Scales of Paralysis

Abstract

In the mid 20th century, a complex form of amylotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and parkinsonism with progressive dementia (PDC) was found to occur in high incidence among the CHamoru people on the island of Guahan (Guam). Declining incidence over the following years pointed to an unknown, yet disappearing environmental cause. Further investigation hypothesized that potent neurotoxins present in traditional food sources including cycad seeds (Fandang) and fruit bats (Fanihi) may have contributed to disease etiology. This paper reviews immobility of the CHamoru across several scales: from a cellular-level discussion of ALS-PDC, to a cultural analysis of how, under (post)colonial stress, the CHamoru body shifts its ailment toward a forest that now faces extinction on multiple fronts. Scales take several definitions here as (1) the ‘scales of judgement’ shift from the human to the nonhuman, (2) the scale of ecosystems attempting to cope with stress conditions at both cellular, community, and spiritual level, and (3) the invasive scale insect which parasitizes cycad seeds and contributes to multi-species extinction. This paper uses a speculative approach that turns to Chamorro modes of thought and imagination during times of chronic stress and extinction.

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Introduction: A Brief History of Guahan

Located in the northwest Pacific Ocean, Guahan (Guam) stands as the largest and most populous island in the Micronesian region. Archeological and historical analyses postulate that the island's original settlers likely migrated from Southeast Asia around 1500 A.D and evolved into a distinct CHamoru culture (Liu, 2022). Retaining the seafaring prowess of their Austronesian ancestors, these early inhabitants largely relied on the ocean for sustenance, complemented by foraging in the lush tropics and hunting small game (Polluck, 1986). The mid-17th century ushered in an era of Spanish colonization, marking significant turmoil for the island. This period was characterized by a drastic decline in the native population spurred by aggressive missionary activities, the introduction of foreign diseases, and natural disasters (Driver, 1993; Fritz, 2001)). The aftermath of the Spanish-American War in the late 19th century saw Guahan transition to American control, eventually becoming a crucial naval base in the Pacific post-World War II and an unincorporated U.S. territory. The 1950s brought a new set of challenges when U.S. Navy medics, initially deployed to staff a small island hospital, discovered alarmingly high incidences of paralytic disease among the CHamoru (Arnold et.al., 1953). Symptoms included severe muscle wasting, speech impairment and difficulty swallowing. This led to the startling revelation that the CHamoru population experienced amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) rates 100 times higher than those on the mainland U.S., with no immediately apparent cause (Arnold et.al., 1953). Subsequent research in the 1960s and 70s expanded the medical mystery, linking ALS with signs of severe Parkinsonian disease in what came to be known as the parkinsonian-dementia complex of Guam (PDC). Interestingly, this complex (ALS/PDC) gradually vanished over time, suggesting environmental factors as potential causes (Condello, 2023).

This essay speculates along several scales of (im)mobility of the CHamoru from the cellular to the sociocultural level to investigate how movement through the forest became physically disabling, and how the recovery of human mobility shifted its ailing status toward the forest now under threat of extinction. Analysis of sociocultural paralysis in the ALS/PDC affected CHamoru may begin anywhere along the ecological scale. It is important to note that numerous studies have shown that etiology occurs in a sedimented fashion whereby the stress conditions posed by ‘natural’ cellular processes may be exacerbated by ‘social’ stress conditions at the community level, and vice versa. As such, this paper does not aim to singularize causality, even as particular medical analyses attempt to pinpoint the ‘start’ of ALS or PDC from neurons in the brain or the muscle (i.e., Dying forward vs. dying backward hypotheses). Recognizing that the etiology of chronic stress and disease is often more complex than typically thought, this paper aims to address experiences of the ALS/PDC affected CHamoru across multiple scales.

Life in the Forest across Chronological Scale

Despite its high biodiversity, Guahan's limestone forests have been historically dominated by cycad trees, known locally as Fandang (Cycas micronesica) (Cox & Sacks, 2002). These cycads are a vital part of the ecosystem, supporting a range of endemic species, including the Fanihi (Pteropus mariannus), a tropical fruit bat commonly referred to as the flying fox. Importantly, cycads play critical roles in nitrogen fixation across their microecosystems, transforming nonreactive nitrogen (N2) in the air into a metabolically useful compound as ammonia (NH3). This process is done with the help of various symbiotic cyanobacteria living in cycad roots, which in turn provide cycad seeds with a potent neurotoxic defense: β-Methylamino-L-alanine (BMAA). This symbiotic relationship has been hypothesized to have began as early as 250 million years ago (Cox & Sacks, 2002). Cycad seed dispersal takes on another symbiotic relationship with Fanihi. Studies suggest that these bats are attracted to the brightly colored cycad seeds, consuming only the fleshy outer layer before discarding the remainder of the seed on the forest ground for germination (Disney, 2018). Over the course of the bat’s life, BMAA accumulates in the bat’s tissue in a process termed biomagnification, which transfers the neurotoxic capabilities of the cycad seed to the bat (Samardzic, 2021).

