| MERCURY TOXICITY Watch a video of the toxic effects of mercury from dental fillings (requires Quicktime© 4.1) 
JAMA publishes landmark article showing that 8% of American women have toxic levels of mercury Mercury is a toxic metal that causes brain damage and immune disorders. The more mercury you have, the worse is the situation. THERE IS NO SAFE AMOUNT OF MERCURY. Any mercury is too much mercury.
"RESULTS: Blood mercury levels were approximately 3-fold higher in women compared with children.... CONCLUSIONS: ...approximately 8% of women had concentrations higher than the US Environmental Protection Agency's recommended reference dose (5.8 microg/L), below which exposures are considered to be without adverse effects." National Center for Health Statistics, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Blood mercury levels in US children and women of childbearing age. JAMA. 2003 Apr 2;289(13):1667-74
How are adult men and women exposed to mercury?
- MERCURY DENTAL FILLINGS: Check your mouth for mercury--if you have "mercury amalgam fillings" then you have exposure to mercury each and every day.
- FISH CONSUMPTION, ESPECIALLY TUNA: Due to corporate pollution and our use of fossil fuels, our seas are polluted with many chemicals and toxins, especially mercury. This is why the FDA advises pregnant women against frequent consumption of fish. http://vm.cfsan.fda.gov/~dms/admehg.html http://www.fda.gov/bbs/topics/news/2004/NEW01038.html
- Vaccinations: thimerosol is a mercury-containing preservative used in many vaccines. As you may know, there is a strong link between mercury-containing vaccinations and the increased prevalence of childhood neurologic diseases, especially autism. http://optimalhealthresearch.com/archives/MERCURY-vaccinations-autism.pdf
What are the consequences of mercury exposure and accumulation? Confusion, fatigue, autoimmune disease, eczema, and a variety of neurologic disorders-- all of these have been associated with mercury exposure in current research. As you can see in the following video, mercury causes nerve degeneration: http://commons.ucalgary.ca/mercury/
What can be done? How can I get tested for heavy metal toxicity?
We test urine samples following a 6-hour urine collection, which appears to be the best method of testing. The cost for the laboratory test is about $110. Results are improved with the administration of a chelating agent, such as DMSA. Note that this urine test looks for many toxic metals, not just mercury, but also lead, arsenic, tin, cadmium and several others.
Obviously, there are major implications to the research cited above: namely that 8% ofAmerican women have enough mercury in their bodies to promote brain damage in their children. People who should be evaluated for treatment of mercury toxicity/accumulation include those with depression, eczema, nerve problems, autoimmune diseases and allergies, and autism.
Body burden of mercury is associated with acute atopic eczema and total IgE in children from southern Germany. J Allergy Clin Immunol. 2004 Aug;114(2):457-9
The beneficial effect of amalgam replacement on health in patients with autoimmunity.
Prochazkova J, Sterzl I, Kucerova H, Bartova J, Stejskal VD.
Neuro Endocrinol Lett. 2004 Jun;25(3):211-8
The Institute of Dental Research 1st Medical Faculty Charles University and General University Hospital, Prague, Czech Republic.
BACKGROUND: Patients with certain autoimmune and allergic diseases, such as systemic lupus, multiple sclerosis, autoimmune thyroiditis or atopic eczema, often show increased lymphocyte stimulation by low doses of inorganic mercury in vitro. The patients often report clinical metal hypersensitivity, especially to nickel. OBJECTIVE AND METHODS: In this study we examined the health impact of amalgam replacement in mercury-allergic patients with autoimmunity. The suitability of MELISA, an optimized lymphocyte stimulation test, for the selection of susceptible patients and monitoring of sensitization was also examined. Amalgam fillings were replaced with composites and ceramic materials. Follow-up health status and lymphocyte reactivity were assessed and evaluated half a year or later following amalgam removal. RESULTS: Results of lymphocyte reactivity measured with MELISA indicate that in vitro reactivity after the replacement of dental amalgam decreased significantly to inorganic mercury, silver, organic mercury and lead. Out of 35 patients, 25 patients (71%) showed improvement of health. The remaining patients exhibited either unchanged health (6 patients, 17%) or worsening of symptoms (4 patients, 11%). The highest rate of improvement was observed in patients with multiple sclerosis, the lowest rate was noted in patients with eczema. The initial mercury-specific lymphocyte reactivity was significantly higher in the responder group, than in the non-responders, whose health was not improved by amalgam removal. All patients with health improvement after amalgam replacement showed reduced proliferation to inorganic mercury in follow-up MELISA. In vitro responses to phenylmercury and nickel did not differ between the groups. CONCLUSIONS: Mercury-containing amalgam may be an important risk factor for patients with autoimmune diseases. MELISA is a valuable tool for selection of patients for amalgam replacement and also for monitoring of metal allergies.
Sub-clinical neurobehavioral abnormalities associated with low level of mercury exposure through fish consumption.
Carta P, Flore C, Alinovi R, Ibba A, Tocco MG, Aru G, Carta R, Girei E, Mutti A, Lucchini R, Randaccio FS.
Department of Public Health, Section of Occupational Medicine, University of Cagliari, via S. Giorgio 12, 09124 Cagliari, Italy.
Neurotoxicology. 2003 Aug;24(4-5):617-23
In order to assess early neurotoxic effects associated with relatively low levels of mercury absorbed through fish eating, two groups of 22 adult male subjects, habitual consumers of tuna fish, and 22 controls were examined using a cross-sectional field study. The assessment included neurobehavioral tests of vigilance and psychomotor function, hand tremor measurements and serum prolactin assessment. Mercury in urine (U-Hg) and serum prolactin (sPRL) were measured in all exposed subjects and controls, whereas measurements of the organic component of mercury in blood (O-Hg) were available for only 10 exposed and six controls. U-Hg was significant higher among exposed subjects (median 6.5 microg/g of creatinine, range 1.8-21.5) than controls (median 1.5 microg/g of creatinine, range 0.5-5.3). The median values of O-Hg were 41.5 microg/l among the tuna fish eaters and 2.6 microg/l in the control group. Both U-Hg and O-Hg were significantly correlated with the quantity of fish consumed per week. Significant differences in sPRL were found between exposed (12.6 ng/ml) and controls (9.1 ng/ml). Individual sPRL were significantly correlated with both U-Hg and O-Hg levels. The neurobehavioral performance of subjects who consumed tuna fish regularly was significantly worse on color word reaction time, digit symbol reaction time and finger tapping speed (FT). After considering the education level and other covariates, the multiple stepwise regression analysis indicated that O-Hg concentration was most significantly associated with individual performance on these tests, accounting for about 65% of the variance in test scores.
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