One other way Mercury enters our bodies is from amalgams or dental fillings. Charles Williamson, M.D., co-director of the Toxic Studies Institute in Boca Raton, Florida and colleague, Jordan Davis, M.D., sat down with Life Extension magazine for an in-depth interview on the problem of Mercury toxicity caused by dental fillings. They explain that putting Mercury amalgam in your teeth equates to putting poison in your mouths. “Mercury vapor is toxic, period,” Dr. Williamson explains. Dr. Michael Ziff, a retired dentist who fought a four-year legal battle over mercury with the dental board in Florida, is now executive director of the Orlando-based International Academy of Oral Medicine and Toxicology, a leading anti-mercury group that has about 400 dentist members. The average American has seven mercury fillings, Ziff said. "It's kind of like holding seven leaking mercury thermometers in your mouth 365 days a year, 24 hours a day."  The science is blatantly overwhelming that Mercury amalgams leak toxic vapors.

The irony is that dentists who place the compound in people’s mouths do not treat it like a toxic substance. In fact, leftover amalgam must be disposed of according to strict EPA guidelines.  His biggest concern was for mothers, he says “Once mothers realize the fillings in their teeth damage the development of their babies’ brains while they’re in the womb, and once these women understand this damage can result in low IQ, learning and behavioral problems after birth, then we’ll see a public outcry against the use of Mercury amalgam.  And once they realize that in no uncertain terms, they’re going to be angry.”  Dr Williamson says that the fetus is especially vulnerable to that toxicity, which can cause brain damage. Specifically, Mercury vapor can cause learning disabilities, autism and attention deficit disorder in unborn children.  How will parents feel when they grasp that?” Mercury toxicity could provide a significant explanation for the explosion in learning and behavioral problems, autism and a whole host of other conditions since World War II.

That fifty-five year period corresponds to the introduction and widespread use of Mercury amalgam.   Dr. Williamson says that the toxicity results in disorders primarily of the central nervous system, the head, neck and oral cavity. The gastrointestinal tract and the cardiovascular, renal and immune systems are also affected adversely.  Mercury fillings result in a chronic toxicity, not acute poisoning, he noted as an aside.

He has found there is organized resistance on the part of dentists who use Mercury amalgams and there has been for a very long time mainly because they have a lot to lose. Dentists have pride, reputation, money and liability on the line. To admit that they have mistakenly been using a harmful substance to treat tooth decay for many years is a very difficult confession to make and it’s fraught with extremely serious consequences.  The World Health Organization (WHO) states that there is no safe level of Mercury in humans that does not kills cells and harm body processes. Florida’s environmental regulatory agency notes that one Mercury filling from one tooth thrown into a lake is enough to contaminate that lake for fishing and swimming. Dentists have consistently denied that Mercury amalgam is dangerous, but says Dr. Williamson, “That position is simply wrong and we won’t spend a lot of time analyzing why dentists have maintained this mistaken position, but mistaken it is.

Lisa Marie Presley's story

If the amalgam is toxic before it goes into the mouth and toxic after it comes out of the mouth, what magically happens while its in the mouth to make it safe? The tooth fairy? The real point is this: Mercury is toxic. And that statement is now beyond debate." The Norwegian Directorate of Health  and Social Welfare has announced that it will be sending its new guidelines for use of dental materials out for hearing in a couple of weeks, and expects them to take effect from 1 January 2003. The director for the Norwegian Directorate of Health and Social Welfare was interviewed, and said that the health authorities now recommend that dentists no longer use amalgam on their patients.  He said that the new guidelines are based on newer research that has revealed how mercury leaks from amalgam in the mouth of patients.  The announcement was called a "turn-about" by the Norwegian radio. The current president of the Norwegian Dental Association was also interviewed, and said that the Norwegian Dental Association was satisfied that the guidelines stop short of a full ban on amalgam, and that freedom of choice is still possible. He also said that there has been controversy around the use of amalgam for 100 years, and that the Dental Association would not defend amalgam "at any price". The current president of the Norwegian Dental Association works in an amalgam-free dental practice, and has not used amalgam for many years. Latest report on fillings.  Another danger in your mouth is fluoride. Here are some articles for you to read about the dangers associated with this. Also don't miss this video:

 poison.http://www.iaomt.org/merc_release.swf

The Heart

Now researchers have confirmed that mercury exposure is also associated with heart attacks (New England Journal of Medicine, November 28, 2002*). When men with heart attacks (a first myocardial infarction) were compared to a control group with no history of heart disease, the researchers found that the mercury levels were 15 percent higher in patients than in the controls. Mercury, presumably acquired from eating fish, increased the risk of heart attacks, but DHA tended to decrease the risk of heart attacks. This study confirmed the findings published in 1995 that a higher mercury level in hair samples was also associated with an increased risk of heart attacks. An accompanying study in the New England Journal confirmed that higher levels of mercury in the body were associated with the amount of fish consumed, but no association with heart attacks could be found.

