Hello, and welcome to the inaugural post of the MercuryLife weblog. What is this blog all about? Well, with any luck, it's going to be a useful source of oft-updated information on something that's of utmost importance to almost every one of us: mercury. Even if you don't realize it, trust me -- it is important to you. Because, right now, almost guaranteed, you are carrying around a certain amount of it in your brain, your kidneys, your lungs, your liver, your GI system, your thyroid, your hypothalamus, and on and on.... Sound preposterous? Check out this image of a sheep containing radiologically-tagged mercury (Hg203):
The fascinating part is that this picture of the sheep was taken only 29 days after radioactive mercury was mixed with standard dental mercury and placed in amalgams in the sheep's mouth. As you can see, 29 days later the mercury is distributed in the (a) sheep's gastrointestinal tract, (b) kidneys, and in the (c) gum and alveolar bone of the jaws. The (d) liver is obscured by the gut, but would show large concentrations of mercury since the liver is the major organ of detoxification in the body. The mercury was also found (in lower concentrations) in the the sheep's brain, cerebrospinal fluid, pituitary gland, thyroid, and adrenals. (Hahn, L.J.; Kloiber, R.; Vimy, M.J.; Takahashi, Y.; Lorscheider, F.L., "Dental 'Silver' Tooth Fillings: a Source of Mercury Exposure Revealed by Whole-Body Image Scan and Tissue Analysis," FASEB J. 3: 2641-2646; 1989).
In response to critics' claims that the sheep amalgam results were not applicable to humans because sheep chew more frequently, a similar study was undertaken on monkeys, which have chewing patterns more similar to humans. The results were pretty much identical to the sheep studies.
Note the one place I did not say you were carrying much mercury -- your blood. In fact, this might be the main reason the mercury epidemic has gone undetected for over 170 years (the first amalgam was placed in the United States in the 1830's). Mercury from acute exposure only remains in the blood for a few days after the exposure, then quickly is shuttled out to various tissues and organs, binding tightly to cell proteins. Thus, doctors and scientists who have investigated the presence of mercury poisoning through blood testing have come to the mistaken conclusion that mercury toxicity is not widespread.
But, you're thinking, my dentist has told me that when mercury is mixed with other components of amalgam -- silver, tin, copper, zinc -- an inert, "biologically inactive substance" is created. Perhaps you've heard the argument that, while pure chlorine (Cl) gas could kill you if you saturated your steak with it, a little salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) makes it more tasty. But, this argument is inapplicable to mercury amalgam because sodium chloride is a compound bound by strong ionic bonds. Ionic bonds are formed by the electrostatic attraction between two oppositely charged atoms (ions). In contrast, amalgam is a mixture of metals that are not in an ionic state, and hence do not form an ionic bond, but instead form weak, uncharged metallic bonds. This is a problem because, by itself, metallic mercury has a very low evaporation temperature and readily turns into a vapor. Here's an interesting fact I learned recently: ever wonder why mercury is the only metal that is a liquid at room temperature? Because it has relatively weak bonds with itself (i.e., mercury molecule-to-mercury molecule), which is also why it vaporizes so readily. This process is not stopped by the weak bonds that mercury makes with the other metals in amalgam, which are continuously, naturally broken. And, consider that approximately 80% of inhaled mercury is absorbed through the lungs by humans. Additional mercury from the breakdown of amalgam is also dissolved in saliva and swallowed, some of which is absorbed.
The point is, as I originally stated, like it or not, believe it or not, you are a walking mercury repository. The issues, then, are: (a) how readily does your body excrete the mercury naturally, as compared to your daily exposure (i.e., how much are you accumulating per day?); and (b) what effects does the mercury you are accumulating have on your immune system, neurological system (including brain), endocrine system (glands/hormones), cardiovascular system, reproductive system, and so on. I believe that each answer to these questions has a large genetic component, and a large environmental component (e.g., familial genes, source of mercury exposures, amount of prenatal exposure, etc.). For myself, the answers are: (a) apparently a lot of mercury accumulated, hitting the breaking point with the Hep B vaccines; and (b) destructive effects all over my body, which I hope to chronicle here. Without a doubt, I was (and still am) living the mercury life. My case is very clear. But the information I've learned through my own experiences leads me to believe that a whole lot of people are also living the mercury life, although to a much lesser degree.
In particular, I've experienced unexpected changes in mental and emotional functioning since detoxing that I certainly couldn't have predicted, and even today have trouble exactly quantifying. Yet, these issues appear to be very common in people all around me. My suspicions have only been reinforced by two people close to me who have themselves experienced very similar mental and emotional changes since detoxing mercury, in a relatively consistent and predictable fashion. Given that mercury is first and foremost known as a potent neurotoxin, this makes a certain amount of sense. Many scientists and doctors believe that the nervous system (including the brain) is one of the most susceptible systems in the body to the toxic effects of mercury -- hence, the raging debate over the autism/vaccine link. Is it possible that a lot of people who fight internal demons might actually be fighting a very real neurotoxin that has hijacked their brain to some extent? I don't know for sure, but I can say, for at least for three biologically-unrelated people, this is definitely the case.
Remember the Mad Hatter in Lewis Carroll's book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland? The Mad Hatter often spoke in gibberish: "Twinkle, twinkle, little bat! How I wonder what you're at! Up above the world you fly, Like a tea-tray in the sky." Amusing today, but this was actually based on a bit of history. "Mad hatters" were hat makers in the 19th century who worked long hours with mercury-treated pelts, absorbing mercury through their skin and inhaling mercury vapor. Incoherent speech was actually a common trait among the mad hatters, along with shaking, unusual shyness, mood swings, depression, sluggishness, acute anxiety, irrational fears, and a dwindling intellect. People with Mad Hatter's disease blushed readily, were uncomfortable in social situations, and tried to avoid people. They were easily upset, had trouble with movement and coordination, and were prone to agitation, irritability, and aggression. When mercury was discovered as the cause of their illness, mercury was eliminated in the process and subsequent generations of hatters were no longer "mad." Is it possible today that a good number of us are the 21st-century version of the mad hatters?
I think the MercuryLife is a pretty fair description of life on Earth at the start of the 21st century. If you don't have amalgams (which is a pretty small percentage of us -- 200 million Americans are estimated to have fillings), have never received a vaccine, and don't eat fish, you are still receiving daily mercury exposure through air and water, as human activities may have doubled or tripled natural amounts of mercury in the atmosphere. These activities (such as coal-fired generators and medical-waste incinerators) are causing the mercury content of the atmosphere to rise by 1.5 percent a year. ("Our Preferred Poison", DISCOVER Vol. 26 No. 03 March 2005, p. 58-).
Just what all of this means has been, and will continue to be, subject to incredible debate. In fact, I've never seen a more controversial area of contemporary science. I don't have the answers. But I have a lot of first-hand experience in what these issues mean to me and others, and many thoughts of what it could mean to all of us, which I look forward to sharing on this site.
Wecome to MercuryLife!