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Toxocara canis � Retinal granuloma � damage done as a result of migrating larvae, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Wisconsin-Madison  www.vetmed.wisc.edu/pbs/vetpara/gallery.html
F. David Radler
"About 50% of patients, many of them children, with the most serious forms of toxocariasis, including loss of sight in an eye, have never owned a dog or cat and have had only slight and transient contact with them." � A. W. Woodruff
"This is true on every topic.  Pick the topic you like: the Middle East, international terrorism, Central America, whatever it is � the picture of the world that's presented to the public has only the remotest relation to reality.  The truth of the matter is buried under edifices after edifices of lies upon lies." � Noam Chomsky, Media Control: The Spectacular Achievements of Propaganda, Seven Stories Press, New York, 1997, pp. 31-32.

  16-Sep-2001


F. David Radler
Deputy Chairman, Chief Operating Officer, President and Director
Hollinger International Inc.
712 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10019
USA


F. David Radler:

It has been my frequent observation in recent years that information which it would be in the public interest to disseminate has been blocked from publication within the mainstream press, and so is largely unknown to the public.  Two examples out of the many that have been documented on the Ukrainian Archive can be found in my two earlier letters to you � the information in my 08-Dec-2000 complaint of Vancouver Sun mis-reporting of the show trial of Michael Seifert has been kept from the readers of the Vancouver Sun, just as the information in my 25-Dec-2000 complaint of National Post mis-reporting of Middle-Eastern affairs has been kept from readers of the National Post.  My interpretation of this phenomenon has followed the thinking of a number of commentators � that the press is largely Jewish-controlled, either through direct ownership or through indirect intimidation, and for this reason refuses to publish materials that are at variance with the plans of Jewish leaders.

Reflecting upon my broader experience, however, I begin to recognize that the corruption of the information media that has recently occupied my attention is but a special case of a much wider corruption of media under no matter whose ownership or control, and that applies to coverage of all topics, not just topics related to Jewish affairs.

I present below two instances from my own experience of suppression of information that it would have been in the public interest to disseminate, and where that information appears to be unrelated to Jewish issues.  These two particular instances are from an area in which the obligation of the press would seem to be unequivocal and overpowering � the area of protecting public health, particularly the health of children and young adults.  My two instances document that even where a health hazard is demonstrable (the first instance below) or highly probable (the second), the refusal of the press to warn the public may be adamant.


Press suppression of the health hazards
of Toxocara canis

Literature aimed at pet owners leaves the impression, or even states outright, that Toxocara canis (abbreviated to T. canis or sometimes T canis), the common roundworm of the dog, is harmless to man.  For example, looking through publications that I acquired when I owned a dog, I find in the booklet Care of Your Pet, "As a general rule, the worms carried by dogs and cats are NOT transmissible to humans."  To the average reader, the NOT being in capitals will be reassuring, as will be the introductory statement that "This pamphlet has been prepared by consultation with veterinarians across Canada, and with the aid of the Toronto Academy of Veterinary Medicine.  Thanks are also due to members of the Small Animal Sections of the Canadian Veterinary Colleges for critically reviewing the manuscript."  The statement is unambiguous, the statement is authoritative, the safe-world theory is confirmed.

Similarly, The Total Dog Book (Louis L. Vine, DVM) tells us, "Dog worms will not live in the human body."  Three other books discuss roundworms, but make no mention of the possibility of human infection: The Complete Dog Book (Official Publication of the American Kennel Club), The Dell Encyclopedia of Dogs (with medical entries by Dr. Irene Kraft, DVM), and Dogs (by Wendy Boorer).

The pet manuals, however, are at variance with the scientific literature.  In medical and veterinary journals, conclusive evidence that T canis does invade the human body, and does so with devastating effect, has been accumulating for half a century.  This evidence is neither hidden nor rare � when I last searched the literature on this topic in 1985, I quickly accumulated some 370 articles.  All my articles came from medical and veterinary libraries at the University of British Columbia and the University of Washington in Seattle.  I provide a selection of quotations from these articles further below.

The picture painted by my search of the literature in 1985 was that T canis does invade the human body to produce the disease toxocariasis, which falls within the broader category of diseases known as Visceral Larva Migrans (VLM).  In man, T canis does not settle in the intestine and grow to maturity and reproduce and release eggs the way it does in the dog, but rather remains a juvenile � a larva � less than half a millimeter long, and burrows throughout the body, but with a particular affinity for such vital organs as the liver, the lungs, the eyes, and the brain.

