In 1995, Geir Bjørklund founded :nb:Tenner & Helse|Tenner & Helse, the membership magazine of :nb:Forbundet Tenner og Helse|Forbundet Tenner og Helse , 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 assignments for the Norwegian Board of Health. He was co-author of two of their expert reports on the use of dental filling materials. In 2001, Geir Bjørklund founded :nb:Nordisk Tidsskrift for Biologisk Medisin|Nordisk Tidsskrift for Biologisk Medisin '' 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. 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 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. Geir Bjørklund has also participated in medical studies on lead, cadmium, arsenic, manganese, and uranium.
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 metals like mercury, amino acids and digestive enzymes 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.
Rheumatology
According to Geir Bjørklund metal-induced inflammation may be an important factor in the pathogenesis of connective tissue diseases. Bjørklund and collaborators 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.
