Geir Bjørklund

Geir Bjørklund (born 20 April 1969 in Mo i Rana, Norway) is a researcher and medical/health science writer, and editor.[1][2] He is founder and president of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM), an international non-profit association based in Norway, engaged in research related to toxic metals, autoimmune disorders, neurodegenerative diseases, and autism.[2][3] Bjørklund is a member of the World Association of Medical Editors.[2]

Geir Bjørklund
Born (1969-04-20) 20 April 1969
Mo i Rana, Norway
NationalityNorwegian
OccupationResearcher and president of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine

Career

In 1995, Geir Bjørklund founded Tenner & Helse, the membership magazine of Forbundet Tenner og Helse (Norwegian Dental Patient Association), and was editor until the summer of 1999. In the 1990s he was also a freelance journalist for Sunnhetsbladet, a Norwegian health magazine.[4][5] In the late 1990s, he had consulting assignments for the Norwegian Board of Health (Statens helsetilsyn). He was co-author of two of their expert reports on the use of dental filling materials.[6][7] In 2001, Geir Bjørklund founded Nordisk Tidsskrift for Biologisk Medisin (Nordic Journal of Biological Medicine)[8][9] He was editor of this journal until its last issue in 2003.[2]

In 2013, Bjørklund founded and became president of the Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine (CONEM). Today, CONEM has research groups in different countries in Europe, Asia, and the Americas. The majority of the research groups are based at universities.[2]

Fields of research

Metals and health

Exposure of dental patients to Hg from dental amalgam fillings is caused by the material properties of amalgam, i.e., mainly by its corrosion, abrasion, and aging.[10] Norway and Sweden have banned amalgam, reportedly due to environmental concerns.[11] In many countries, the use of dental amalgam fillings is still a subject of ongoing debate.

Bjørklund's 1991 article published in the Journal of the Norwegian Medical Association about the risk of occupational disease in dentistry due to exposure to mercury and mercury vapour resulted in news coverage in a number of Norwegian newspapers.[12][13][14]

Geir Bjørklund has also participated in medical studies on lead (Pb),[15] cadmium (Cd),[16][17] arsenic (As),[18][19] manganese (Mn), and uranium (U).[20][21]

Autism

Autism is one of Bjørklund's research interests. In 1998, his first PubMed indexed autism paper was published. It is a review article about children with Asperger syndrome.[22] Geir Bjørklund is studying the effect of metal(loid)s like mercury,[23] amino acids[24][25] and digestive enzymes[26] as possible causes of autism. However, according to current knowledge autism is associated with a combination of genetic and other environmental factors.

In 2016, in an editorial article, Bjørklund and Max Chartrand suggested that safe, inexpensive oral chelating therapies can be instituted for children exhibiting developmental disorders.[27]

Rheumatology

According to Geir Bjørklund metal-induced inflammation may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of connective tissue diseases.[28] Bjørklund and collaborators (2018) have reviewed the literature related to the effects of metals and vitamins in pain evaluation of patients with fibromyalgia.[29]

Awards and support

In 2003, the Albert Lindsay von Julin Foundation in Helsinki awarded Geir Bjørklund a scholarship of 10,000 Euros for his work in biological medicine.[2] He has also received support from Eco Foundation and Rana Utviklingsselskap AS (the development company of the municipality of Rana, Norway).[2]