To consider an extreme case, a boy was allowed to play in a yard shared by several family dogs.  He was reported to be a "dirt eater."  He developed toxocariasis and died of complications at the age of 21 months.  At autopsy, larvae were found in many parts of his body.  His brain was estimated to contain between 3300 and 5500 larvae.  The authors comment that "The presence of larvae within the central nervous system suggested that they might be responsible for some of the puzzling neurologic disturbances often encountered clinically in patients with visceral larva migrans" (Dent, J. H., Nichols, R. L., Beaver, P. C. et al.  Visceral larva migrans with a case report.  American Journal of Pathology, 1956, 21, 777-803, p. 789).  Notice that this report was published 45 years ago.  Similar reports were available earlier, and similar reports have been accumulating ever since.  That the public is unaware of these reports � and in fact finds them astonishing and incredible � is a testament to how inadequately the press warns of danger, and thus of how poorly the press serves the public interest.

Less extreme instances of human infection with T canis are commonplace.  What Dr. A. W. Woodruff of the Hospital for Tropical Diseases in London said to his audience applies not only to ourselves, but to our children as well: "Among those sitting in the lecture hall, there are without doubt a number who have this larva in their tissues" (Environmental Health, 1976, 84, 29-31).  The precise incidence of the disease, however, is unknown, both because symptoms tend to be nonspecific and subclinical, and because reliable diagnostic tests are unavailable.  The most sophisticated test for T canis in 1985 was ELISA (enzyme-linked immunosorbant assay), but ELISA left something to be desired.  For example, Dr. Steven S. Searl of the Harvard Medical School reported a case (Ophthalmology, 1981, 88, 1302-1306) of a four-year-old girl who went blind in her right eye.  When the eye was removed and examined, a T canis larva was discovered.  Was ELISA able to pick up the presence of this larva?  No, it was not.  The Center for Disease Control in Atlanta, Georgia judged the outcome of the test to be "nondiagnostic."  The best test, then, seemed unable to detect the presence of a T canis larva even when that larva had destroyed the sight of an eye.  Estimates of the incidence of T canis infection based on ELISA, I was forced to conclude, may be underestimates.

Some critical details without which an understanding of Toxocara canis remains incomplete:


I present below a selection of quotations from the literature which serve to give a more detailed picture of the nature of Toxocara canis, while at the same time demonstrating the unequivocal language in which T canis invasion of the human body is discussed by the researchers who study it, and demonstrating also the unanimity of expert opinion, and demonstrating as well the diversity and the credibility of the sources in which such descriptions are published.  (It may assist you to be reminded that an eosinophil is a type of white blood cell, and that eosinophilia is an elevation in the eosinophil count; and that hepatomegaly is enlargement of the liver � both of which are symptomatic of, among other things, a Toxocara canis infection.)

Unnecessary removal of the eye

It has been established that infection is acquired by ingesting soil previously contaminated by infected dogs.  Eggs [...] taken into the intestine of a child, erupt from the egg, penetrate the intestinal wall, and soon reach the liver.  A majority of the larvae may remain in the liver but others pass on to the lungs and to other parts of the body.  Larvae have been found in nearly all organs.  It is of chief interest that a high proportion of them invade the central nervous system and a considerable number have been found in the eye.  The tragic consequences of invasion of the eye is the development of a lesion which by its resemblance to retinoblastoma prompts the unnecessary removal of that vital organ.
Beaver, P. C.  Visceral and cutaneous larva migrans.  Public Health Reports, 1959, 74, 328-332.

The worm is faster than the surgeon

Slitlamp examination [...] showed a worm in the left cornea, obviously a nematode larva.  It had the external appearance of Toxocara [...].

The most startling observation in this case was the ease and rapidity with which the larva was able to move about in the cornea, one of the densest structures of the human body.  Its movement was so rapid, in fact, that the surgeon's instruments, in spite of numerous attempts, never won the race.
Baldone, J. A., Clark, W. B., & Jung, R. C.  Nematode ophthalmitis.  American Journal of Ophthalmology, 1964, 57, 763-766.

Because T canis collects in the lungs, it may cause asthma

The Parasite

Why should we have become interested in Toxocara canis and its near relative Toxocara cati?  The answer is that a patient was admitted to the medical unit at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases with proved T. canis infection [...].  [...]  In brief he was aged 5 and had had an eye removed for a suspected retinoblastoma.  The tumour turned out to be a granuloma, and after considerable difficulty and after cutting some 100 sections a larva was found and identified as T. canis by Professor J. C. C. Buckley.  The boy had never been away from Britain, and the question was therefore asked how he had become infected.  [...]

When infective T. canis or T. cati eggs are swallowed by man larvae emerge from the eggs in the human intestine, penetrate the bowel wall, and are taken in portal blood to the liver and the lungs and usually beyond them to other tissues throughout the body.  Sprent (1995a) deduced that it is the size and shape of the body of the larva which determines the kind of vessel it enters and hence how it proceeds along its migratory pathway.  Once in a vessel the larva appears to leave it at a point at which its body approaches the diameter of the vessel.  This is indicated by the occurrence of haemorrhages at specific sites, such as those on the surface of the brain in mice experimentally infected with T. canis (Sprent, 1955b).  This is also likely to explain the somewhat uniform position of granulomata caused by larvae of T. canis emerging from retinal blood vessels (Duguid, 1961a, 1961b).  [...]

