WE LIVE IN a chemical-oriented society.
One would be hard put to find someone in the present-day civilization who is not affected by this fact. Every day the vast majority of the public is subjected to the intake of food preservatives and other chemical poisons, including atmospheric poisons and pesticides. Added to this are the pain pills, tranquilizers, psychiatric and other medical drugs prescribed by doctors. Additionally the widespread use of marijuana, LSD, cocaine and other street drugs contribute heavily to the scene.
These factors are all part of the biochemical problem.
BIOCHEMICAL means the interaction of life forms and chemical substances.
BIO- means life, of living things; from the Greek bios, life or way of life.
CHEMICAL means of or having to do with chemicals. Chemicals are substances, simple or complex, that are the building blocks of matter.
The human body is composed of certain exact chemicals and chemical compounds, with complex chemical processes going on continuously within it. Some substances, such as nutrients, air and water, are vital to the continuation of these processes and for maintaining the body’s health. Other substances are relatively neutral when entered into the body, causing neither benefit nor damage. Still other substances can wreak havoc, blocking or perverting body functions and making the body ill or even killing it.
TOXIC SUBSTANCES, which fall into this last category, are those that upset the body’s normal chemical balance or interfere with its processes. The term is used to describe drugs, chemicals or any substance shown to be poisonous or harmful to an organism. The word toxic itself comes from the Greek word toxikon, which originally meant a poison in which arrows were dipped.
DETOXIFICATION would be the action of removing a poison or a poisonous effect from something, such as from one’s body.
Toxins in Abundance
An enormous volume of material has been written on the subject of toxic substances, their reported effects and the prospects for their handling. Examples abound in publications and news reports.
The current environment is permeated with life-hostile elements. Drugs, radioactive wastes, pollutants and chemical agents of all types are not only everywhere, but are becoming even more prevalent as time goes on. In fact, they are so commonplace they are almost impossible to avoid.
For example, some of the things put in canned vegetables or soup could be considered toxic. They are preservatives and the action of a preservative is to impede decay. Yet digestion and cellular action are based on decay. In other words, those things might be great for the manufacturer, as they preserve the product, but they could be very bad for the consumer. It is not that I am on a food faddism kick or a kick against preservatives. The point is that Man is surrounded by toxins.
This example alone of preservatives in foods illustrates the degree to which one can encounter toxic substances in daily living.
But combine that with the enemies of various countries using widespread drug addiction as a defeatist mechanism and nations vying with each other in the manufacture and testing of nuclear weapons (and so increasing the amount of radioactive material free in the environment). Then add the ready availability of painkillers and sedatives, the increased use of industrial and agricultural chemicals, and toxic substances developed for chemical warfare. In short (and putting it bluntly), this society, at this time, is riddled with toxic substances.
Certain data regarding those substances that pose a threat to individuals and to society at large will bring the biochemical situation more clearly into focus. It is to this situation that the Purification Program is addressed.
— L. Ron Hubbard
