You might have recently heard about paraquat, a very toxic herbicide, as it has been in the news of late. There are a number of brands in the marketplace that contain this particular type of herbicide. 

I dug up some “dirt” on the herbicide and learned that in October 2017 a lawsuit was filed against the manufacturers of paraquat on behalf of farmers and agricultural workers who developed Parkinson’s disease after being exposed to the toxic chemical.

Why is This Relevant to You?

There are many foods that are sprayed with paraquat including peanuts, wheat, citrus, grapes, strawberries and soybeans. But before you go into the fridge and pantry to pull all these items from your shelf, keep reading. This is a fascinating study that was published almost fifty years.

A Report Published in American Journal of Medicine

In 1975, a study entitled “Paraquat Poisoning: Manifestations and Therapy” was published in the American Journal of Medicine. This report involved paraquat poisoning and agents utilized to counteract the effects of the poison.  The goal was to understand how medicinal therapy can help avoid a fatal outcome of paraquat poisoning followed by oral ingestion. The study was performed with rats.

Doctors fed lethal doses of the herbicide to rats and recorded the effects. They noted that an excess of the poison caused respiratory failure, liver damage, and kidney failure, which soon led to death.

Clay Was Found to be Effective

Several adsorbents were shown to be effective in counteracting the effects of the poison before the poison was ingested. Among them were bentonite and montmorillonite. However, only one adsorbent proved successful in counteracting the toxic effects of the poison after it was ingested: clay.

The authors noted that many adsorbents have been shown to be effective in vitro (outside the living organism, think of a glass test tube sort of environment) vs. in vivo (within an actual living organism, such as an animal). Scientists can better evaluate the safety, toxicity, and efficacy of a drug candidate when it is conducted within the living organism.

What was the Experiment

In this experimental situation, clay was given in repeated doses rather than single doses. The effectiveness of repeated doses is apparently due to its ability to prevent the gastrointestinal absorption of paraquat, which can continue up to thirty hours after ingestion in rats. Surprisingly, even when the treatment was delayed for ten hours after the oral administration of paraquat, the therapy was successful. The rats did not die and toxic damage was minimal.

The authors of the report went on to say that since urinary paraquat levels have been detected for as long as thirty-one days after ingestion, continued efforts as well as early efforts to eliminate absorbed paraquat may be important. Therefore, continual use of the clay is advisable because of its ongoing adsorptive properties. The doctors concluded the article by saying that in case any lethal doses of paraquat are ingested, bentonite should be administered as soon as possible. They recommend that the administration of clay be repeated at regular intervals (every three to four hours) up to forty-eight hours after ingestion of paraquat.

Clay as An Antidote to Poison?

As a side note, Robert Robertson, author of Fuller’s Earth, has a very interesting comment on the role of clay as an antidote to poison. 

He writes, “Although the use of Fuller’s earth (calcium montmorillonite) as an antidote to poisons has been known for centuries, and the scientific reasons for its success have been known for decades, it is strange that, in a world where heavy metal solutions, alkaloids, cationic pesticides, and detergents could be accidentally ingested, Fuller’s earth is not yet included in Red Cross or First Aid Boxes, in factories, homes and chemical laboratories.”