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By Michelle-Christine Day
A grade 10 student
May 15, 2005
Mercury Poisoning
Many people are severely poisoned with heavy metals such as mercury and do not know it. If not treated, heavy metals can be hazardous. Mercury is the second most poisonous substance known to man. Many people think that mercury is found only in thermometers but this is not true. Sadly mercury is all around us in many household items and even in the food we eat. Many people do not know that there is even a problem, far less a solution to that problem.
Mercury is found in many household items such as thermometers, floor waxes, fabric softeners, mirrors, contact lens solution, and dental amalgams. It is therefore very surprising to find that it is a very poisonous substance which causes tremendous damage to the kidneys, degeneration of nerve fibers, and reduced motor conduction speed. Mercury is easily recognizable as a heavy, silver-white, liquid metal. Although it is in many household items research has shown that there is no safe level of mercury.
Mercury (which is also known as quick silver due to its appearance) is known as Hg on the element scale and has a valence of 1-2. When pure it does not tarnish on exposure to air at ordinary temperatures but when heated to near its’ boiling point it slowly starts to oxidize to HgO. Mercury forms alloys with most metals except iron and combines with sulfur at ordinary temperatures. Mercury is common in the environment and has three forms: organic, inorganic and metallic. The organic form of mercury, particularly methyl mercury, is the most dangerous.
Most people think that mercury is only in thermometers. But deep in the dark cavities of many mouths sits mercury; this mercury is derived from amalgams. Today a typical adult carries ten amalgams weighing a total of about ten grams, of which five grams is mercury. Recent studies have found that substantial amounts of mercury vapour are released from dental amalgam after chewing gum for just ten minutes. A study on sheep at the University of Calgary in Canada was conducted where the sheep had amalgam fillings placed in their mouths. Tests, done during the study, clearly showed large amounts of mercury from the amalgams building up in their kidneys during the test. Mercury is also emitted into our body through the fish we eat.
Pollution has sufficiently contaminated water resources with mercury to the point that some fish (usually larger fish that get that way by dining on smaller mercury-containing fish) concentrate enough mercury in their bodies to pose a health hazard to some people. Thus, consumer groups have been pressuring the government to provide guidelines for eating enough fish to help the heart, without eating so much as to pose a serious health hazard.
Mercury is also very present in the fabric softeners we use, and the felt we wear. The expression mad as a hatter comes from this. Back in the 1800's when felt hats were very popular, the cheaper kinds were brushed with a solution of a mercury compound (usually mercurous nitrate) on the fur to roughen the fibers and make them mat more easily. The hatters worked in very poorly ventilated workshops and would breathe in the mercury compounds. The mercury would accumulate in their bodies and would cause kidney and brain damage.
Mercury affects many things in the body but the three main things affected are the liver, the nervous system, and energy levels. The kidneys are sophisticated filtering machines. They clean the body by removing excess fluid, minerals and waste. Each of the two reddish-brown organs weighs a quarter of a pound and is the size of a man’s fist. Kidneys are located in the middle back below the rib cage. The kidneys have tiny capillaries, which filter minerals, wastes and water but retain red cells, proteins and large molecules. This process is known as filtration. The proteins that are not filtered remain in the capillary and create an oncotic pressure due to osmosis. Filtration depends upon the surface area of the filter and the permeability of the membrane that surrounds the capillary. It also depends upon the systemic pressure and its counter, the pressure caused by osmosis. Without the kidneys’ essential process of recovery, balance and disposal, wastes build up and poison the body, raise the blood pressure, and damage the heart. Without medical intervention, a person with failed kidneys becomes headachy, feverish, comatose, and eventually dies. The network of blood capillaries or vessels is so large that at any single moment it may contain one quarter of the circulating blood of the whole body. It filters about four fluid ounces of the blood each minute. The holes in the capillary walls are so small that molecules beyond a certain size cannot pass.
Most people do not think about their kidneys until there is some kind of problem. That is because the body compensates when the kidneys are diseased or injured: sometimes there are no symptoms until 90 percent of the kidneys’ capacity has disappeared.
