The level of mercury considered to be normal in the adult human body is less than 3 mcg/g of creatinine. Any count over 50 mcg/g of creatinine is considered poisoning.
These are the ways I have been exposed to mercury. Is it enough to have caused poisoning?
1. I used a popular topical disinfectant for wounds when I was young called Merthiolate. Mercurochrome and Merthiolate are similar products and were silently banned by the FDA in 1998 because it was no longer considered safe due to its mercury content.
2. My dentist used mercury fillings, or silver amalgams, when I had a cavity filled while growing up. I had several cavities during my childhood years. Fluoride wasn't in the water supply and I did not take a fluoride supplement. I think it is interesting I gave my two children fluoride supplements from infancy to the age of 16. Neither of them have ever had a cavity. Several years ago I had all of my silver amalgam fillings replaced with white composite, but I still have crowns that are lined with silver to give them more stability.
3. I ate many tuna fish sandwiches for lunch when I was growing up. I liked them with pickle relish and lettuce. Tuna is a large marine fish contaminated by mercury.
4. I received immunizations as a child starting in 1953. Thimerosal was used in vaccines until 2001. "Thimerosal is a mercury-containing organic compound (a Thimerosalorganomercurial). Since the 1930s, it has been widely used as a preservative in a number of biological and drug products, including many vaccines, to help prevent potentially life threatening contamination with harmful microbes." http://www.fda.gov/biologicsbloodvaccines/safetyavailability/vaccinesafety/ucm096228.htm
5. I started teaching first grade students in 1975. I had a flu shot that year and continued to get one almost every year for the next 35 years. There were a few years I didn't get one, but I don't know if the small amount of thimerosal in each shot has accumulated in my body.
6. Coal-burning industrial facilities emit mercury at the rate of 2,900 tons, or over 6 pounds per year. I don't know if I live in an area that has, or has had coal burning facilities. I need to find out.
(I found this list in, The UltraMind Solution, by Mark Hyman, M.D.)
The article below discusses the possible ways we can be exposed to mercury. Do citizens in the United States know that mercury toxicity is a threat to their health?
Mercurochrome, Merthiolate, and Thimerosal
Mercury Exposure and Public Health in the U.S.A
Nov 8, 2009
Yana Marshal
Governments need more help from their citizens in order to produce and enforce public policies to eliminate toxins from industrial and technological productivity.
In the 1950s, mercurochrome was in every household medicine cabinet. If there wasn’t a vial of mercurochrome, there was merthiolate. When a child fell and got a cut or scrape, out came the mercurochrome in a little bottle with a glass tube attached to the inside of the cap. The tube was dipped in the solution and used to paint the mercurochrome all over the surface of the wound. Then a bandaid, or gauze patch with some tape was placed over that to keep it clean. Everyone did this. There was no question. Children would scream and run if there was no mercurochrome or merthiolate in the house because that meant iodine would be used instead. And everyone knew that iodine stung - much worse than merthiolate.
Mercurochrome
Mercurochrome was not taken off the market in the United States until 1998, but hardly anyone noticed. Bactine had replaced those colorful liquid antiseptics by the mid 1960s. People born after 1980 may not ever have heard of mercurochrome or merthiolate (often pronounced mathiolade by children).
Bactine probably replaced the colorful antiseptics because it was clear. Bandaids were changing shapes and colors too. Mercurochrome may have faded from memory as a result of marketing and fashion more than any health reason, such as mercury poisoning. The scare of mercury poisoning in canned tuna didn’t begin until 1970.
Thimerosal and Merthiolate
The connection between thimerosal and vaccinations became a health issue in the 1990s. Thimerosal was added to vaccinations to aid in healing the needle puncture and prevent infection of the site. Thimerosal and merthiolate are interchangeable by definition.
Mercury poisoning was not an issue in the 1950s, when every parent was using merthiolate and mercurochrome. But awareness of changes in the environment had grown enough by 1998 to take mercurochrome off of the market.
Thimerosal had been implicated as a possible cause of autism. Mercurochrome had been in every household, Now, as adults, these children of the 50s who dressed their wounds with mercury tincture, were worried that a mercury tincture could cause autism in their children.
But, the emphasis has been on the mercury that is in the mixture of the vaccination serum, rather than all of the other possible sources for mercury poisoning in our present environment. If mercury is the possible source of autism and other neurological and physiological disturbances, why aren’t these sources being looked at as well? Could it be that the other industries that could be implicated in mercury exposure are holding their breath? Mercury, after all, is a naturally occurring substance. But it is more prevalent in some of our largest industries, such as the processing of coal
.
Mercury in the Environment
Mercury exposure is, and has been the subject of many public health studies, but the public has been slow to recognize that their own use of products and technology which increases mercury exposure is the source of the problem. It is another case of marketing and availability. Government studies have kept up to date, but organizations such as the World Health Organization , FDA and EPA have been relegated to the positions of public health educators, with little power to regulate the many toxic contaminants pervasively used in the technology of today. According to the
EPA, global mercury emissions today range from 4,400 to 7,500 tons per year.