In experimental animals the parasites become widely disseminated, and it appeared probable that this occurred in man.  Moreover, as the eye is a small organ and yet most identified T. canis larvae have been found there, it would appear probable that for every case in which it was involved there would be several in which other tissues were invaded, but that invasion occurs with fewer symptoms than when the eye is affected.  If sight is damaged a patient soon seeks medical help, but if larvae invade the liver, lung, or even the brain they are likely to give rise to symptoms the significance of which is difficult to assess.  [...]

Tissue Damage Caused by Toxocaral Larvae

Both in experimental animals and in man the second-stage larvae of T. canis and T. cati are known to wander widely in the tissues and to reach many organs, including the brain.  As they burrow through the tissues they produce tracks in which there are haemorrhage, necrosis, and inflammatory cells.  When they die and disintegrate they give rise to granulomatous foci.  Knowing that the brain had been involved in man on at least one proved occasion the question was asked whether there were any diseases resulting from brain damage in which toxocaral invasion might play a part [...].  [...]

There is also evidence that some cases of epilepsy almost certainly result from toxocaral invasion of the brain.  This knowledge has therefore helped to recover from the many labelled as idiopathic some cases of epilepsy and some of hepatomegaly, asthma, and eosinophilia.  [...]

Because the larvae are small and because as few as 20 may cause significant illness or lesions it is certain that in most infected patients it will never be possible to diagnose the infection by recovering larvae.  Even when the larvae are present in quite small lesions many serial sections may be necessary to locate one.
Woodruff, A. W.  Toxocariasis.  British Medical Journal, 1970, 3, 663-669.

Dog worms may spread polio, may cause epilepsy

The question arose as to why, in view of the obviously large reservoir of T. canis and T. cati and the close contacts of dogs and cats with man, so few human cases were reported.  The reported cases appeared to be confined to those in which the loss of sight in an eye from larva migrans rendered the diagnosis unmistakeable; it was argued that, if the worm reached the eye in some cases, infection of other organs, such as liver, spleen or even brain must be far more common.  [...]  Meanwhile, the death of a child from paralytic poliomyelitis had been described [...], in which a toxocaral larval granuloma was found in the brain, identified as due to T. canis.  It was supposed that the worm larva might have carried a large dose of poliomyelitis virus from the gut to the brain.  In consequence, the toxocara skin test was applied to a group of normal healthy persons, and to a group of persons who had suffered from paralytic poliomyelitis.  The tests showed that toxocara infection had occurred seven times more frequently in those who had suffered from paralytic poliomyelitis than in those who had not.  There is thus prima facie evidence that toxocara larvae may be an agent in the distribution of poliomyelitis virus through the body; they could be responsible for the spread of other infections also.

The investigation was then extended to persons suffering from epilepsy.  [...]  [T]he skin test for toxocara was positive 3½ times more frequently in epileptics than in non-epileptics.  It was concluded that some epileptic patients developed the condition as a result of toxocara larvae invading the brain and creating a focus of irritation there.
Fiennes, R. N. T. W.  Zoonoses and the origins and ecology of human disease.  New York: Academic Press, 1978.

Puppies 98% infected

Studies on the prevalence of T canis in dogs in the United States revealed that 20% to 21% of adult dogs and as many as 98% of puppies may be infected.  [...]  [A] combination of dogs allowed to defecate in areas of human habitation and a generally low level of personal hygiene make an ideal setting for transmission of Toxocara sp to humans.
Jones, W. E., Schantz, P. M., Foreman, K., et al.  Human toxocariasis in a rural community.  American Journal of Diseases of Children, 1980, 134, 967-969.

Eggs survive the winter

The eggs [...] are sticky and readily adhere to the animal's coat, toys, carpets and other household articles.  Eggs are able to survive a temperature of -25ºC and thus remain viable on the surface of the soil during the winter months even under snow.
Bisseru, B.  Toxocara infections.  In O. Graham-Jones (ed.).  Some diseases of animals communicable to man in Britain.  Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1968.

Each worm can live for seven years

Ocular nematodiasis due to Toxocara canis occurred in a girl 6 years of age who had no history of contact with kittens or puppies, no history of an illness suggesting visceral larva migrans, and no eosinophilia.  The left-eye inflammation was observed for over a year and changed very little.  [...]

The child must have ingested the ova in contaminated dirt, because no history of contact with puppies or kittens was obtained; in fact, the mother stated the patient had a dislike for these animals.  [...]  The infection must have existed for a considerable time prior to the discovery of the disease, for at the initial visit the process was quite advanced.  In spite of this, the larva was in excellent health [...].  [...]  The larva may appear quite healthy [...] for as long as seven years.
Hogan, M. J., Kimura, S. J., & Spencer, W. H.  Visceral larva migrans and peripheral retinitis.  Journal of the American Medical Association, 1965, 194, 1345-1347.

