Guest Author - Carolyn Chambers Clark, RN, EdD

Mercury is one of the most toxic metals. The health effects of mercury on child development are serious. Affected children suffer measurable declines in motor skills, learning capacity, and memory, along with other symptoms of irreversible brain damage that reduces fine motor function, language, and visual-spatial abilities. This can lower IQ and result in hyperactivity and
behavioral changes.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) have warned that one in twelve women of childbearing age carry levels of mercury in their bodies that are at or above EPA's safe level. EPA's own scientists recently estimated that more than 600,000 children every year are overexposed to mercury by the time they are born.

Where does this mercury come from?

A lot of the mercury comes from old coal power plants and other polluting companies that release mercury into the air and water. You can breathe it in and it can get on your skin and clothes when it rains. You can also eat fish from polluted waters.

This poison is also found in our soil, drinking water, and food supply, as well as in sewage sludge, fungicides, and pesticides. Grains and seeds that have been treated with methyl mercury chlorine bleaches allow mercury to seep into the food supply. Mercury is even presented in some vaccines.

Mercury is also present in cosmetics, dental fillings, fabric softeners, inks used by printers and tattooists, latex, some medications, some paints, plastics, polishes, solvents, and wood preservatives.

According to the World Health Organization, amalgam dental fillings are a prime source of mercury exposure. The mercury vapor released from dental fillings can combine with chemicals in the mouth to create toxic methyl mercury, which is absorbed in the tissues of the mouth and air passages and transported in the blood to the brain and other body tissues

Why is mercury dangerous to our brain function?

Mercury is a cumulative poison. There is no barrier that prevents it from reaching brain cells. It stays in the pain center in the brain and in the central nervous system where it can prevent the entry of nutrients into brain cells and the removal of wastes from cells. It can bind to immune cells. Distorting them so they interfere with normal immune response. Some scientists believe this may be one factor behind auto-immune disorders such as arthritis and cancer.

Significant amounts of mercury can interfere with memory, produce depression, dermatitis, dizziness, fatigue, gum disease, hair loss, insomnia, muscle weakness, and excessive salivation. Many food and environmental allergies have been attributed to mercury poisoning. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has linked exposure to mercury vapor to menstrual disorders and spontaneous abortion (miscarriage) as well.


For more information, click on my books below...they cover many topics and are listed in the following order: assertiveness, menopause, weight loss, self-care for 20 chronic conditions, integrating complementary procedures into traditional health care, encyclopedia of complementary health care practice, holistic nursing approaches to chronic conditions, group leadership, creating a climate for power learning, health & wellness promotion in communities, being a wellness practitioner