Page 18 - Spring2018

mercury thus becomes trapped inside the cells mercury. Additionally, testosterone appears to aggravate mercury toxic-
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and causes ongoing damage. Mercury has a ity during development, while estrogen protects against it. This may
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particular affinity for the brain, where it may explain why more boys than girls are diagnosed with autism spectrum
be retained indefinitely. It also accumulates disorders and attention deficit disorders.
7,8
in epithelial tissues, organs and glands, such as
the salivary glands, thyroid, liver, pancreas, tes- DENTAL AMALGAM FILLINGS
ticles, prostate, sweat glands and kidneys, and Dental amalgam, the material used in “silver” fillings beginning in
the epithelium of the intestinal tract and skin. 7 the nineteenth century, is about 50 percent mercury. Health and dental
According to the Environmental Protec- authorities deemed amalgam safe based on studies that were designed to
tion Agency (EPA), 2-7 percent of women of detect obvious harm but did not investigate subtle or long-term effects.
childbearing age in the U.S. have blood mercury Consequently, a loose scientific consensus has long discounted the idea
levels of concern. There is reason to believe that of mercury toxicity from dental amalgams, pointing to population studies
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regulatory levels of concern are too lax. A 2012 showing that people with high exposures and even people with a high
study showed blunted cortisol response and body burden do not necessarily have toxicity symptoms. Those who blame
higher inflammatory markers at blood mercury amalgams for their illnesses have been viewed askance.
levels well below the EPA’s established level Mercury is highly volatile, however, and amalgams continuously
for potential health risks (5.8 micrograms per off-gas in the mouth. Evidence indicates that exposure from amalgams is
liter). In addition, four neurodevelopmental sufficient to cause harm to susceptible people. The authors of the mer-
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disorders (attention-deficit/hyperactivity disor- cury chapter in the most recent metals toxicology textbook estimate that
der, autism, seizures and stutter) affect almost roughly 1 percent of the population is incurring clinical illness from their
11 percent of all U.S. births, up 30 percent over dental amalgams. This calculation is likely to be a gross underestimate
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the past decade. Subclinical decrements in because it excludes other diagnoses that may have a mercury component,
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brain function are even more common, affecting such as multiple sclerosis. The World Health Organization (WHO) esti-
up to 15 percent of births. mates that the typical absorbed dose of mercury from amalgams is one to
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Mercury’s toxicity may be amplified by twenty-two micrograms per day, with most values in the range of one to
exposure to other toxic metals, including lead, five micrograms per day. Various factors, including gum chewing and
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cadmium and aluminum. Mercury and lead, bruxism, can increase these exposures to an upper range of about one
in particular, are highly synergistic. In fact, in hundred micrograms per day. Preliminary evidence also suggests that
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one study, a dose of mercury sufficient to kill 1 certain types of electromagnetic radiation, including EMR from mobile
percent of lab rats (lethal dose “LD01”), when phones and from magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) may increase the
combined with a dose of lead sufficient to kill release of mercury vapor from dental amalgams. 17
1 percent, killed 100 percent of the rats. A Within the past ten years, human studies have documented over a
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similar test involving mercury and aluminum dozen common genetic variants that convey increased susceptibility to
in cultured neurons killed 60 percent of the cells mercury, indicating the fact that genes drive susceptibility (and resis-
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when the two low-dose toxicants (LD01) were tance) to mercury toxicity. Hundreds more are likely to exist, because
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combined. Even antibiotics have been shown mercury attacks sulfur in proteins and the body has tens of thousands
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to enhance the uptake, retention and toxicity of of genetically determined sulfur-containing proteins, many of which

TABLE 1: COMMON SOURCES OF EXPOSURE TO MERCURY

Types of Exposures Form of Mercury Exposure Levels
Dental amalgams Mercury vapor A filling may release a few micro-
grams of mercury vapor per day
Dietary fish Methylmercury Depending on the species, a portion may contain
roughly 1 to 100 micrograms of methylmercury
Vaccines Ethylmercury A thimerosal-containing vaccine may contain 12.5
to 25 micrograms of ethylmercury per shot
Prenatal exposures All forms Levels are unknown but clinically significant

16 Wise Traditions SPRING 2018