The nervous system, the brain, the spinal cord and the nerves are the thinking process of the body. Nervous tissue is composed of two main cell types: neurons and glial cells. Neurons transmit nerve messages. Glial cells are in direct contact with neurons and often surround them. The neuron is the functional unit of the nervous system. Humans have about 100 billion neurons in their brain alone! While variable in size and shape, all neurons have three parts. Dendrites receive information from another cell and transmit the message to the cell body. The cell body contains the nucleus, mitochondria and other organelles typical of eukaryotic cells. The axon conducts messages away from the cell body. The plasma membrane of neurons, like all other cells, has an unequal distribution of ions and electrical charges between the two sides of the membrane. The outside of the membrane has a positive charge while the inside has a negative charge. This charge difference is a resting potential and is measured in millivolts. Passage of ions across the cell membrane passes the electrical charge along the cell. The voltage potential of a cell at rest (resting potential) is -65mV (millivolts). Resting potential results from differences between sodium and potassium positively charged ions and negatively charged ions in the cytoplasm. Sodium ions are more concentrated outside the membrane, while potassium ions are more concentrated inside the membrane. This imbalance is maintained by the active transport of ions to reset the membrane known as the sodium potassium pump. The sodium-potassium pump maintains this unequal concentration by actively transporting ions against their concentration gradients. The nervous system monitors and controls almost every organ system through a series of positive and negative feedback loops. The Central Nervous System (CNS) includes the brain and spinal cord. The Peripheral Nervous System (PNS) connects the CNS to other parts of the body, and is composed of nerves (bundles of neurons). Mercury compounds inhibit the enzyme ATPase, which impairs energy production in all body cells. Methyl mercury in blood can enter the brain and be transmitted to mother’s milk, and can cross the placenta. Pregnant women - or, rather, their unborn babies - are at the greatest risk. Babies developing in the uterus (womb) seem to be most vulnerable to the effects of mercury on their nervous systems. The mercury may slow their development in the early years. The main places of mercury accumulation in the body are the liver, nervous system, and the heart.
Symptoms of mercury are often either ignored or misinterpreted. Changes in personality are often observed in people with mercury poisoning. They become irritable, have sudden mood swings from depressed to very excited for no reason, and have memory loss. Mercury also causes learning disabilities, loss of speech, word retrieval problems, cognitive impairments, and motor disorders just to mention a few. Degeneration of nerve fibers and reduced motor conduction speed are also observed in mercury poisoned patients. Examples of this are tremors in the hands, eyelids, and tongue, followed by trouble in balancing and walking. The first signs of mercury poisoning are gum problems, which become soft and spongy, there are loose teeth, swollen saliva glands, and sores develop. These symptoms are often misinterpreted and dismissed.
Mercury is the second most poisonous element known to man (next to uranium and its derivatives). The main place of mercury intake is through amalgams and chlorine treated water, although it absorbs quickest through the skin and inhalation of mercury vapours. Half a gram of mercury dropped into a ten-acre lake warrants the promulgation of a fish advisory for the lake. It has been found that mercury simply loves sulfur too much, and will steal sulfur out of other molecular structures, therefore killing them. If it cannot steal the sulfur it will bond itself to the sulfur atom the best it can, thereby preventing the molecule from performing its function. Mercury has been linked to multiple sclerosis, Lou Gehrig’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and cerebral palsy.
The Cure, Chelation
There are many different hazardous affects of having mercury poisoning but there is a cure. This cure is chelation therapy. The word chelation comes from the Greek word "chele" which means "a strong, pincer-like grasping." With chelation therapy, the grasping is done by the chelating agent and the object grasped is a metal atom. In short, chelation is a process whereby the metals are held and positioned by the body chemicals so as to facilitate chemical reactions which are essential to life. Chelation therapy is the introduction of naturally occurring or synthetic organic chemicals into the human body in order to facilitate the chemical reactions which lead to the discharge of poisonous metals from the body and the rearrangement of essential metals in the body for the promotion of life’s chemical reactions.
In the 1930's German chemists started searching for a compound which would bind calcium and other metals in order to prevent the staining of printed-pattern linens with calcium from hard waters. In the United States Frederick Bersworth continued this research independently too so that it could be used in the medical field. After much trial and error with different compounds he finally patented E.D.T.A.. Later in the late 1950's two prestigious specialists in their field, Dr. Clarke at Providence Hospital in Detroit and Martin Rubin, PhD., Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at Georgetown University, began using E.D.T.A. intravenously to remove lead from people who had heavy metal poisoning. They began to notice that large amounts of heavy metals were being excreted in their urine after administration of E.D.T.A. and that the people began to feel much better after administration. In the older patients who had arteriosclerosis, especially in the brain, heart, and peripheral vessels, there was an improvement in their symptoms related to their arteriosclerosis. A number of American physicians who had been given no hope by their own M.D.s for various circulatory conditions began to go to Dr. Clarke for chelation and began to improve. They went back to their own towns and began administering this treatment to their own patients. Unfortunately, in the early years excessive doses of E.D.T.A. were used and no nutritional support was given during therapy, causing adverse reactions. But because of the dramatic improvement in so many patients, doctors continued to give chelation. By the 1970's, a professional organization of chelation therapists was founded and is known today as The American College for Advancement in Medicine. From that time on doctors began to publish their findings.
Chelation is the primary treatment for heavy metal intoxication along with being used to treat occlusive vascular diseases in conjunction. For optimum efficiency of E.D.T.A. it is recommended to maintain a good diet, take nutritional supplements, and make lifestyle changes. It is often a good idea to undergo a series of chelation treatments and maintenance therapy to prevent or delay the onset of vascular disease and the aging process. This occurs because chelation therapy improves circulation and reduces toxic chemical relations in the body. It is especially important if there is a strong family history of problems such as arthritis, diabetes, high blood pressure, and eye diseases such as macular degeneration, as heavy metals accumulate in our human tissues throughout life.