Public parks are contaminated with eggs

Among patients with toxocariasis studied at the Hospital for Tropical Diseases, London, it has been found that only about half have owned a dog or cat or had one in their home or had otherwise had close contact with one.  This raised the question whether any significant amount of transmission was taking place from soil which had been contaminated by animal excreta [...].  The possibility of soil in parks and other public places being contaminated with the ova appeared worthy of investigation, and [...] it was found that among a total of 800 soil samples from such parks and public places 24.4 per cent contained ova of toxocara species.
Woodruff, A. W.  Toxocara canis and other nematodes transmitted from dogs to man.  British Veterinary Journal, 1975, 131, 627-632.

Where a blood vessel narrows, the worm bores through the wall to escape

Most studies in various parts of North America have demonstrated high rates of soil contamination in parks, playgrounds, and other public places [...].  [...]  Dada and Lindquist [...] found contaminated soil in highway rest stops, parks and playgrounds.  Children's sandboxes in university married student quarters frequently contained eggs of T. canis.  Studies in Britain [...], Germany [...], and Czechoslovakia [...] showed similar rates of soil contamination in parks and playgrounds.  [...]

Helminth eggs are not destroyed by common forms of sewage treatment and are abundant in effluents and sludges.  Viable eggs of Toxocara spp. were found in sewage sludge samples collected from 27 municipal sewage treatment plants in the southern United States [...].

When the larvae are larger in diameter than the blood vessel, their progress is impeded, and they actively bore through the vessel wall and migrate aimlessly in the surrounding tissue.  Larvae wander extensively and have been found in the liver, lungs, heart, and brain [...].  The migrating larvae leave tracks of hemorrhage, necrosis, and inflammatory cells; most seem able to remain dormant for many years and then continue their migration.  Eventually, some larvae are encapsulated and destroyed by a host response, while others are seemingly protected by being walled off [...].

Neurological manifestations including focal or generalized seizures and behavior disorders have been reported for up to 28 per cent of patients with VLM [...].

Since persons with OLM [Ocular Larva Migrans] are older and usually do not have a history of geophagia or exposure to puppies, it is reasonable to assume that their larval burdens are relatively small in contrast to the dirt-eating patient with VLM whose liver may harbor as many as 300 larvae per gram of tissue [...].

We hypothesize that at low doses of larvae the antigenic mass is insufficient to stimulate a marked rise in eosinophil and antibody levels.  As a consequence, larvae migrate unimpeded through the liver and lung and incite minimal tissue response or clinical signs.  These few larvae then enter the systemic circulation, from which they eventually penetrate capillaries and migrate randomly in host tissue.  Most persons infected with small numbers of organisms will remain asymptomatic unless a larva penetrates through a retinal or choroidal vessel into the eye.  Experimental evidence for non-human primates indicates that larvae can persist in tissues for at least 10 years [...] and can periodically resume migration; this pattern can mean a long incubation period for OLM.

The incidence of human toxocariasis is unknown because toxocariasis is not a reportable disease in the United States, and the diagnosis is difficult to confirm in the laboratory.  Neither worms nor eggs are passed in human feces and biopsy results are often uninformative despite widespread tissue invasion.  Furthermore, the nonspecific nature of the clinical signs and symptoms probably results in substantial underdiagnosis.  Despite problems in ascertainment, we know that toxocariasis occurs wherever humans live in close association with dogs.  More than 1900 cases of this disease have been reported from 48 countries throughout the world and from every region of the United States.  Ehrhard and Kernbaum [...] found that, of 780 well-documented cases of toxocariasis in the literature, 56 per cent of the patients were less than three years old and only 18 per cent were adults.
Glickman, L. T. & Schantz, P. M.  Epidemiology and pathogenesis of zoonotic toxocariasis.  Epidemiological Reviews, 1981, 3, 230-250.

Infection does not require close contact with dogs

About 50% of patients, many of them children, with the most serious forms of toxocariasis, including loss of sight in an eye, have never owned a dog or cat and have had only slight and transient contact with them.  They probably acquired their infection from contact with contaminated soil in parks and public places.  Chance infection of this kind by persons ignorant of the risks of contact with infective soil is responsible for much avoidable ill health.
Woodruff, A. W., de Savigny, D., & Jacobs, D. E.  Study of toxocaral infection in dog breeders.  British Medical Journal, 1978, 2, 1747-1748.

Eggs survive sulfuric acid and refrigeration

No one knows the prevalence of visceral larva migrans.  Several observations indicate that the chances of children coming in contact with fertilized eggs of T canis are extremely high.  [...]  These statistics, together with the knowledge that embryonated ova remain viable in 0.1N sulfuric acid for many months at icebox temperature, suggest that the risk for infection is quite high.
Zinkman, W. H.  Visceral larva migrans.  American Journal of Diseases of Children, 1978, 132, 627-633.

