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

Contents

• 1 Career
• 2 Fields of research
  • 2.1 Metals and health
  • 2.2 Autism
  • 2.3 Rheumatology
• 3 Awards and support
• 4 References
• 5 External links

Career

In 1995, Geir Bjørklund founded Tenner & Helse, the membership magazine of Forbundet Tenner og Helse (Norwegian Dental Patient *ociation), and was editor until the summer of 1999. In the 1990s he was also a freelance journalist for Sunnhetsbladet, a Norwegian health magazine. In the late 1990s, he had consulting *ignments 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. In 2001, Geir Bjørklund founded Nordisk Tidsskrift for Biologisk Medisin (Nordic Journal of Biological Medicine). He was editor of this journal until its last issue in 2003.

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.

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. Norway and Sweden have banned amalgam, reportedly due to environmental concerns. 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 *ociation 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.

Geir Bjørklund has also participated in medical studies on lead (Pb), cadmium (Cd), arsenic (As), manganese (Mn), and uranium (U).

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. Geir Bjørklund is studying the effect of metal(loid)s like mercury, amino acids and digestive enzymes as possible causes of autism. However, according to current knowledge autism is *ociated 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 ins*uted for children exhibiting developmental disorders.

Rheumatology

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

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. He has also received support from Eco Foundation and Rana Utviklingsselskap AS (the development company of the municipality of Rana, Norway).

References

External links

• Norway portal
• Biography portal

• Biography on CONEM's website
• Profile for Geir Bjørklund on ResearchGate Scientific papers.