Both Fandang and Fanihi are traditionally consumed by CHamoru according to their respective degrees of obtainability. CHamoru have long known about the toxicity of cycad seeds and have developed techniques such as soaking, washing, and grinding to remove or dilute BMAA toxicity for use in food products (Cox & Sacks, 2002). Interestingly, the threshold of BMAA toxicity has been contested in scientific literature. While some studies report that the washing procedure was sufficient to remove enough free BMAA to eliminate toxicity, other studies find that a substantial amount of protein-bound BMAA were still present in cycad-derived foodstuffs, therefore its toxicity cannot be completely ruled out. Further, consumption of Fanihi are considered cultural delicacies across Polynesia, Indonesia, and Micronesia due to their difficulty to obtain in the night. This holds true especially for the CHamoru, who consider consumption of Fanihi central to their cultural identity (Banack et.al., 2006). While traditional means of hunting Fanihi via sticks, stones, and hooked vines did not threaten Fanihi populations, technological evolutions from colonization dramatically shifted power relations within the forest (Wiles et.al., 1989; Lemke, 1992). Increased extensive firearm hunting coincided with an increased human population on the island, leading to a marked decrease in Fanihi across the Mariana Archipelago as a whole. Commercial exploitation of the luxury food as early as the 1960s prompted not only a depletion of local Fanihi populations, but also importation of bats from other islands across the Pacific that resulted in significant population depletion in Samoa, Chuuk, Pohnpei, and Palau. Simultaneous loss of habitat due to deforestation for agricultural plantations (sometimes associated with international aid programs) and other urban construction are additionally linked to bat population decline due to loss of nutritive food sources (Dunlop et.al., 2021). As urbanization increased across the island, significant deforestation led to what Deborah Bird Rose (2018) calls a ‘double death’ in that “damaged ecosystems are unable to recuperate their diversity. […] So many extinctions that the process of evolution is unable to keep up. More species die than are coming into being.” The fanihi was finally recognized as endangered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in 1984 and by the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species in 1990 (Disney, 2018). On top of ecosystem-wide death, ALS/PDC was first observed during this luxury food boom, where newly arrived medical practitioners signaled extreme concern over the symptoms expressed by the native community.

Conditions of Paralysis, Scales of Paralysis

Neurologists McGeer & Steele (2008) reveal that ALS/PDC is the most aggressive of all neurodegenerative diseases, combining biological markers central to three complex diseases: amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), Parkinson’s Disease, and Alzheimer’s disease. This section aims to elucidate the conditions for ALS/PDC from the cellular to the supernatural in an attempt to attend to what Carr & Lempert (2016) calls the ‘pragmatics of scale’. Carr & Lempert argue that this practice of scaling, or the positioning of vantage points and actors, is inherently political as subjects anchor and (re)orient themselves toward certain ends. Attending to the pragmatics of scale for the CHamoru, then, requires a focus on the “circumstances, dynamics, and consequences” that make scale-making possible in ALS/PDC epidemiology.

