Heavy metals, absorption of beneficial flora/nutrients, comparison with other clays, etc.

Questions are frequently asked about whether heavy metals exist in pyrophyllite clay. Rest assured the forms and quantity of minerals in this clay are not classified as "heavy metals". The forms they exist in are not only non-toxic to the human body and to soils, they are exceptionally beneficial to both.

1) Does Sacred Clay contain heavy metals?

Most clays do not have heavy metals unless they are contaminated by modern industry. They have metals and minerals and an immeasurable number of beneficial microbes. Heavy (unbonded) metals are created by industry like a lead or aluminum factory. In most earthen resources (especially ones converting to clay over millions of years) metals are bonded with other minerals to form useful compounds, beneficial to the body.

All humic acids, salts, seaweeds and clays chelate heavy metals, even when the same metals are contained in the earthen source. For example a clay high in aluminum like Sacred Clay, contains aluminosilicate, not just aluminum, and is well known to be safe for the body. It is also known to reduce heavy aluminum from the body due to its silica presence which is available for bonding with heavy aluminum.

These same sources possess known radioactivity protective properties due to the shear volume of balanced mineral compounds inherent to these sources. Chlorophyll, fucoidan and other plant based compounds, along with various properties within mushrooms also protect against radiation.

2) Does your clay remove the good intestinal flora when taken internally?

No, it adds beneficial microbes (unmeasured or identified), to the intestines and absorbs chemicals and heavy metals responsible for the loss of beneficial microbes. If you add Sacred Clay to raw milk and leave it on the counter for a few days to weeks, you will see it convert to yogurt, then curds & whey, faster than a control milk, and it feels better going down as well.

3) Do you know how your clay compares with Waiora's patented and clinically-proven liquid zeolite (Natural Cellular Defense) in regards to detoxifying the body at the cellular level and balancing the body's pH levels? In other words, is your clay able to do everything that NCD does?

What NCD is not able to do is affect toxicity, heavy metals and fungus in the intestines, something that all sediment clays are better able to do. NCD will usually never make it to the gut due to the fact that it absorbs directly through the mouth and stomach linings. Live blood analysis of one client of mine who had been on Waiora for 7 months solid, revealed the worst, most toxic bowel condition of any of my clients seen thus far (due to diet etc.), but excellent reduction in heavy metals at the skin level. This means that Waiora's effect is mostly in the blood (which is a good thing), but does nothing to address the most toxic organ of the body, the small intestines.

Only sediment clays and herbs will remain in the gut long enough to detox the intestines. Thus zeolite powder will be more effective than the drops. Yet pyrophyllite will outperform zeolite in detoxifying potency due to pyrophyllite's smaller particle size, higher electrolyte content and the fact that pyrophyllite is not limited in the size of a toxic molecule that it can absorb or attract (like iron filings to a magnet).

Zeolite's honeycomb structure is only 3-10 angstroms across. Larger toxin molecules (which actually account for the majority of the toxins that we deal with) will have to attach to its external surface, which is not where it excels in surface area.

Pyrophyllite molecules are structured in the shape of a donut, similar to the shape of a red blood cell. This shape is geometrically proven to be the most efficient surface area for the absorption of toxins or nutrients.

4) Your mineral analysis reveals the presence of both lead and aluminum in your clay. Are these safe?

When Nature develops a clay, the 60+ minerals and metals that make up the clay are composed of numerous bonded pairs of elements. In the bonded states the metals in a clay are typically harmless to the human body, even quite beneficial.

Dr. James Calvert, of the University of Denver, explains the formation and composition of clay in the following section entitled "Silica and Clay".

"When a felsic rock weathers, water leaches out the potassium and sodium of the feldspars, which crumble into a soft phyllosilicate called clay, containing mainly aluminum, silicon and oxygen. The flakiness of clay minerals are the reason for the fissility of shales. Where for some reason they have not become aligned in layers, the result is nonfissile mudstone. The crystals of silica are little affected by weathering, and remain as loose sand. Mixed with organic matter, humus, the result is soil in which plants can grow. Long weathering in humid tropical or semitropical areas may even leach out the silica, leaving only ferric and aluminum hydroxides, which are even more insoluble. This poor, reddish soil devoid of most nutrients is called laterite from its resemblance to brick clay (which, of course, it is not). Bauxite, the ore of aluminum, is a lateritic deposit consisting mainly of aluminum hydroxide. When basaltic rock weathers, the equivalent of clay is greenish chlorite, also a flaky mineral.

"As our example of a clay, let's take the valuable kaolin, a pure form of clay that forms a slippery white mud, named after its original source in China. It is composed of six-membered rings of silica tetrahedrons, rendered electrically neutral by Al+++ and OH- ions strategically arranged. Its formula may be written Al2Si2O5(OH)4, or Al(OH)3·HAlSi2O6, or even Al4Si4O10(OH)8, which shows the Si to O ratio of 4 to 10 typical of the phyllosilicates. A "hydrated aluminum silicate" is a good description. It is, at any rate, a layered silicate like the micas."

Chemcial analysis and description of aluminocilicates by the Faculty of Science at the University of Waterloo on Aluminum Silicates:  http://www.science.uwaterloo.ca/~cchieh/cact/applychem/alsilicate.html.

"Alumina, Al2O3, and silica, SiO2, are the two most abundant minerals of the earth's crust. The class of minerals containing aluminum oxide and silicon oxide is called aluminum silicates.

