58 Achieving pH Balance to Treat Specific Ailments
barrier is gone, the toxins make scratches, tears, and holes in the intes-
tinal walls and, along with sharp acidic particles, wear away the lining
of the colon, thinning it out until it is stretched so tight that it balloons
out and forms sacs (diverticula) in which waste matter gets lodged.Appendectomy
There are other causes of intestinal infl ammation besides mental stress.
One is the removal of the appendix. This operation, from 1900 to
around 1950, was almost as common as tonsillectomy. The justifi cation
for its removal was that it was a vestigial (useless) organ. That in fact
the appendix has a vital function in the body is suggested by several
studies that have correlated appendectomies with an increase in cancer.
A study of 1,165 patients at the Medical College in Toledo, Ohio, con-
ducted by Dr. George Padanilam showed that 67 percent of the patients
who had developed cancer before the age of fi fty had had their appendix
removed;^11 and Dr. Howard Bierman of the Institute for Cancer and
Blood Research, speaking at the American College of Surgeons in 1966,
said that according to his studies, out of hundreds of cancer patients, 84
percent had had their appendixes removed whereas only 25 percent of
the noncancer patients were missing their appendixes.^12
These studies make a strong case that the appendix, like the tonsils
and adenoids, is part of the immune system and as such produces anti-
bodies that not only destroy cancer-causing viruses but also engulf and
dispose of the toxins and bacteria that infl ame the bowels. The appen-
dix’s location at the bottom of the ascending colon clearly indicates that
its purpose is to protect the small intestine from the toxic waste in the
ascending colon.
According to Michael Crichton, M.D., in his book Five Patients,
appendix operations started with the pathologist Reginald H. Fitz’s
assertion that infl ammation, pus, and pain in the lower right abdomen
was caused by an infection in the appendix.^13 This hypothesis, Crichton
writes, created a new disease. Although many physicians resisted the
idea of removing the appendix, eventually the surgeons won out. The
fi nal victory for the appendix removal proponents was achieved in 1902
when England’s King Edward VII had an appendectomy. Shortly after-
ward, the operation came into vogue. Physicians were not then aware,
as most still aren’t today, that infl ammation from toxic acidic waste is