Cellular Stress

While the mechanisms involved are unknown, recent investigations on affected, deceased CHamoru have allowed a general characterization of the disease. Firstly, neuropathology of ALS in ALS/PDC is present through biomarker TDP-43, a DNA binding protein critically involved in gene expression through the regulation of RNA splicing, trafficking, and stabilization (Condello, 2023). In other words, TDP-43 acts akin to an nuclear mailing service not only in in charge of ensuring that packages are created correctly, but also that they are sent to correct destinations in the cytoplasm without damage. Pathogenic TDP-43 instead appears in a hyperphosphorylated state that critically affects its functionality by forming aggregates within the cytoplasm, also known as cytoplasmic inclusions, in neurons and glial cells across the central nervous system. These aggregates become toxic over time as (1) the cell loses its critical regulatory protein and (2) as cytoplasmic inclusions grow larger and obstruct normal cellular processes (Prasad, 2019). Secondly, ALS/PDC symptoms are consistent with Parkinson’s disease( the ‘PDC’ in ALS/PDC) in terms of its biomarker α-synuclein, a protein highly expressed in the nervous system hypothesized to affect synaptic connections between neurons. Mutations in α-synuclein disrupts cellular function similarly form cytoplasmic aggregates in groups termed Lewy bodies, which not only obstructs cellular processes but directly affects neuronal transmission through the inability to supply synaptic vesicles for communication (Condello, 2023). Lastly, ALS/PDC correlates with Alzheimer’s disease through the biomarker tau, which accumulates in tangles termed neurofibrillary tangles (NFTs) in neuron and glial (nervous system-specific connective tissue) cells, and presence of β-amyloid plaques (Condello, 2023). Normative tau proteins are functionally abundant in order to stabilize the entire neuronal network across the central nervous system. Pathologic tau, then becomes detrimental not only as it destabilizes the network, but in that it may act as a seed that causes properly functioning tau to conform to the pathologic structure. The malfunctioning tau is thus contagious and behaves similarly to prion diseases which self-propagate misfolded proteins toward system-wide neuronal death. Similarly, β-amyloid forms plaques in a contagious manner, leaving the nervous system vulnerable since β-amyloid normally functions in neuronal protection and repair. These plaques are largely centralized around the hippocampus, which gives both Alzheimer’s disease and ALS/PDC its prominent memory loss symptom (Condello, 2023).

While all diseases discussed have some hereditary basis, the majority of cases tend to be sporadic (no clear hereditary link). Various forms of cellular stress are therefore thought to promote protein misfolding and aggregation. Oxidative stress (where the production of reactive oxygen species cause damage to the DNA, proteins, and regular cellular functions) can have calamitous effects that may cause cells to produce misfolded proteins to cope with the presence of radical atoms. Additionally, chemical stress, or the exposure of toxic chemicals or heavy metals, have been implicated in neurodegeneration (Yoshida, 2022). For instance, Yanagihara et al. (1984) suggested that soil and water deficient in calcium and magnesium could cause ALS/PDC. However, a later study by Ahlskog et al. (1995) found no abnormalities in these elements or in several metals in a population's serum. The role of BMAA, a non-proteinogenic amino acid, has thus been a leading hypothesis in ALS/PDC. First identified as a toxin by Vega and Bell (1967), subsequent research by Spencer et al. (1987) showed that monkeys exposed to BMAA developed symptoms like weight loss and limb weakness. BMAA differs from alanine, a normal protein component, by having a methylamino group that alters its chemical properties. Found in cyanobacterial secretions, BMAA is present in various environmental sources, including contaminated seafood and water. BMAA's inclusion in proteins, albeit at low error rates, is particularly problematic for neurons in that it may induce protein misfolding, exposing hydrophobic amino acids that then form toxic aggregates, disrupting cellular functions. Initially, the potential for BMAA to be incorporated into proteins was underestimated due to the specificity of tRNA. However, Dunlop et al. (2013) discovered that BMAA could be mistaken for L-serine by tRNA synthetase, increasing its misincorporation rate. BMAA misincorporation particularly affects TDP-43, a protein found aggregated in ALS patients' brains (Igaz et al., 2011). Besides its incorporation into proteins, BMAA's neurotoxicity also involves direct effects. It overstimulates glutamate receptors in motor neurons, leading to neuron loss (Rao et al., 2006). This overstimulation produces toxic levels of reactive oxygen species and increases intracellular calcium, both contributing to neuronal degeneration. Notably, glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity is also a feature of other neurodegenerative diseases, like Alzheimer's.

Societal Stress

While the rise of BMAA available to CHamorus has been attributed to the combination of fanihi overhunting and bioaccumulation of fandang, several other issues may have exacerbated stress along psychological fronts to promote a higher reliance on native lifeways. During World War II (circa 1940s), CHamorus on Guam suffered intense cruelty from Japanese invasion from the then-occupied Mariana Islands. Writing on the CHamoru experience during the Second World War, Iwamoto writes:

[Japanese Commanders] ordered the internment of Guam’s entire civilian population of twenty-two thousand. Nine thousand Chamorros were ordered to march twenty kilometers to the lush Manenggon valley. […] Those who survived the march to the camps were forced to live in filthy conditions. (Iwamoto, 2008, p. 14)