The worms are a threat to human eyes, hearts, livers, lungs, and brains

Due to diagnostic difficulties, the frequency of larval infection caused by Toxocara in man is still unknown.  Patients who suffer ocular invasion are those who most often seek medical assistance.  It is possible, however, that for each ophthalmic case there may be several with larval infections in other organs, such as the heart, liver, lungs, and brain.
Acha, P. N. & Szyfres, B.  Zoonoses and communicable diseases common to man and animals.  Washington, D. C.: Pan American Health Organization, 1980.

One and a half billion infective samples in Britain

Demographic surveys indicate that between one third and one half of households in the United States have one or more dogs, most of which are infected with T. canis as puppies; therefore, opportunities for the infection � if not the disease � are very common.  We do not yet know how frequently toxocara infections occur in human beings because the nonspecific nature of the clinical signs and symptoms leads to much underdiagnosis [...].  It may be that infection is much more frequent than is commonly recognized because investigation of other household members of patients frequently reveals many with eosinophilia and detectable toxocara antibody, indicating that considerable subclinical infection results from common environmental sources.  [...]

Unfortunately, the public-health hazard posed by toxocara infections in dogs and cats is rarely appreciated by pet owners, and thus they are often unwilling to take the measures necessary to minimize the risk of infection in family members.  [...]

One may be surprised at the frequency with which ova are found but if a little arithmetic is done the surprise vanishes.  Twelve per cent of the dogs in Britain were found to be infected and there are at least seven million dogs in the country.  That means that about 840,000 infective samples of faeces are deposited somewhere on British soil each day.  That adds up to 276 million infective samples per year.  It has been possible to keep such ova in the laboratory in the presence of formaldehyde for up to four years and to find that they remained viable throughout.  If ova remain viable, even in formaldehyde, in the laboratory then the ova from 1500 million infective samples accumulate and are present in the soil of Britain at any one time.  As many of these samples are deposited in public parks, it is not necessary to stretch the imagination to understand why so many samples were found infected.

Measures for the control of transmission of toxocariasis

First, licensing should be tightened up.  Only about half the dogs in Britain at present are licensed.  Second, a licence should be issued only if a certificate is given that the dog had been wormed properly by a veterinary surgeon or was known as a result of tests to be free from infection.  Third, dogs ought to wear collars indicating that they had been licensed and as a corollary to this the police or other authorities should have power to impound those dogs not wearing collars indicating that they were licensed.  Fourth, as there is no evident means of disinfecting contaminated soil, some degree of segregation of those areas where dogs and children exercise would be enforced and enforced with vigour.  It is rare to find dogs prohibited from children's play areas in parks and public places.  Even where there is prohibition it is often ignored.  [...]  Children should not play in places where dogs are continually contaminating the soil now that it is known that such contamination is dangerous.  Fifth, much more vigorous segregation of dogs in public vehicles should be enforced, not just in trains, but in buses, and other public vehicles.  [...]  Sixth, there is also a good deal which could be done by simple public health education, by encouraging people to ensure that they wash their hands after they have played in public parks with balls and things that have come in contact with soil.  Further they should ensure that, before washing their hands, they do not eat food or sweets, or these ova from the soil could be transmitted via their hands and fingers to their mouths.  This is of particular importance when one remembers that children commonly eat sweets and play with balls in parks and, in handling sweets contaminate them and no doubt swallow numerous ova as a result.
Woodruff, A. W.  Toxocariasis as a public health problem.  Environmental Health, 1976, 84, 29-31.

Dogs should be prohibited from playgrounds and public parks

Because it can safely be assumed that, as the possibility of contact with animal feces is reduced, so is the possibility of acquiring a parasitic infection, restrictions on where dogs can defecate are essential.  The risk of parasitic disease can be reduced by enforcing more strictly the existing laws and bylaws concerning dogs, by expanding the bylaws to include areas not presently covered, and by informing the general public of their responsibilities both to their pets and to their fellow citizens.

Present municipal bylaws [in Montreal] forbid that animals be allowed to enter markets or any other establishment where food is prepared, sold or served.  These laws should be strictly adhered to and strongly enforced.

Other bylaws state quite clearly that any dog, unlicensed or licensed, found off the property of the owner, except when held on a leash or under the control of a responsible person, may be seized by the police and taken to a public pound.  Strict enforcement of this bylaw and more severe penalties to offenders would help to reduce the vast number of stray dogs and to control the licensed dogs.

It is most important that dogs be discouraged from depositing their feces in areas where children come in contact with them � playgrounds and city parks in particular.  Unfortunately, the law specifies only that dogs must be on a leash when entering a park.  It would, perhaps, be more sensible to strictly prohibit dogs from all playgrounds and small city parks where children congregate.  [...]

Finally, the public should be made aware that a great deal of money and effort, both private and public, is needed to prevent "man's best friend" from spreading debilitating conditions ranging from diarrhea to blindness.
Seah, S. K. K., Hucal, G., & Law, C.  Dogs and intestinal parasites: A public health problem.  Canadian Medical Association Journal, 1975, 112, 1191-1194.