"Many minerals contain aluminum and silicon oxides. For example, three minerals andalusite, sillimanite, and kayanite all have the same chemical composition of Al2O(SIO4). Topaz is closely related in chemical composition, Al2O(SIO4)(OH,F)2."

5) "What are aluminosilicates?"

"Inorganic Chemistry by Swaddle calls the group of minerals aluminosilicate when some of the Si4+ ions in silicates are replaced by Al3+ ions.  For each Si4+ ion replaced by an Al3+, the charge must be balanced by having other positive ions such as Na+, K+, and Ca2+ ions. The feldspar group and zeolites are typical aluminosilicates by this definition.

"The alkali ions are held in place to balance the charges due to the presence of Al3+ ions instead of Si4+ ions. The Al3+ ions seem to replace Si4+ ions in the chains of corner shared tetrahedra of SiO4 groups.

"However, the bonding between Al and Si can be different. Silicon atoms or ions tend to be bonded to 4 oxygen atoms in a tetrahedral fashion, but aluminum ions tend to be bonded to 6 oxygen atoms in an octahedral fashion."

6) A note about the use of Kaolin clay and aluminosilicates to treat upset stomach medically.

Here is some research on Kaolin clay and its 39.8% alumina which is currently being used in the medical profession to treat upset stomach (see the last sentence).

Sacred Clay is composed of approximately 85% pyrophyllite clay and 15% a combination of montmorillonite, kaolin and chlorite clays.

"Kaolin is any of a group of fine clay minerals with the chemical composition of Al2O3·2SiO2·2H2O which means two-layer crystals (silicon-oxygen tetrahedral layer joined to alumina octahedral layer) exist alternately. Clay minerals include kaolinite, nacrite, dickite, montmorillonite, illite, chlorite, attapulgite and anauxite. Chemical compositions of kaolin minerals are the same. But each differs from the others by how the layers are stacked on top of one another. Kaolinite is the principal constituent of kaolin. Its chemical structure is Al2Si2O5(OH)4 (theoretically 39.8% alumina + 46.3% silica + 13.9%) but elements are not diverted from this ideal composition. Kaolinite is a hydrous aluminum silicate prepared by the chemical weathering of feldspar and the decomposition of aluminum silicate rocks. It is a soft, earthy and white mineral but is colored light orange to red by iron oxide. Kaolin minerals long have been the basic raw materials used in the ceramic industry, especially in fine porcelains. They can be easily molded, have a fine texture, and are white when fired. Large quantities of them are also used in paper coating, filler, paint, plastics, fiberglass, catalysts, and other specialty applications. They are the main component of a blue pigment called Ultramarine Blue (sodium aluminosilicate containing sulphur) which is prepared by heating kaolin, sodium carbonate, sulfur and other inexpensive ingredients together. It features heat and alkali resistance. They are used to treat upset stomach medically and as an ingredient in pesticides used to replace organic pesticides."

Bottom line is, if hospitals have safely used Kaolin clay, which contains almost 40% aluminum, to treat conditions of the body, then the science that documents the safety of an aluminosilicate clay for ingestion in the body supports the conclusions above on other aluminosilicate clays.

7) Pyrophyllite Clay in Agriculture

Pyrophyllite clay is an aluminum silicate of the sheet type. In the realm of agriculture, the sheet silicon clays produce the best results. Several types of silicate clays exist naturally including aluminum silicates, magnesium silicates, sodium silicates, calcium silicates and potassium silicates.

The most effective of the group of silicates for agricultural purposes are the aluminum silicates. Aluminum silicates promote the strengthening of the plant stalks and overall constitution, along with the reduction of insects and funguses. Aluminum silicates play a role in the production of silicic acid in the soil (when combined with water), resulting in an increase in the plant's mineral uptake, thereby increasing trace minerals and other nutrients in produce. Pyrophyllite clay improves pH buffering, and greatly supports the proliferation of beneficial microbial populations in the growing medium.

8) Safe Levels of Lead

FDA and EPA guidelines do not distinguish between metals that are already bonded with neutralizing opposites and the analytical summation of a specific metal in a clay, therefore true levels of safety are not identified by their guidelines. Historical precedence has long ago established the fact that clays in general, being the natural product of millions of years of weathering or geological breakdown of rock minerals into a resource, have for thousands of years served mankind in the restoration and building of human and animal health. Only due to the presence of industrial toxic waste does the question of a clay's safety come into play. Since our clays are sourced from pristine, non-industrial areas, the possibility of industrial toxicity is not a question.

The followings excerpts were taken from an EPA document entitled:

Regulations and Guidelines Applicable to Lead and Lead Compounds

"FDA has reviewed several direct human food ingredients (i.e., food dyes) and has determined them to be "generally recognized as safe" when used in accordance with current good manufacturing practices. Some of these ingredients contain allowable lead concentrations that range from 0.1 to 10 ppm."

"For soils, an average concentration of 400 ppm/yard was the proposed standard at which the public should be made aware of the risk associated with exposure to lead (EPA 1998b)"

"Bare soil in rest of yard - 1,200 ppm average."

Sacred  Clay has been tested at 10 ppm of lead, which, in combination with 62+ other natural minerals and trace elements, all of which balance each other out, making them even safer and more beneficial to consume. I am personally confident that Sacred  Clay is not only safe, but quite beneficial to consume. Having consumed this clay now for almost 7 years, I can say that I have observed that my health and sense of well being has only improved during this time.