At Hatgana, residents were interrogated and beaten under suspicion of hiding machine guns and other weapons for other CHamorus in hiding within halom tano (forests/ jungles). According to Palomo, bodies of over 50 CHamorus were found in the jungle, likely looking for food, but were executed after being caught by Japanese forces (Palomo, 1984). Thus, under Japanese rule, the consumption of fandang and fanihi alongside highly contaminated water may have been among the only available food sources for survival. Post World-War II revealed further food-related issues even as the new civilian government on Guam prompted a new wave of optimism and American-influenced modernization. The 1961 Annual Report of the Governor of Guam notes that, “the fact that some 85% of Guam’s food is imported, including much from the Orient, and that no State or federal agency on the mainland has the responsibility of investigating the quality of food shipped to the island remains a problem”( p. 113-114). This is followed by a “back to the soil” drive in the following year, aimed at making Guahan more self-sufficient through the promotional campaign of home gardens and importation of breeding stock under “Operation Guam Friendship” (Annual Report of the Governor of Guam to the Secretary of the Interior, 1962). However, these efforts were lost in the following year as two typhoons swept the island of 98% of its crops, and as breeding stock fed on forest vegetation as a result (Annual Report of the Governor of Guam, 1963; Demeulanare, 2020). While Guahan sought to repair its islands agriculturally and economically, the cultural delicacy of Fanihi may have rose as a potential mode of economic invigoration prompting the rise of BMAA within the CHamoru body. In an interview regarding Guahan’s fanihi, neurologist Oliver Sacks and ethnobotanist Paul Cox state:

“[ALS/PDC] has become much rarer [and] altered its presentation and its age of onset: back in the early 1950s there were people in their twenties affected, now they are mostly late middle-aged or elderly people. No-one (or very few people) born after 1960 seems to have contracted the disease – though there may be, apparently, an ‘incubation period’ of decades between the initial ‘event’ (infectious, toxic, whatever) and the appearance of the complex […] The Chamorro diet and indeed the Chamorro cultural character were uniquely characterised during the twentieth century by mass consumption of flying foxes which led to the extinction of one flying fox species on Guam and the near-extinction of the other species. This in turn led to the importation of other flying fox species from other island nations where cycads do not play a prominent role in the vegetation. As a result of the change in sources of flying foxes, the putative ingestion of biomagnified cycad neurotoxins began to decrease in the 1960s and reached negligible levels in the 1970s when the entire genus Pteropus in Guam teetered on the edge of extirpation. The rise and fall of consumption of Guam flying foxes was shadowed by a rise and fall of the incidence of ALS-PDC in Guam” (Cox & Sacks, 2002, p. 10-11)

The turn of the 21st century sedimented ideas about traditional food sources and livelihoods as nonproductive for CHamoru bodies in the wake of new modernization. Higher dependence on imported foods and non-native diets after the fall of flying fox consumption shifted paralysis off of the human and toward the halom tano as it struggled to cope with new modes of living.

Ancestral Stress

As a final level of scale, this essay attempts to speculate on ASD/PDC as a known disease within CHamoru livelihoods through the exploration of taotaomo’na, or the incorporeal living ancestors of the CHamoru. According to Cunningham’s seminal work on Ancient CHamoru Society,

“The ancient CHamorros had a different view of nature. Humans were not unique or set apart from the rest of the living or nonliving world. […] The taotatomona are believed to own nature. They protect their territorial rights and conserve natural resources. … People who do not ask the taotaomona’s permission will incur their wrath. Those who do not ask permission will be punished. […] The taotaomona can make a person sick or crazy. … Some people afflicted by the taotaomona have no apparent illness but just waste away. … Those who have been kidnapped by the taotaomona often suffer from chetnot manman. In this condition, they simply stare into space and cannot remember anything. Suruhanus often are able to cure sickness caused by the taotaomona. They are able to diagnose and cure these illnesses because they have a special relationship with these ancestral spirits,” (Cunningham, 1990)

Disease and bodily harm has been long known as a mode of communication by taotaomona within CHamoru culture. Speculating on descriptions provided by Cunninham (i.e., ‘wasting away’ and ‘staring into space’ with memory loss), the striking similarity the between taotaomo’na’s wrath with ASD/PDC symptoms become clear. In other words, as disrespectful hunters seek more fanihi or fandang than what the taotaomo’na care to offer, the body is punished through a paralysis that manifests as ancestral vengeance. The ability for suruhana to cure such diseases cannot be understated. I’ve argued elsewhere regarding the unrecognized herbal potency of tropical plants used by native practitioners (Manglona, 2021). Positive effects of herbal medication along with other physical therapeutic techniques used by suruhana may counteract high levels of cellular toxins, including BMAA and heavy metals, while simultaneously appeasing taotaomo’na through prayer and deep relational work.