Puppies should not be allowed in a house with children

Great care should be taken in handling or fondling puppies and bitches by both adults and children due to the stickiness of the Toxocara eggs which could be transferred to the hands and ingested.  Children should be taught the habit of washing their hands after fondling dogs and other animals.  They should not eat from the same utensils used by dogs and cats; moreover, people should not share their bed with canine and feline pets.

Puppies and kittens should preferrably not be allowed into the house with children, as toddlers are in danger of ingestion of the animals' faeces, a gram of which may contain several hundred eggs.  [...]

Dogs and cats should not be allowed in food shops.  Moreover, they should not be allowed to foul, with their faeces, playgrounds and parks which children have access to, streets and other public places.
Bisseru, B.  Toxocara infections.  In O. Graham-Jones (ed.), Some diseases of animals communicable to man in Britain.  Oxford: Pergamon Press, 1968.

But to get back to the subject of the press � in 1984 and 1985, I presented outlines of the Toxocara canis problem to a large number of newspapers, including the Vancouver Sun, and discovered that they all declined to publish either my outlines or their own reports on the subject.  This is not to say that the press avoids speaking of Toxocara canis altogether; in fact, occasional newspaper reports can be found, as for example the following which incidentally contains the remarkable claim of twelve children with Ocular Larva Migrans at a single hospital, and the even more remarkable reference to a study that found 15% of some sample of children to be infected:

Blindness caused by dog feces

DARTMOUTH, N.S. (CP) � At least six Maritime children have been blinded in the past year by a parasite picked up from dog feces, a Halifax ophthalmologist said Thursday.

Dr. Robert LaRoche, of the Izaak Walton Killam Hospital for Children, said two of the children have been successfully treated, but "the others have had tremendous visual loss beyond the point of legal blindness."

In addition, LaRoche said the children's hospital is still treating six other cases which date back beyond this year.

Authorities have long been aware dog feces often contain parasites that attack human tissue and causes infections, particularly in the eyes and lungs.

The parasite, known as toxocara, is found in the intestines of animals.  But when it infects humans, it can travel throughout the body.

LaRoche said the parasite has to be ingested by mouth.  This can happen when a child is licked by a dog that hasn't been dewormed or unknowingly picks up something on which a dog has excreted and later puts his fingers in his mouth.  [...]

WHEN THE PARASITES attack parts of the body other than the eye, the symptoms match those of other infections, making it difficult for officials to estimate the true number of cases.  The parasite could result in a flu-like sickness with fever but it varies enormously from case to case, LaRoche said.

"My suspicion is there's a lot more (cases) than we can see," said Dr. Scott Halpin, another pediatrician at the Killam hospital.  A study by Dr. Juan Embic at the Killam showed 15 per cent of children are infected by the parasites, but most can fight it off.

"Not everyone who comes in contact have blindness," said Embic.  "But some of the kids who play in recreational areas are affected and (a few weeks) later produce this kind of disease."  [...]
The Saturday Windsor Star, 06-Dec-1986, p. C9.

Even a newspaper as bad as the Vancouver Sun will occasionally discuss Toxocara canis, but when it does so, will omit mention of worms burrowing throughout the body, blindness, eyes being removed, brain damage, and death, which I infer from a Vancouver Sun clipping that I have from the summer of 1985 but whose date I did not record.  All such potentially-alarming details are absent from this Vancouver Sun article, and its statement that "eyes could become infected" conjures up not the unsettling though accurate image of a worm eating out the retina, but rather the calming though inaccurate image of bloodshot eyes which might be relieved with the help of eyedrops.

The result of coverage which is rare is that not one person in ten will recognize the name Toxocara canis, and the result of coverage which is misleading is that not one person in a hundred will be aware of the damage that Toxocara canis causes, the consequence of which lack of awareness is that playgrounds and school yards and public parks and private lawns and beaches and even sidewalks throughout Vancouver, and throughout Canada, and throughout the United States are littered with dog excrement.  While the occasional child goes blind, and while uncounted numbers of children suffer intellectual impairment, both sides of a complete aisle at my local supermarket are given to pet foods and products, and nine out of every ten articles in newspapers � including your newspapers � cover topics of lesser importance than Toxocara canis, perhaps half of all articles being utterly frivolous and inconsequential.

In my mid-eighties naiveté, I imagined that the press could find no better story than the above.  Worms silently eating brains.  A frightful hazard whose full dimensions remain unmeasured.  Researchers at prestigious universities all over the world confirming the worst fears.  Cover up and misrepresentation by pet-industry professionals (one study reported that fewer than one-third of dog owners who regularly visit veterinarians are aware of the health hazards posed by dog parasites).  Ignorance among physicians (my guess is that anyone who reads one good review article on Toxocara canis will know more on the subject than nine out of ten physicians).  What more is needed for the topic of Toxocara canis to hit the front pages?  What more is needed for the topic of Toxocara canis to receive coverage to the point where upon walking through a park, one will be able to enjoy the scenary instead of having to look down at one's feet so as to avoid stepping in excrement?  What more is needed before the public begins to see something wrong with dog owners taking their dogs to defecate in the same areas that parents take their children to play?

