A study of 12,000 firemen and emergency medical workers who worked at the Twin Towers disaster site in New York City has found that on average they have experienced a reduction in lung capacity equivalent to what would normally be caused by 12 years of aging.

Heavy-metal poisoning from exposure to chemicals in the air apparently is the culprit for the premature deaths, chronic illnesses, and reduced lung capacity seen in Ground Zero workers, according to the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine.

So far the most effective treatment for these maladies has been a detoxification regimen that uses Chelation, a sulfur compound that helps to draw heavy metals from body tissues. After three to four months of this therapy, most poisoning symptoms disappear.

What happened to these thousands of people at the disaster scene --a chemical poisoning that involves a synergy of toxins-- is happening in slow motion to humans throughout the industrialized world. The only available antidote, since we cannot escape these toxins, can be found in detox strategies that we must begin to integrate into our lives.