Stress Inundation, Tipping Scales

The combination of oxidative, chemical, and reactive stress may have increased both the incidence and severity of ALS/PDC in Guahan as compared to other areas that have only one form of the disease trinity. As this stress laminated itself over the cultural violations of disrespect within the forest, the CHamoru body became vulnerable to paralysis on multiple fronts. The overharvesting of fanihi, the destruction of fandang, and the sacred loss of taotaomona territory led to ancestral vengeance for halom tano’s lost kin. Yet, as modes of thought associated with colonization took root on the island, the taotaomona’s response was overlooked. Medical literature regarding BMAA and its association with ALS/PDC championed Westernized lifestyles as saving natives from the toxicity of their own native food sources. Traditional livelihoods were demonized, despite that very westernized lifestyle bringing firearms, warfare, and multi-scalar extinction. As the scales of paralysis lifted from the CHamoru body, its degenerative weight shifted toward the forest and memories of the taotaomo’na who have been disregarded in the midst of a democratic, Guamanian future.

Attempting Recovery

The past decade has seen significant damage to what’s left of native cycad trees due to the invasive insects known as scales (Aulacaspis yasumatsui). Scales are white, pear shaped, armored organisms roughly 1.2-1.6mm long that parasitize cycads from the top down. By first latching themselves onto the leaves, the scale literally sucks the life out of Fandang and uses its energy to lay just over 100 eggs. Twelve days later, these eggs hatch and crawl to an available spot on the plant to repeat this parasitic cycle until the entirety of the cycad, including the cones, seeds, and roots, are covered in scales. Highly infested cycads thus appear ‘scaled’ as layers of both living and dead insects securely sediment themselves as a crust over the plant (Weissling & Howard, 1999). Very few remedies are available for infested plants other than persistent care and patience. Some specialists suggest that cycads undergo decreased metabolic activity to reduce absorption of insecticides, leaving them unamenable to chemical control. Instead, horticulturalists find that consistent spaying or ‘hosing down’ of the plant with water or a mixture of water and oil over several months will wash off the attached scales. Persistence must be maintained as scales may hide on the roots or stem, ready to feast and multiply again on the freshly available surface (Weissling & Howard, 1999). With the combined effects of urbanization and scale insects, fandang was listed as a threatened species in 2015 under the Endangered Species Act (ESA) (Demeulanare, 2020). Efforts to respond to threats of extinction across multiple species including fadang and fanihi amongst other species have led to swift action by the University of Guam (UOG). In a presentation at UOG’s Western Pacific Tropical Research Center, Moore et.al. (n.d.) explained how biologists have been attempting to control for invasive scales through the introduction of several natural predators. Despite their attempts, cycads still face rapid decline as seeds struggle to propogate in infested environments or within the urbanized landscape.

Conclusion: Scales of Paralysis

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No hai muettu sin achaki.

Taya’ mina’lak sin hinemhum.

Taya’ tataitap som anining.

Taya’ finatai sin sina’pit

Taya’ aksion sin rason.

There is no brightness without darkness.

There is no death without an illness.

There is no body without its shadow.

There is no death without suffering.

There is no action without reason

This CHamoru proverb from Guam encapsulates the interconnectedness of life's experiences, emphasizing the inevitable balance between opposing forces. This wisdom is particularly poignant in the context of the Guamanian ALS/PDC disease, which is not merely a subject for epidemiological study, but serves a lesson that points to the importance of understanding the deeper meanings behind physical suffering and mortality. According to Cunningham,

“People can best protect themselves from the taotaomona by not offending them. If you must enter into their area, always show respect and ask permission. You should always explain why you need to infringe on their territory and how anything that you take will benefit more than just yourself. Offended taotaomona can be appeased if a sincere apology is given for trespassing or taking something that people did not ask permission to have or to use,” (Cunningham, 1990)

The concept of 'scales of paralysis' encapsulates the capacity to overcome limitations imposed by colonialism, which have affected the CHamoru people at cellular, environmental, and relational levels, particularly in their interactions with the taotaomona and the halom tano. When CHamoru people are confined by their colonial circumstances and neglect the principle of inafa’maolek, which emphasizes harmony and balance, the forest itself becomes paralyzed. A CHamoru person who is fully 'mobile' or free from these constraints respects the halom tano, acknowledges their errors, and seeks to make amends for any disrespect shown to these sacred spaces. This paper emphasizes that CHamoru activism involves more than just re-planting trees or finding ways to deal with non-native, invasive pests; it requires deep relational work that includes herbal and kinship practices with the taotaomona and the halom tano. Thus, this paper concludes with an apology to those taotaomo’na, acknowledging the harm done to the halom tano during its suffering from invasion, inundation, and infestation while also inviting ourselves to heal with(in) it.

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