I am incapable of understanding a press which supports and maintains this state of affairs.  A press that I am capable of understanding is one in which the protection of children's eyes and brains is given higher priority than the convenience to dog-owners of allowing their pets to drop excrement wherever it suits them.  On this question, as on many others, we apparently part company.  As you run the world's largest newspaper empire, and as on this subject I have never succeeded in getting even a letter to the editor published, I am forced to wonder whether you may be right � that the convenience of littering parks and sidewalks with dog excrement overrides any advantages there might be to bringing up a generation with worm-free eyes and worm-free brains.


Press suppression of the health hazards
of Spanish Banks dust clouds

The letter below was posted on the Internet, and was brought to the attention by email of the mayor of Vancouver, Philip Owen, and all members of the Vancouver City Council, and several newspapers, including your own Vancouver Sun and your own The Province and your own Vancouver Courier and your own Victoria Times Colonist and your own North Shore News � the monopolistic ownership of which, in a better world, would constitute a criminal offense.

From both the politicians and the press, I hoped for one of two reactions to my complaint of young lungs being used to cleanse the air of sand dust.  On the one hand, I hoped for a citation of expert opinion that the inhalation of sand dust was innocuous.  However implausible the claim that spraying the dirt beneath our feet into our lungs was harmless, still it was conceivable that someone could make such a claim, and if it were offered, I was prepared to examine it for authenticity and credibility.  In the alternative, I hoped for an acknowledgement that the inhalation of sand dust was harmful, either provably harmful or probably harmful, along with a proposal of remedial action, which might consist either of trucking in dustless sand to be spread over the volleyball courts, or else removing the volleyball courts to areas where players would not stir dust into lung-destined air.

Of course Vancouver beaches, like public spaces everywhere, are used by dog owners as dog lavatories, and so the possibility that volleyball-playing youngsters were inhaling Toxocara canis eggs entered my mind, though I did not include this thought in my letter, fearing to lose credibility with the uninformed, press-brainwashed people that I was addressing.

A farfetched hypothesis, this idea of inhaling eggs?  An irrational and neurotic fear?  Well, not having my own parasitology laboratory to provide me with answers as to how Toxocara canis works, I am reduced to relying on what I read, and I do read concerning 59 eggs found in the lungs, and 2 eggs in the intestines, of a laboratory dog #2 that "it must be assumed that these eggs were present as a result of inhalation during hand feeding" (Pegg, E. J.  Infection of dogs by Toxocara canis carried by flies.  Parasitology, 1971, 62, 409-414, p. 413).

So, now the letter.  The lad in the two upper photographs, by the way, is not of my acquaintance, and appears to be observing his own dust trail, and may be shuffling his feet so as to increase it:

  July 5, 2000

Mayor Philip Owen and
Vancouver City Council Members
[email protected]


Dear Mr. Owen and members of Council:

I bring to your attention the photographs below of Spanish Banks area beaches which show that back-lighting by a setting sun reveals clouds of particulate matter being thrown up by dry sand when it is disturbed:


The particulate matter is especially dense, and rises especially high into the air, in areas of high activity, as around beach volleyball courts:


Two questions arise in connection with the above dust clouds:

(1) Of what are the clouds composed?  Among the constituents may be pulverized organic matter, such as wood, seaweed, fish, insects, and fecal matter from birds and dogs.  Also among the constituents may be mineral matter � essentially sand that has been ground down until its particles are small enough to become readily airborne.

My first question for the Vancouver City Council: Has this Spanish Banks airborne sand dust been analyzed, and in what publications can any analyses be found?

(2) How harmful are these dust clouds to human health?  One imagines that if these same dust clouds filled factory air, health inspectors would close the factory down, or that if these same dust clouds filled City Hall, then City Hall would be evacuated.  The case of sand dust perhaps deserves a lower level of tolerance than workplace dust in view of the large number of children who play on beaches, and in view of the large number of young people who spend hours in heavy physical exercise in the middle of the densest of the dust clouds.  Among the viable hypotheses that spring to mind and that deserve evaluation are that throughout the summer, young lungs are being coated with particulate matter on Spanish Banks, and that this particulate matter leaves the lungs irritated if not damaged.

My second question for the Vancouver City Council: Have the health effects of Spanish Banks airborne sand dust been discussed by medical experts, and in what publications can any discussions be found?

As health considerations override most other considerations, it is conceivable that an exploration of the two above questions may eventuate in NO VOLLEYBALL signs � and perhaps other restrictions on activity � on sand that is particularly prone to throwing up dust.  Certainly it might be discovered to be inadvisable to continue placing volleyball nets in locations where physical activity may be harmful to health.


Yours truly,
Lubomyr Prytulak, Ph.D.


