My life has been anything but normal. I could tell you some stories of my lifelong encounters that would qualify me for the Guinness Book of Illegal Records. In the 1960's, I played in a toxic chemical waste dump. This dump, known as the Lindane Dump or the Alsco Park Superfund Site, contains a wide variety of toxins, including the pesticides, Dichlorodiphenyltriclorethane, (DDT) and Hexachlorocyclohexane (HCH). Lindane or Gammexane are trade names for an insecticide composed of the most toxic of the isomers of HCH.

Over the years I've had quite a few problems with my health, including, convulsions, vision deficiencies, fatigue, erratic behavior, numbness of various parts of my body... the list goes on and on. Finally in 1992, after receiving head trauma from a motor vehicle accident, in the days following, the right side of my body started to go numb. Starting in my fingers & toes and then moving towards center. After a family doctor sent me to a neurologist, I was given a Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) test and a few days later diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). At the same time the neurologist initially set me an appointment for the MRI, he also scheduled me to receive intravenous (IV) steroids. It was as if he knew what I was about to be diagnosed with. After meeting in a hospital room, where the initial diagnosis of MS was made, the neurologist left and a nurse came in. She told me to change into hospital attire and lie on the bed where the IV steroid would be administered. I refused, got up from my chair, and left the hospital. In the year following, I was hospitalized twice and received IV steroid treatment. To date I have had a total of three MRI's, each with a diagnosis of MS from three different neurologists. It did take me over a year to properly adjust my lifestyle and diet to accommodate what I knew right away were these toxins in my system. Now I'm back to work and healthier than ever!

Right after the first initial diagnosis, I got around town a good bit and the more I got around, the more I heard people say, "Joe, I heard about your diagnosis, how do you feel?" They would go on and say, "Well, I know this person that has it (MS) and this person, etc." Hearing about all of these cases prompted me to do an investigation. When people would first ask me about what I felt was the cause, I would tell them the dumpsite. I was told by many that in this situation, if anybody could find the cause of a so-called incurable disease, it would be Joey Smeltzer.

To date I have found over fifty (50) people diagnosed with MS in Harrison Township, population 11,763. Normal incident rate is 1 or 2 in 10,000. Therefore we have over 25 times the normal incident rate of MS. I found over thirty (30) cases of MS within a 2,000-ft. perimeter of this dumpsite alone! The rest are from Harrison Township in its entirety. I have also found a large number of other diseases, including, cancer, leukemia, Lou Gherig's disease (ALS Syndrome), etc. The list goes on and on. A lot of people had asked if I could possibly start an investigation into these, but I have told them that I am already way over my head with just the MS cases alone. Someone else will have to do that. There are also a lot of MS cases in surrounding communities, mainly down river (Allegheny) of this site.

 I have done extensive research on these toxins & MS. I have obtained toxicological profiles for these toxins from the United States (U.S.) Agency for Toxic Substance and Disease Registry (ATSDR) and found we have the same symptoms as being poisoned by these pesticides. I then went to a law firm in Pittsburgh, PA, which specializes in toxic litigation and got them involved. After presenting my findings to them, they said they go out searching for cases like this. After doing about a year of investigating and flying to a few universities in the United States, they returned and told me to get everybody together. At a previous meeting, I had approximately 30 MS patients come forward and sign the necessary legal forms for this law firm to represent us in a class action law suit against the responsible party that did the dumping at this site. 

We got together again and these attorneys told us they just returned from Duke University, North Carolina, where they presented all of our medical histories, including MRI's, to a research scientist there. He told the attorneys that he expects this to be a major medical breakthrough and that we all need to go in and have fat biopsies done. We were told a surgeon would remove 5 grams of fat from our abdomens. It was to then be frozen and sent to Duke University for analysis. I went in first and had it done, then went back a few days later for a follow up to my surgery and the surgeon told me he had some bad news for me. "Duke University backed out of this investigation," he said. My fat sample was not sent anywhere but to the garbage can! I found out just a day later that these chemical companies are major financial contributors to these universities! I have not given up!! Within the last 2 years my job as an interstate tractor trailer driver has me traveling nationwide and enables me to tell this same story to people along the way. You would not believe the response I've been receiving from people that have put me in touch with MS patients across the U.S.! A major percentage of them have been exposed to toxic pesticides at some time in their life!  I told them all this web site was in the making and they have anxiously awaited this!

    WE ARE AMERICANS!!!! Let me show you how to defeat this so-called Multiple Sclerosis Dragon as I did. All that you need to do is (1) stay healthy, (2) maintain a well balanced diet, (3) do not drink chlorinated water, only a natural spring water, (4) include in your diet a nutritional supplement, such as Super Blue Green Algae.  MS patients who have done this, along with myself, have been symptom free for years!

    To the people that refer to MS as the dragon: "I, Joseph Francis Smeltzer, have defeated your so-called MS dragon and am awaiting to be dubbed a knight, but the U.S. Government will not allow me to receive my title." The U.S. government knows all about this. 

I went as far as meeting with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) concerning this matter. The FBI told me, it seems there is a problem, but it's in the hands of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). I had phoned and met with the EPA a number of times, previously. At the meetings they showed up in the same automobile with the party responsible for the dumping saying that nothing can be done until research science can connect a link between these toxins and several different diseases as they continue to back the chemical companies! Protecting the American people they are NOT! Allowing toxin companies to pay off universities they ARE!  

One of the most clinching pieces of information I've uncovered in this saga is that one of the ingredients in these toxic pesticides is what is called an organic mercurial compound. In the Encyclopedia Britannica, it states, " poisoning with organic mercurial compounds is characterized by lesions of the central nervous system." That's exactly what MS is!!

I've confronted family doctors, neurologists, and neurosurgeons. They all tell me, "I'm sorry, but it wasn't in my field of study." It's evident to see that these universities do not teach their students the correct way to accomplish the proper diagnosis! The only way they know how to diagnose this toxic poisoning is with MS. What ever happened to the Hippocratic Oath? It seems as though somebody has control over who uses it !!!

Knock, knock, yes, U.S. Senators and Congressmen, your door is next! This time I won't fight this battle alone. Join with me Americans!

You would not believe the political corruption I have already uncovered pertaining to this dumpsite. Let's put an end to this! NOW!!!

I have presented my findings to a lot of different groups & agencies and asked for studies to be done. I have been told things, such as, we have a lack of funding, not enough complaints to warrant a study, etc. Then after presenting my case to a woman from one of the many MS organizations and confronting her again at a later date, she told me that, "Our researchers have told us that these symptoms from the toxic poisoning you are talking about so closely mimic that of MS that it is hard to differentiate between the two." But there are proper tests to clarify this diagnosis and we can't even get them done!

I brought up a good one to the FBI when I met with them. I asked if the MS patients put to death by the suicide doctor, Jack Kevorkian, were ever properly tested to see if in fact they could of had a treatable and curable toxic chemical poisoning and not so called incurable MS. Or was Dr. Kevorkian educated by the same universities that don't want to find a cure for MS!? A lot of these MS organizations don't want to find a cure for this disease. If they do, they will be OUT OF JOBS! All they want is your money! A lot of these organizations want you to try this medicine and that medicine. One reason for this could be because chemical and pharmaceutical companies are like brother & sister!

Remember you don't necessarily need to live near one of the hundreds of pesticide waste dumps in this country to be poisoned by them. There are several ways you can be exposed to them. One being the U.S. government, who is still allowing the importing of food products from foreign countries that use DDT & Lindane!