References
  1. . Marquis Who's Who Archived 2012-05-24 at Archive.today
  2. Council for Nutritional and Environmental Medicine
  3. Kennedy RF Jr. The interwoven global epidemics of mercury toxicity and autism. World Mercury Project 24.10.2017. https://worldmercuryproject.org/news/interwoven-global-epidemics-mercury-toxicity-autism (30.11.2017).
  4. Articles by Geir Bjørklund in Sunnhetsbladet. Norart.no
  5. Bjørklund G. The body’s chemical laboratory: the liver (in Norwegian). Sunnhetsbladet 1995, No. 12: 10-11.
  6. Bruk av tannrestaureringsmaterialer i Norge. Rapport nr. IK-2652. Oslo: Statens helsetilsyn, 1998.
  7. The use of dental filling materials in Norway. Archived 2011-09-28 at the Wayback Machine Report No. IK-2675. Oslo: Norwegian Board of Health, 1999.
  8. Bjørklund G. Ny giv for biologisk medisin i Norden. Nord Tidsskr Biol Med 2001; 1: 3-6.
  9. Christensen B. Ambisiøst og uklart om biologisk medisin. Tidsskr Nor Lægeforen 2001; 121:3096.
  10. Bjørklund G. Dental amalgam – a threat to our health? (in Norwegian). Teknisk Ukeblad 1992; No. 33: 5 (correction in No. 35: 43).
  11. Kopperud, Simen E.; Staxrud, Frode; Espelid, Ivar; Tveit, Anne Bjørg (April 2016). "The Post-Amalgam Era: Norwegian Dentists' Experiences with Composite Resins and Repair of Defective Amalgam Restorations". International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 13 (4): 441. doi:10.3390/ijerph13040441. ISSN 1661-7827. PMC 4847103. PMID 27110804.
  12. Kvikksølv-plomber rammer tannlegen. Østlandets Blad 25.03.1991.
  13. Kvikksølv helsefarlig. Adresseavisen 25.03.1991.
  14. Myhr KI. Farlig for tannlegene. Dagbladet 03.04.1991.
  15. Kern JK, Geier DA, Homme KG, King PG, Bjørklund G, Chirumbolo S, Geier MR. Developmental neurotoxicants and the vulnerable male brain: a systematic review of suspected neurotoxicants that disproportionally affect males. Acta Neurobiol Exp (Wars) 2017; 77: 269-296.
  16. Tinkov AA, Filippini T, Ajsuvakova OP, Aaseth J, Gluhcheva YG, Ivanova JM, Bjørklund G, Skalnaya MG, Gatiatulina ER, Popova EV, Nemereshina ON, Vinceti M, Skalny AV. The role of cadmium in obesity and diabetes. Sci Total Environ 2017;601-602:741-755.
  17. Tinkov AA, Filippini T, Ajsuvakova OP, Skalnaya MG, Aaseth J, Bjørklund G, Gatiatulina ER, Popova EV, Nemereshina ON, Huang PT, Vinceti M, Skalny AV. Cadmium and atherosclerosis: A review of toxicological mechanisms and a meta-analysis of epidemiologic studies. Environ Re 2018;162:240-260.
  18. Bjørklund G, Aaseth J, Chirumbolo S, Urbina MA, Uddin R. Effects of arsenic toxicity beyond epigenetic modifications. Environ Geochem Health 2017. doi: 10.1007/s10653-017-9967-9.
  19. Fakhri Y, Bjørklund G, Bandpei AM, Chirumbolo S, Keramati H, Hosseini Pouya R, Asadi A, Amanidaz N, Sarafraz M, Sheikhmohammad A, Alipour M, Baninameh Z, Mohseni SM, Sarkhosh M, Ghasemi SM. Concentrations of arsenic and lead in rice (Oryza sativa L.) in Iran: A systematic review and carcinogenic risk assessment. Food Chem Toxicol 2018; 113: 267-277.
  20. Bjørklund G, Christophersen OA, Chirumbolo S, Selinus O, Aaseth J. Recent aspects of uranium toxicology in medical geology. Environ Res. 2017 Jul;156:526-533.
  21. Markabayeva A, Bauer S, Pivina L, Bjørklund G, Chirumbolo S, Kerimkulova A, Semenova Y, Belikhina T. Increased prevalence of essential hypertension in areas previously exposed to fallout due to nuclear weapons testing at the Semipalatinsk Test Site, Kazakhstan. Environ Res 2018;167:129-135.
  22. Bjørklund G. Barn med Aspergers syndrom. Tidsskr Nor Laegeforen 1998; 118: 1567-1569.
  23. Bjørklund G, Skalny AV, Rahman MM, Dadar M, Yassa HA, Aaseth J, Chirumbolo S, Skalnaya MG, Tinkov AA. Toxic metal(loid)-based pollutants and their possible role in autism spectrum disorder. Environ Res. 2018 Oct;166:234-250. doi: 10.1016/j.envres.2018.05.020.
  24. Kałużna-Czaplińska J, Jóźwik-Pruska J, Chirumbolo S, Bjørklund G. Tryptophan status in autism spectrum disorder and the influence of supplementation on its level. Metab Brain Dis 2017; 32: 1585-1593.
  25. Al-Otaish H, Al-Ayadhi, Bjørklund G, Chirumbolo S, Urbina MA, El-Ansary A. Relationship between absolute and relative ratios of glutamate, glutamine and GABA and severity of autism spectrum disorder. Metab Brain Dis 2018;33:843-854. doi: 10.1007/s11011-018-0186-6.
  26. Saad K, Eltayeb AA, Mohamad IL, Al-Atram AA, Elserogy Y, Bjørklund G, El-Houfey AA, Nicholson B. A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of digestive enzymes in children with autism spectrum disorders. Clin Psychopharmacol Neurosci 2015; 13(2):188-193.
  27. Bjørklund G, Chartrand M. Nutritional and environmental influences on autism spectrum disorder. J Nutr Disorders The 2016; 6(1): e123.
  28. Bjørklund G, Dadar M, Aaseth J. Delayed-type hypersensitivity to metals in connective tissue diseases and fibromyalgia. Environ Res 2018; 161: 573-579.
  29. Bjørklund G, Dadar M, Chirumbolo S, Aaseth J. Fibromyalgia and nutrition: Therapeutic possibilities? Biomed Pharmacother 2018; 103: 531-538.
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