The reaction that I did receive to my complaint was neither of the two that I had hoped for: nobody explained to me that inhaling pulverized ground dirt was safe, and so that no remedial action needed to be taken; nobody acknowledged to me that inhaling pulverized ground dirt was dangerous, and so that remedial action was being implemented.  What I heard was exactly nothing.  I was neither right nor wrong, I was beneath notice.

Silence from the municipal authorities did not greatly surprise me.  Politicians owe their positions to their inoffensiveness, and could not be expected to disturb the public with news that the world was less safe than was being assumed.  The bearer of the bad tiding that the golden youth frolicking on the beach under the encouragement of Vancouver authorities were in fact damaging their lungs will fall in public esteem, and might even be construed as admitting liability and inviting litigation.

But silence from the newspapers � including your newspapers � did surprise me, and continues to surprise me to this day.  I had expected the press to understand that among its highest obligations was that of keeping the public informed of threats to its well-being, especially when these threats were directed against the physical well-being of its youth.


What's it all about?

From a consideration of the diverse contents of the Ukrainian Archive, it is evident that the Jewish-controlled press is not up to the task of informing the public concerning such issues as World War II events and the show trials that trail after them more than half a century later, or the qualities of the Ukrainian people and their nation, or Middle-Eastern affairs.  And from a consideration of the two public-health examples above, it may be further inferred that the press as a whole is not up to the task of keeping the public informed on vital issues in any category.  I view these two shortcomings of the press as interrelated.

That is, Jewish perversion of information takes place in the broader context of permissiveness toward the use of the press to promote goals that are at variance with the public interest.  You are able to get away with hoodwinking the public that Michael Seifert is Ukrainian when he is plainly German because it is the norm for press owners to get away with hoodwinking the public on some issue or other on a daily basis, whether it be on the subject of dog worms or dust clouds or John Demjanjuk or Bohdan Khmelnytsky or the rabbinical supermarket tax or the Lubavitcher Rebbe's contributions to education.  Any particular instance of corruption of the press takes place in an environment of widespread and wholesale corruption of the press, with each instance being legitimized by past instances, and setting a precedent for future instances.  The press neglects its duty today with respect to one topic because it has fallen into the grips of a deeply-ingrained habit of neglecing its duty on one topic after another day in and day out.

The harm that comes from this corruption of the press is demonstrated in the 11-Sep-2001 destruction of four American airliners, the World Trade Center, and part of the Pentagon.  I construe these actions as retaliation for the terrorism that Israelis have been inflicting on their Middle-Eastern neighbors from at least 1948 until today.  Had there existed in the English-speaking world a press that was not controlled by Jews, then the injustice and cruelty of the Israeli terror would have been reported long ago, and if reported accurately, it would have aroused indignation and repugnance, and it would have been brought to a stop.  But the press never did give the public an accurate picture of what was going on in the Middle East � not an accurate picture of Deir Yassin in 1948, not of the USS Liberty in 1967, not of the 17,500 Arabs killed in the invasion of Lebanon in 1982, not of the sadistic dehumanization of the Palestinian people today, not of the thousand and one lies and atrocities which constitute the history of the state of Israel.  Had the American press been free of Jewish control, then Americans would have known of Israeli crimes and would have stopped them, and thus America today would enjoy good relations with the world's one billion Muslims instead of being execrated by them, and the World Trade Center would still be standing.

However, under Jewish control of the press, Jewish crimes were hidden or whitewashed � with the result that Jews found themselves enjoying impunity to commit whatever further atrocities seemed expedient, and with the further result that the victims' injuries accumulated, and their righteous indignation at Jewish injustice deepened and broadened, and in the absence of any recourse exploded into retaliation.

No greater tragedy can befall a people than to be granted impunity for their crimes, for impunity is guaranteed to drag any people down into barbarism.  The Jews did win a large measure of impunity for themselves � with the help of your newspaper empire � and thought it a great victory, a gift indeed from their God � and they were dragged down into barbarism.  Yesterday, this impunity led them to kill Palestinians.  Today, this impunity brings the destruction of the World Trade Center.  Tomorrow, it will bring destruction to Jews.

Were a man of integrity and foresight running Hollinger International, a man who did not put the world's biggest newspaper company at the service of the criminal enterprise which is Israel, a man with the wisdom to encourage Jews to return some of the real estate that they claim their Talmud has bidden them steal, and with the wisdom to encourage Jews to cleanse themselves of the sadism to which they have become addicted, then the attack upon the United States of 11-Sep-2001 would never have taken place.  Thus it is that you are among those who rank high in responsibility for bringing the rain of destruction of 11-Sep-2001 upon the United States.  Your use of the press to suppress truth has made peaceful revolution impossible, has made violent revolution inevitable.  You are among those who are today pushing the United States, and the whole world, to the brink of destruction.  We will live on a safer planet when the power that has been placed in your hands is removed, and you are put to work that falls within your understanding.



Lubomyr Prytulak

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