Regulation of Mercury Emissions
To many, “environmentalists” and “ecologists” are still the enemy of progress, and the cause of lost jobs in a failing economy. Because
industrial toxins are a public health issue, they are also a political issue for countries which have some form of self-government. Governments have the ability to regulate the marketplace and industry. This does not have to mean a decline in jobs, or goods, but rather a restructuring and retooling of many businesses and practices. This can be an opportunity to remove many toxic substances from our daily lives, while providing jobs that use healthier materials and practices. Rather than a painful loss, this change can mean healthier jobs and a healthier environment.
Although a great stride was made when the Environmental Protection Agency announced that controls will be put on hazardous emissions, which include mercury from coal-fired power plants for the first time by November 2011, other
recent mercury poisoning news involves the eating of seafood, again. Mercury contamination of the world’s oceans and streams did not disappear after the tuna scare in the 1970s, or the Clean Air Act, which was later revised during the Bush administration, or the EPA’s mercury study and report which was completed in 1997.
Disillusioned citizens on both sides of the issue complain about the ineffectiveness of government, while governments worldwide are torn between employment and productivity versus the pollution of the earth’s oceans, rivers, streams, soil, and atmosphere.
Though awareness has increased, and many manufacturers and industries have removed mercury use from their formulae, there is still much to be improved. And there is much to clean up in the way of water treatment, and soil and atmospheric contamination. There is much work to do in public services. So far, the private sector has not found clean-up after production to be lucrative.
Mercurochrome, Merthiolate, and Thimerosal: Mercury Exposure and Public Health in the U.S.A http://www.suite101.com/content/mercurochrome-merthiolate-and-thimerosal-a167442#ixzz11EmMQt4f
Michael C. Goldman, DDS
VIDEO of Mercury coming out of a normal silver / amalgam filling !!!
This video made for IAOMT graphically shows mercury vapor coming out of a regular ordinary old silver-mercury amalgam filling in a tooth that has been extracted. I could say a lot more about it, but I think watching this video is so dramatic that you will be amazed by it - as I was! I knew it has been demonstrated by measurement instruments but I had never actually SEEN it happening ! Now you can see it too....
Mercury, Toxicity, Bonding, the Law, and You
Controversy
Since its introduction onto this continent in the early 1800's, the use of a mixture of half silver and half mercury as dental "Amalgam" to fill teeth has created controversy. To this day the arguments continue. Much scientific research has been done, but the divisions seem to be so strong that those in favor of its use rationalize away the condemning research. Those against its use claim that politics and personal interest motivate amalgam's proponents.
The Facts (as I see them...)
Mercury is a known poison. It is, in fact, one of - if not the - most toxic of all the elements known!!! It is fact that mercury is fully one-half of the mass of the filling you see when you look at any "silver" filling. It is fact that mercury vaporizes in the mouth and that the vapor is inhaled and also directly absorbed into the body. It is fact that mercury travels to all body tissues and concentrates in tissues where it can do damage in several known ways.
The question is not whether the above facts are true, but whether enough of it occurs to be significant. Organized dentistry in the USA has taken the position that amalgam use is perfectly safe. Those against its use have found compelling relationships to many serious illnesses ranging from depression to cancer, and from kidney disease to Alzheimer's. How can it be thought to cause so wide a range of problems? The suggested answer is that mercury from fillings doesn't cause a specific disease. It causes poisoning. And depending on which tissues it concentrates in, the symptoms will differ from one person to another. Two of the most common sites of concentration and damage, however, seem to be the brain and the kidneys.
Sweden and Germany have passed laws to stop or greatly curb the use of mercury-silver fillings. Their nationalized dental plans even help to pay for removal and replacement with alternate non-mercury materials.
Canada may soon do the same. The excellent dental school in Zurich has stopped teaching "silver fillings" technique.
The Dilemma
We are faced with compelling data that the mercury in fillings may be a real hazard to our health, but both sides seem so sure about their positions. What should we do? Is there a way to reason through this?
I think there is! First, we are being constantly bombarded with all sorts of chemical and biophysical noxious influences in our food, air, water...everywhere. Our immune systems are being stressed more and more. I believe we are seeing more chemically sensitive people and more illness from "environmental" causes. I think it makes sense to avoid known toxins. . .
Regarding mercury (in fillings), a friend of mine, a Virginia dentist, stated: "Somehow I just don't feel comfortable using a substance designated by the EPA to be a waste disposal hazard. I can't [legally] throw it in the trash, bury it in the ground, or put it in a landfill, but they say it's OK to put it in people's mouths. That just doesn't make sense."
http://www.mgoldmandds.com/amalgam.htm
Mercury - How to Get this Lethal Poison Out of Your Body
Mercury poisoning could be leading to your ill health and weight gain, and you may not even realize it. In this weeks UltraWellness blog, Mark Hyman MD reviews some of the most recent research on the effects of mercury toxicity, explains how you can find out if you have a heavy load of mercury in your body, and offers suggestion on how to limit your exposure. This is podcast is excellent and I am sorry I was not able to embed it in the post.
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