What is a “Canary in a Coal Mine”?

Perhaps you’ve heard the phrase “canary in the coal mine,” but aren’t familiar with its origins.  Bruce Beal, a miner in southwestern Pennsylvania in 1928, alluded to the canary’s function when he said, “I was not using a gas mask but I had sent the other men on ahead with the canary bird to test the air.”

Canaries — yes, the yellow birds — are more sensitive than people to toxic gases like methane and carbon monoxide.  Gases like these are particular threats following coal fires or explosions in the mines.  Before the days of electronic carbon monoxide detectors, caged canaries were carried into the mines by miners.  If the air became toxic, it affected the birds more readily than people, allowing the birds’ behavior to serve as a warning for the men so they could (hopefully) get above ground unharmed.

MTHFR

MTHFR stands for methylene tetrahydrofolate reductase.  (I think you can see why we abbreviate it!)  This is the name of an enzyme in the human body; it’s also the name given to the gene that codes for the enzyme.  Some people have genetic mutations* in these genes, which result in their bodies producing too little of the enzyme.  Whether or not this causes a problem — and how severe a problem — depends on some environmental factors, as well as how many (and which) mutations.  (Some people will say they “have MTHFR,” for short, because they get tired of saying they “have MTHFR mutations,” but this is technically not a precise way of speaking, since everyone has MTHFR [the enzyme]!)

MTHFR (the enzyme) is needed for something called the methylation cycle.  In very simplified terms, that means it’s needed for converting and/or detoxifying particular substances.  For example, it is used to convert folic acid into active forms the body can use.  It is used to clear toxic metals like mercury from the body.

To illustrate, imagine trash pickup.  If you have right at a single trash truck’s worth of garbage, and one garbage truck, you can keep up with the trash pickup.  If you have more trash, you’re going to get backed up.  A neighborhood with the same amount of trash but multiple trucks would not be backed up.  A neighborhood with only a single truck but less trash would also not be backed up.

Why We Are Like the Proverbial Canary in the Coal Mine

In a not-too-toxic world, even a body with MTHFR mutations can keep up (except in very unusual circumstances).  But the more toxic our environment and our food supply get, the more “trash” our bodies have to cope with.  And those with the fewest “garbage trucks” (the necessary detoxification enzymes) will show negative effects first.

Those with MTHFR mutations are much more likely to show negative effects from mercury amalgam fillings.

We are more likely to have children with birth defects, because we can’t efficiently convert the artificial folate put in our food.  (Or to have more miscarriages for similar/related reasons.)

Our children are more likely to develop autism.

(MTHFR is used for “normal” bodily processes, too, but bodies with a deficit are better able to keep up with these normal processes when there is a lesser load of toxins tying up what MTHFR is present.)

We Are Not Okay!

There’s a very important takeaway here!  The things we’re doing to our food, water, and environment — and, in some cases, directly to our bodies — are toxic.  The fact that everyone else’s bodies seem to “be okay” is not an indication that these modern changes are safe; it’s merely an indication that it hasn’t gotten worse yet.  All of these health issues that those of us who are more sensitive are experiencing: allergies, autism, tongue & lip ties and more severe birth defects, chronic fatigue, etc. — these are all warning signs that everybody ought to take seriously.

It would have been foolish for the coal miners to say, when the canary toppled, that the canary was just weak and they could just go about business as usual because “obviously” they were fine!  The end result would have been for all of them to die because of waiting for that to be the “warning sign”!  It is likewise foolish, when we have the warning signs all around us, to wait for everyone to be sick before we’ll heed the warning that these things are making us sick.

Aluminum is toxic for everybody.  Artificial vitamins are a poor choice for everybody.  (Real, whole foods are always a more nutritious choice than foods that have been stripped of their nutrients then had a small sampling added back, in artificial form, in artificial quantities, in artificial proportions, to “enrich” them.)  Fluoride in our water supply is foolish for everybody.  (Even if you think fluoride supplementation is a good thing, what person in his right mind thinks medication you can’t control the dosage of is wise?)  Glyphosate in our food is harmful for everybody.

That everyone is not showing obvious effects of this toxicity is not “proof that it’s okay,” it’s indication that you’re lucky if you’re not, and that we ought to take action now before everybody is sick.

*It’s not technically a “mutation,” in scientific terms; it’s a “polymorphism.”  But “mutation” conveys the general idea for the general public.