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Senior News February, 2003 Vol. 22. No. 2
Published by the Humboldt Senior Resource Center in Eureka, California. HSRC is a non-profit community-based organization offering services for senior citizens, multi-generational families and caregivers.
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Humboldt Senior Resource Center Back issues Table of Contents
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Mercury and Alzheimer's Disease New studies point to dangers of what most people think of as the healthiest food by Bill Sturgeon Nationally if you read with the aid of an electric light, chances are that the electricity was produced from a coal-fired generator. Coal contains mercury that, upon burning, spews out the stack and into the air, 263 additional tons of mercury each year from American power plants and incinerators (EPA figure). While these massive quantities of mercury compounds fill our air space, the EPA claims these emissions are currently unregulated. Rain and snow scrub it from the air, and it flows into our waterways and finally into the ocean where it is taken up by marine life forms. It concentrates as it moves up the food chain into the larger fish that we like to eat, such as tuna, sea bass, marlin, shark and halibut. Americans eat more tuna than any other fish. Mercury compounds are held to be the third most toxic non-radioactive substances in existence. They corrode the membranes of the body. They cause irreversible nerve, brain, kidney and liver damage, and our bodily intake of it accumulates with time. Recent studies reveal that mercury poisoning is a major factor in causing both autism in our young people and Alzheimer's disease in our elderly. (NeuroReport, 12(4):733-737, 2001). It has been linked to infertility, heart disease and to Multiple Sclerosis. The social cost is huge, and the damage mounts. As we benefit from our electric lights we continue to pour this deadly poison into our habitat. From the 1950s to the 1970s, hundreds of people died and thousands got ill in Japan from Minamata Disease, an affliction of the central nervous system caused by excessive mercury content in fishing waters. More recently, Japanese whale meat has been tested that contained nearly 5,000 times the weekly mercury allowed for an adult in Japan. One teaspoon of that whale meat contained more than 30 times the safe weekly allowance. Dr. Joseph Mercola writes: "I have known that mercury in fish has been a problem for some time now and used to warn that one should restrict fish consumption to a few species. Because some fish have less mercury than others, I thought certain types of fish, eaten in limited quantities, were acceptable. However, upon more study, I have changed my position. It is my experience that nearly all fish are contaminated with mercury. I have done thousands of hair mineral analyses on patients, and the patients who don't eat fish are the ones who have immeasurable levels of mercury in their hair. Anyone eating fish has mercury and nearly always in direct proportion to the frequency they are eating fish." For more information, go to Mercola's web site: www.mercola.com. Mercury sources We manufacture 200 tons per year for "useful" purposes, of which about 40 tons becomes implanted in our teeth. Americans walk around carrying 557 tons, collectively, of mercury in their tooth fillings. The American Dental Association proclaims them harmless while the World Health Organization found that they release 3-17 micrograms per day to be inhaled by the average host. More mercury is released as a side effect of industrial operations, as in smelting metal. Inoculations may or may not contain Thimerosal, a mercury preservative. Eli Lilly stopped producing it but continues to benefit from revenue from licensing arrangements. Old stockpiles may exist and be pressed into service. All of these releases are elective and therefore avoidable. Natural sources also contribute a big share, mostly from volcanic activity. What can you do? • Check these suggestions out with your doctor: • Eat less fish and more fish oil. The mercury is separated out in distillation of the oil. • If you have mercury fillings, don't chew gum. • Mercury filling removal is hazardous and should be performed by a specialist. • Eat more cilantro and parsley as the chlorophyll chelates (removes) heavy metals from the body. • Check your mercury level with a hair analysis. • Don't expose yourself to broken fluorescent light bulbs. • Replace your fever thermometer with a digital model. • Ask to read the package insert of your flu shot to be sure it contains no Thimerosal or other mercury preservative. • Mothers-to-be or lactating women should avoid fish. • Write your lawmaker and demand a timely reduction in mercury emissions from coal burning and incinerator stacks-or better, switch to wind and solar sources. • Don't live near a volcano. Bill Sturgeon of Petrolia is a health science writer and medical device manufacturer. His e-mail is sturgeon@asis.com. Editor's note: a Jan. 18 Associated Press story reported that the California Attorney General has sued to force five grocery chains to post consumer warnings in their California stores that fresh tuna, swordfish and shark contain mercury. Named in the lawsuit were Safeway, Krogers, Albertson's, Trader Joe's and Whole Foods. |
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