Mercury Toxicity: How Mercury and Methyl Mercury Could Be Affecting Your Health

In the past 10-20 years, you’ve probably heard various reports about mercury toxicity. With more scientists discovering high levels of mercury in the food chain, mercury toxicity is becoming a big news story, perhaps leaving you concerned about what mercury is, how mercury could be affecting your health, and whether you should consider a therapy like EDTA chelation to rid your body of heavy metals like mercury.

To understand the basics of mercury and mercury toxicity, it’s wise to remember your high school chemistry class. Mercury is an element, listed as “Hg” on the periodic table of elements. Pure elemental mercury is a liquid metal. Other forms of mercury are found naturally in the air, water, and soil.

As you go about your everyday life, you’ll come across mercury in many common products such as thermometers (mercury is the liquid metal inside) and batteries. Metallic mercury is also used in dentistry to fill cavities in teeth. Known as dental amalgam, mercury-based fillings contain about 40-50 percent mercury.

Mercury, therefore, is basically “everywhere.” Yet in certain forms, mercury is also a heavy metal that’s dangerous to your health. If you are exposed to too much mercury, the symptoms of mercury toxicity would first be evident in the nervous system, leading to problems with memory, mood, tremors, hearing, and vision.

The chain of mercury toxicity begins in the earth. Mercury is found naturally in rocks and in coal. When coal is used for fuel in coal-burning plants, large amounts of mercury are released into the environment. This airborne mercury eventually settles back to earth, both in the water and on land. There, microorganisms turn mercury into methyl mercury, a highly toxic form of mercury. Methyl mercury builds up in fish, shellfish, and in animals that eat fish. Humans are exposed to methyl mercury in fish when they eat fish and shellfish, leading to the symptoms of mercury toxicity.

Methyl mercury is the organic form of mercury that has caused heightened concern about mercury toxicity. Exposure to methyl mercury in small amounts over time can build up and result in mercury toxicity symptoms later. Long-term exposure to methyl mercury is likely to cause mercury toxicity symptoms like numbness or pain on the skin, shakes, tremors, difficulties walking, vision problems, weak immune system, and loss of memory. Large exposure to various forms of mercury can harm the heart, lungs, and kidneys, sometimes leading to seizures and death.

Due to the various forms of mercury exposure (i.e., dentaFl fillings, food, thermostats, batteries, etc.), mercury toxicity is a complex and troubling health issue. In any amount, mercury is a poisonous heavy metal that should be removed from your system before it’s able to damage sensitive tissues.