Christopher Exley - Imagine You Are an Aluminum Atom

Copyright 2020 by Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available on file.

Cover design by Daniel Brount

Print ISBN: 978-1-5107-6253-4

Ebook ISBN: 978-1-5107-6254-1

Printed in the United States of America

TABLE OF CONTENTS

To Olya

CHAPTER 1

Why Have I Written a Book on Aluminum?

While the idea of writing this book has been gestating in my mind for some time, I only started to put words on paper as the Earth caught a cold from COVID-19. As I write, I am reminded of the book title Love in the Time of Cholera; not, of course, in comparing myself to Gabriel Garca Mrquez and certainly not in a comparison of diseases. However, as the current pandemic unfolds and its true identity is revealed, I am reminded that fear is the key to controlling the narrative. I do not wish to go down this road in this book. I am not looking to scare anyone. I am hoping to inform as many as may wish to be informed about aluminum and its impact upon our lives. That said and back to the aforementioned Gabriel Garca Mrquez, I am writing a love story, of sorts, and I am in the midst of global chaos wrapped up and delivered by Bill Gatess World Health Organization (rarely was an organization more inappropriately named) and partners as a pandemic. At this moment in time, my university has closed all science buildings, and all my research is in limbo. The withdrawal symptoms I feel from not being able to continue with our work are far worse than any cold, even for an aging asthmatic like me. As an amputee is said to feel their missing limb, my missing research nags me continuously, and, realistically, this feeling is the backdrop to the words that I am endeavoring to write for you in this book. Writing about science can only ever be secondary to the joy of doing it. But I am going to give it a go!

I say that I am writing a love story because my pursuit of the understanding of aluminums role in life and living has occupied all my working days. Without love, without passion, my aluminum crush would have passed long, long ago. Indeed, many whom I respect and admire have, on numerous occasions over the years, encouraged me to consider a quick divorce from aluminum. In doing so they were only thinking of my well-being and my academic career, though I am sure that they expected their advice to fall on deaf ears. Persistence, indeed pursuance, in science needs an appreciation, if not a love, of the subject and, for most, some acknowledgment of effort by your peers. The latter proves most elusive. While over thirty-five years of continuous effort have afforded me the luxury of the label of Mr. Aluminum, in truth it often feels like I am the person who knows most about something that few are really interested in knowing about. In scientific circles, aluminumin relation to human health specificallyhas gone the way of the dinosaurs, though unlike dinosaurs there has not yet been a popular revival. Perhaps the resurgence is about to begin? Each waking day I continue my quest to understand aluminum in all living things, my Holy Grail, because I believe that it is the greatest untold story of science, and, yes, it is belief that continues to nurture my fascination and not a vain hope that my scientific peers will one day reward my efforts. Alas, the subject of my research alone dictates that there be no future trip to Stockholm or even The Royal Society of London to receive accolades for my efforts. However, please do believe me when I say that other forms of recognition from myriad individuals across the globe leave a smile on my face and a determination to continue and succeed in bringing scientific truth to light.

To date, I have written over 200 scientific papers, and it might be assumed that this should stand me in good stead for writing a book.this was in the papers introduction in relation to other scientists research. Nevertheless, this paper saw me christened by various Internet trolls, such as the notorious David Gorski, as being antivaccine. It heralded attacks on my person by the media, often inanely supported by press stooges masquerading as scientists. Google still offers Christopher Exley Quack as a viable search option. Nevertheless, it is an important, probably seminal, paper, and if you have not read it yet, then I recommend you join the million or so who have and download it from the journal website found in footnote 2.

Every word in every scientific paper I have written has always mattered to me because the subject matters to me. It is critically important to me that written information on aluminum be correct and supported by scientific data. I am not writing about beliefs or opinions; these are there, but only in what remains unwritten. I want you to read my words and from them distill my opinions, subtly disguised perhaps, as your own. Writing about aluminum is tough for me because I am afraid of passing on a wrong or ill-defined message. As you might imagine, this also makes me an obstinate reviewer of work by others on aluminum. In peer review, I reject many more manuscripts than I recommend for publication. I am sure that there are many willing to testify to my obstinacy and perhaps some who wreak their revenge when the opportunity is presented to them. I know that I reap what I sow, and I am comfortable with this. I am not reviewing the science of aluminum in this book. If you are a fellow scientist, even a member of the Aluminum Family, do not look for a direct citation of your work in this book. You are unlikely to find such, though you may still see your important research referenced in my thoughtful meanderings. I pride myself in having read almost every paper on aluminum published since about 1980 in mainstream academic journals. Those who have visited me at Keele University will recall an office bestrewn with box files replete with papers on aluminum. I have learned more about aluminum in living systems than I thought possible when I began my quest. I am expressing this learning herein. I am going to have a conversation with you about aluminum, and everything I tell you will be supported by published scientific literature.

I also want this book to be helpful. Every day without exception I receive emails asking me all manner of questions about aluminum. I hope that by writing this book I will give readers both knowledge and resources to investigate the answers to these questions. One of the possible subtitles I considered for the book, Frequently Answered Questions, reflects this aim of the book. I will always make myself available to fill in the gaps, but I want everyone who is truly interested to read a little more deeply and to find for themselves not only answers, but also mystery, the latter being what continues to keep the subject of human exposure to aluminum alive and kicking.