Mercury has also been known to collect up to 22,000 times more in the heart over other peripheral muscles in the body.  (Journal of the American College of Cardiology Vol. 33, No 6, 1999 pp. 1578-1583). Also take a look at this study: Biol Trace Elem Res. 2000 Winter;78(1-3):131-47.
 Trace element distribution in heart tissue sections studied by nuclear microscopy is changed in Coxsackie virus B3 myocarditis in methyl mercury-exposed mice.  * Ilback NG, * Lindh U, * Wesslen L, *Fohlman J, * Friman G. Toxicology Division, National Food Administration, Uppsala, Sweden.


Seafood and Cataracts
Methylmercury in seafood may cause lens clouding, contributing to cataract development. Optometrist Ben Lane noted that his cataract patients liked seafood, while those who didn't like fish were clear-eyed. A study of 17 patients revealed that the cataract patients had eaten salt water fish or shellfish at least once a week on the average, but those cataract-free reported using these foods an average of once every five weeks. The cataract patients showed far higher concentrations of mercury in their hair. Dr. Lane's study showed that the presence of 2.3 ppm or more of mercury in hair samples was related to a 23-fold increase in the risk of cataracts. Dr. Lane encourages his patients to eat such foods as garlic and pectin-rich foods such as apples to help remove the mercury, and to receive adequate, while avoiding excessive, amounts of vitamins A, C, and E. ( Methylmercury in seafood can contribute to cataract development, Medical World News, December 20, 1982)
More info on mercury and the eyes.

Vitamin C also helps to pull out the toxic mercury that results from the consumption of large fish, such as tuna, swordfish and shark. Dr. Lane said that his 1982 study found that mercury, which would accumulate in the crystalline lens, resulted in the depression of enzymes such as superoxide dismutase and glutathione peroxidase. The latter is the primary enzyme that helps prevent mercury cataracts from forming. 'Organic mercury is the worst offender because it's able to penetrate membranes and get into organic tissues,' he said.

Keep in mind glutathione is depleted when kids are given Tylenol after their vaccines. Glutathione helps bind mercury for removal from the body.

Mercury and the Brain

The brain is defenseless against mercury
 http://pubs.acs.org/subscribe/journals/esthag-w/2005/apr/science/pt_mercurytoxicity.html
 Researchers have long known that mercury increases mortality and decreases fertility in fish, but the underlying metabolic processes are still unknown. New research posted on the ES&T Research ASAP  website (es0483490) helps uncover some of the mystery by examining  which genes respond when fish are fed methylmercury (MeHg). Although  multiple genes turn on in the muscle and liver to help store and  detoxify the metal, the brain appears unresponsive and accumulates  high levels of mercury. This leads researchers to believe that neural tissue might be unable to defend itself against this toxic compound.  "It was a big surprise when we found that genes in the neural system  were not responding," says study author Jean-Paul Bourdineaud, a  professor of biochemistry at the University of Bordeaux (France). Previous research has shown that mercury can cause lesions in the brain, and a recent study found that MeHg can decrease the density of  neurotransmitters in otters that consume diets heavy in fish contaminated with MeHg. (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2005, 39, 218A)

The zebra fish in the study were fed diets that contain MeHg at concentrations similar to those found in wild fish (Environ. Sci. Technol. 2002, 36, 877–883). Thirteen different genes were then tested  in liver, muscle, and brain tissue. These genes encode for proteins  known to be involved in different functions such as antioxidant defense, metal chelation, DNA repair, and cell death. "Testing this  range of genes gives us a toxicological survey of mercury's effects,"  says Bourdineaud. For instance, the gene that codes for the protein superoxide dismutase  produced more of this antioxidant in muscle, indicating that MeHg  caused oxidative stress. Bourdineaud says that unpublished studies  from his lab have also observed that MeHg can shrink the mitochondria   in a cell and decrease muscle respiration by about 50%. In the liver, MeHg accumulated rapidly during the first week, but  concentrations later began to fall. "The demethylation in liver was  not surprising," says Mark Sandheinrich, a professor of biology at the University of Wisconsin. "This suggests that mercury is being  converted back to inorganic form and being secreted." However, the brain showed levels sometimes twice as high as the other  tissue but no gene activity. "I think this tells us that the  neurological effect of mercury may be because the brain has no  inherent ability to demethylate mercury and deal with metal toxicity,"  says Sandheinrich.

What is the bottom line here? Avoid eating fish, especially large ocean fish that accumulate mercury (tuna, swordfish, shark, halibut, and grouper). Instead take DHA and EPA from fish oil, or algae, supplements that are free of mercury, do not get a flu shot, and have your amalgams removed. Other sources of mercury

Take a look at a Heavy Metals group reaction to the Mercury issue.

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