I cannot support the claim that John Wayne had 40# of waste in his colon at the time of his death. I was not present at his autopsy (if he had one) and I did not weigh the contents of his colon.

However, I can tell you that there is a medical condition known as toxic megacolon that includes a massive impaction and stretching of the colon far beyond the size of a normal capacity.

If you will click on the links below you can learn more about megacolon and view images, photographs and x-rays for yourself. I will warn you in advance that some of the photographs are very graphic and not for the squeamish! Pay particluar attention to the picture in the second link which includes a man's hand in the photograph. This gives you some perspective regarding the actual size of this colon. (The average normal adult colon is approximately 5 feet long and 3-1/2 inches in diameter at the widest section which is the cecum.)

While this post does not address the issues you've raised regarding liver/gallbladder stones, it does demonstrate that the organs and passageways through them are capable of expanding and holding far more than what might be expected simply by viewing the 'normal' anatomy of a pig liver or even a human liver.

In addition, when you are discussing the liver/gallbladder 'stones' (as commonly referred to on this site) with most people in the western allopathic medical community, you may be encountering a problem of semantics. When you use the word 'stone' most doctors will only consider the calcified Gallstones that are visible with ultrasound. The 'stones' that are most often mentioned on this site are cholesterol 'stones' that are not visible with ultrasound, and are either believed to be non-existent or non-problematic by most in the medical community. Neither of these assumptions is accurate, however. You can do a google search for images and information of intrahepatic stones and you will see for yourself that these 'stones' do, indeed, exist within the liver ducts, and if you read any of the articles you will find that they also pose significant health problems. Curiously, most of the scientific literature concerning intrahepatic stones comes from Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Taiwan, Thailand, Cambodia, etc.).

Considering that gallbladder removal is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures, and therefore highly lucrative to the medical community, it is no surprise that the 'scientific' answers that you are seeking are not readily available. And if you factor into this that the liver is also involved in cholesterol levels, and that statin drugs are one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical commodities ever, you can clearly see that there are major financial incentives to hinder and squelch true scientific understanding and discoveries.

Simply put, there is BIG, BIG money in keeping people uninformed and misinformed about their health, scaring them into believeing that they can't possibly take responsibility for their own health and must rely on 'experts', and offering them slash 'n burn treatments that only address symptoms (at best) and cure NOTHING! There is very little money, and hence incentive, in preventive medicine which is practically non-existent in allopathic medicine. It pays to be sick!...well, some are certainly cashing in on it!!!

*BTW I do not recall the specific details of a news story I recently heard on NPR, but I believe that some 5,000 noted scientists from around the world have filed a suit against the Bush Administration citing that political and economic influences have severely and dangerously compromised and corrupted the scientific process. I do not bring this up to enter a political debate, but merely to point out that the very foundations of true Science have been threatened and 'scientific' conclusions can no longer be relied upon to bring us any closer to the TRUTH, particularly when it centers around studies involving considerable money or those that might rattle the values and beliefs that are held by the majority. Scientific studies involving health and the environment were two cited examples. ©†ƒ……•™¼‡_Original_Message_¾€š½ž¢«»¬ï°©

I cannot support the claim that John Wayne had 40# of waste in his colon at the time of his death. I was not present at his autopsy (if he had one) and I did not weigh the contents of his colon.

However, I can tell you that there is a medical condition known as toxic megacolon that includes a massive impaction and stretching of the colon far beyond the size of a normal capacity.

If you will click on the links below you can learn more about megacolon and view images, photographs and x-rays for yourself. I will warn you in advance that some of the photographs are very graphic and not for the squeamish! Pay particluar attention to the picture in the second link which includes a man's hand in the photograph. This gives you some perspective regarding the actual size of this colon. (The average normal adult colon is approximately 5 feet long and 3-1/2 inches in diameter at the widest section which is the cecum.)

While this post does not address the issues you've raised regarding liver/gallbladder stones, it does demonstrate that the organs and passageways through them are capable of expanding and holding far more than what might be expected simply by viewing the 'normal' anatomy of a pig liver or even a human liver.

In addition, when you are discussing the liver/gallbladder 'stones' (as commonly referred to on this site) with most people in the western allopathic medical community, you may be encountering a problem of semantics. When you use the word 'stone' most doctors will only consider the calcified Gallstones that are visible with ultrasound. The 'stones' that are most often mentioned on this site are cholesterol 'stones' that are not visible with ultrasound and are either believed to be non-existent or non-problematic. Neither of these assumptions is accurate, however. You can do a google search for images and information of intrahepatic stones and you will see for yourself that these 'stones' do, indeed, exist within the liver ducts, and if you read any of the articles you will find that they also pose significant health problems. Curiously, most of the scientific literature concerning intrahepatic stones comes from China.

Considering that gallbladder removal is one of the most commonly performed surgical procedures, and therefore highly lucrative to the medical community, it is no surprise that the 'scientific' answers that you are seeking are not available. And if you factor into this that the liver is also involved in cholesterol levels, and that statin drugs are one of the fastest growing pharmaceutical commodities ever, you can clearly see that there are major financial incentives to hinder and squelch true scientific understanding and discoveries.

Simply put, there is BIG, BIG money in keeping people uninformed and misinformed about their health, scaring them into believeing that they can't possibly take responsibility for their own health and must rely on 'experts', and offering them slash 'n burn treatments that only address symptoms (at best) and cure NOTHING! There is very little money, and hence incentive, in preventive medicine which is practically non-existent in allopathic medicine. It pays to be sick!...well, some are certainly cashing in on it!!!

*BTW I do not recall the specific details of a news story I recently heard on NPR, but I believe that some 5,000 noted scientists from around the world have filed a suit against the Bush Administration citing that political and economic influences have severely and dangerously compromised and corrupted the scientific process. I do not bring this up to enter a political debate, but merely to point out that the very foundations of true Science have been threatened and 'scientific' conclusions can no longer be relied upon to bring us any closer to the TRUTH, particularly when it centers around studies involving considerable money or those that might rattle the values and beliefs that are held by the majority. Scientific studies involving health and the environment were two cited examples.

http://health.allrefer.com/health/toxic-megacolon-toxic-megacolon.html
http://www.angelhealingcenter.com/MegaColon.JPG
http://www.proctosite.com/imagens/mega_colon/imega_colon.htm