The First Step in Dealing with Mercury Poisoning
Mercury is uniquely both a heavy metal and a liquid at room temperature. Only three other elements are liquids at room temperature. Its atomic number is 80. Other metals near it on the Periodic Chart include silver, gold, cadmium, and lead. Gold is the only one of these that is more dense. Being both a metal and liquid had made it both useful and harmful. The usefulness has been known for centuries. The harm we are only beginning to learn.
Mercury was known in ancient China and India and was found in Egyptian tombs placed there 3500 years ago. Mercury metal comes from cinnabar, or mercury sulfide. Most of the world’s supply comes from California, Texas, Spain, and Italy. It has been used for years in sphygmomanometers, thermometers, and barometers because the column of liquid can be 13 times shorter than if it were water. The problem is that mercury, mercury vapor, and all soluble salts of mercury are extremely poisonous.
In spire of its poisonous nature, mercury has been used in a wide variety of ways. Street lights with a blue tinge are generally mercury vapor lights. Vermillion, which is really mercury sulfide, is used as a ship paint to reduce the problem of barnacles. Mercury has also been used in fluorescent lights. If they are broken indoors, the powder coming out contains enough poisonous mercury vapor to be a health risk. Mercury is also used in dental amalgams and some cosmetics though some claim no health risk has ever been proven. When the author growing up, it was common to paint mercurochrome on a wound with a glass rod to keep the wound from being infected. Today it is outlawed.
Today we are much more aware of the far reaching negative effects of heavy metals on health. In fact, these metals have no known need in the body. Their presence is nearly always negative. They get into our bodies in a variety of ways. More specific for this article, the abundant use of mercury in the past has now poisoned water, land, and seas. Mercury poisoning in fish, especially tuna and swordfish, is a problem and fish must be monitored continually.
A few products that use mercury are listed here, each one posing a threat to cause mercury poisoning: air conditioner filters, battery manufacturing, burning newspapers and building materials, cosmetics, fabric softeners, fungicides, industrial waste, lumber, paints, photoengraving, psoriasis ointment, sewage disposal, suppositories, and wood preservatives.
The list of the negative effects of mercury poisoning is frightening. Here are a few: adrenal dysfunction, anorexia, brain damage, deafness, discouragement, eczema, joint pain, nerve fiber degeneration, speech disorders, etc. Metals can directly or indirectly damage DNA bringing an increase in cancer.
Symptoms like those above often include sensory impairment such as vision, hearing, or speech problems, lack of coordination, and disturbed sensation. The type of symptom and the degree of the problem will depend on the individual, the metal causing the poisoning, and the duration of the exposure.
The multitude of products that once used or presently use a form of mercury is staggering. How many of these are in landfills today leaching their poisons into the ground water? Yes, city water systems are monitored for mercury poisoning. But what are wells and springs?
The facts are alarming. The affects of these metals may not be seen for years but they are doing their damaging work just the same in yourself and your children. Of course, we can do nothing to eliminate the damaging compounds dumped in landfills in the past. Neither can we deal with present products that are health concerns. But we can limit or eliminate the intake of these metals in ourselves and our families. One sure way to do this is to filter all drinking or cooking water. As an example, an effective activated charcoal filter promises through adsorption, to remove 95% of any mercury and other heavy metals in the water. A low cost activated charcoal filter will not only lower the risk of future problems, but can give present peace of mind. That would be a worthwhile investment!
