the womb of nature.
Only the fittest will survive this next technological
holocaust. Humans, if any survive, will learn this very important lesson:
nature is God and God is nature, and she will have the last word.
Minister Masada is a researcher and the author of four books. She has been a regular weekly columnist for numerous local and out-of-state publications and has lectured at UCSD and SDSU. She has been an organizer of support groups for abused mothers and helped establish Battered Woman's Syndrome as a recognized point in Federal courts. Currently, she is Chairwoman of the Sisterhood of the Daughters of Zion, a mother's advocate group.