Chelation functions in many ways. One of these ways is by removing calcium deposits from vessels and intracellular membranes leading to increased blood flow and better functioning of the enzymes impeded in those membranes resulting in improved organ function, vitality, and energy levels. E.D.T.A. binds trace elements like iron, which are known initiators of "free radical reactions." These free radical reactions are thought to be the chemical origin of arteriosclerosis, cancer, and inflammations. In general, they are thought to be the cause of aging and its concomitant degenerative process. Also, with the elimination of heavy metals it allows essential metals such as iron, copper, manganese, and zinc to be absorbed. The positive effects of E.D.T.A. chelation therapy are probably dependent both on decreasing the blood vessel occlusion and on the cellular and sub cellular level effects of this agent. There are also probably many other unknown mechanisms.
Here are some very interesting quotes, which demonstrate some of the success that doctors have been having with chelation. "Drs. Casdorph and Farr published a report in 1983 of four patients with gangrene of the lower extremities who were treated with Chelation Therapy, nutritional supplements and hyperbaric oxygen. All four patients had been told to undergo amputations by other doctors and sought an alternative in E.D.T.A. chelation. All four patients were successful in avoiding amputation and follow-up more than a year later revealed all patients to be doing well and free of pain in their legs."
"McDonagh et al published another study in 1985 on 77 elderly patients with documented occlusive vascular disease of the lower extremities. After 60 days of treatment, Doppler Ultrasound block pressure measurements revealed a highly significant improvement in blood flow in the feet."
"A study of 470 patients in Denmark was published in 1993 by Drs. C. Hancke and K. Flytlie. In this study 80 to 91% improvement was documented depending on the measurement used. Of special interest: 92 of these patients had been initially referred for surgery (27 for leg amputations and 65 for coronary bypass) but after undergoing Chelation Therapy only 10 of this group had to undergo surgery. (Only 3 had amputations and 7 went to bypass surgery.) This saved 24 legs, 58 open-chest surgeries and $3,000,000 of insurance money in Denmark."
Mercury poisoning is a serious hazard, which cannot go unnoticed. Those who suffer from an acute intoxication will present very serious mental and physical problems, which can ultimately result in death. However, the body will often try to compensate, and symptoms will be present in other forms of sickness, without revealing the real cause of heavy metal intoxication. These problems result either from the direct effects of heavy metals being present (such as in the kidneys, the liver or the brain) or from the mineral deficiencies which are caused by the presence of the heavy metals. Fortunately, these problems can be reversed by the cleansing power of chelation therapy. Chelation unbinds the heavy metals from their hiding places and keeps them from binding on to anything else so that they are able to be eliminated. This leaves the body cleansed and able to absorb needed minerals which heavy metals block from being absorbed.
It is my desire that this report may guide you in your search to better understand how to recognize when you are sick before things get really serious. Sickness often has hidden causes, and our bodies are able to adapt amazingly to the pollution to a certain point. This often hides the fact that we are sick. Thank God for revealing to scientists a way, in the form of chelation therapy, to remove an important root cause (mercury in the cells) of many health problems.
Works cited
Hartman, Frank, Al = Aluminum – a Toxic Element: http://www.hbci.com/hydro/al.htm#toxic (accessed January 21, 2005)
Hartman, Frank, The Problem With Mercury: http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/hg.htm#problem (accessed January 21, 2005)
Hauser, Ross, M.D. and Hauser, Marion, M.S.,R.D., The Dangers Of Heavy Metals: http://www.heart-disease-bypass-surgery.com/data/articles/141.htm (accessed January 24, 2005)
Hoekman, Theodore B., Heavy Metal Toxicology: http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/hydro/heavmet.htm (accessed January 16, 2005)
DrRich, FDA releases guidelines for avoiding mercury in fish, http://www.heartdisease.about.com/cs/riskfactors/a/fishmercury.htm (accessed May 15, 2005)
http://www.nephron.com/htkw (accessed May 15, 2005)
Kidney Care Partners, How the Kidney Works, http://www.kidneycarepartners.org/index.php/dialysis/kidney.html (accessed May 15, 2005)
Department of Human Serveses, Mercury in Fish, http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Mercury_in_fish?OpenDocument (accessed May 15, 2005)
Whom do you trust, nature or man?, http://www.vaccination.inoz.com/ingredie.html (accessed May 15, 2005)
Robert S. Waters, An Alternative Treatment for the Diseases of Aging, http://www.hbci.com/~wenonah/riddick/rwaters.htm (accessed May 15, 2005)
Hancke, D., MD and Flytlie, K., MD, "Benefit of EDTA Chelation Therapy in Arteriosclerosis: A Retrospective Study of 470 Patients". Journal of Advancement in Medicine, Vol. 7: Number 4, 203-212. Winter 1994
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